Where unicorns come from — feeder roles for marketing technologists

The following is a guest post by Erica Seidel, founder of The Connective Good, a recruitment firm focused on marketing leaders with deep analytical and technical skills. Erica also serves on the advisory board of the MarTech conference series.

Marketing technologists have burst onto the scene in recent years. These professionals can pinpoint the right technologies and unleash them to make marketing run better. As I’ve noted before in this piece on What Marketing Technologists Want, the right marketing technologist can be the secret weapon for a CMO looking to drive growth — both top-line and bottom-line.

As a recruiting expert for senior marketing roles, I’ve followed the rise of the marketing technologist closely. I was curious about where marketing technologists are coming from. What are the breeding grounds for them?

I figured that some quick and dirty research would be helpful to me as I help companies scout great martech talent. So I fired up LinkedIn, and looked at the profiles of 100 professionals whose current title includes the term “marketing technologist.” That was my only search criteria. I did not filter on industry or experience level or geography. And I simply looked at the title each one had just beforehand.

Here’s what I found out:

#1. There’s a huge variety of feeder roles to the marketing technologist function, but digital marketing/e-commerce roles are most prevalent. I jotted down the previous job titles for my sample of 100 marketing technologists (see below). Then I grouped them into the following categories:

• Digital/e-commerce
• Straight-up marketing
• Other marketing
• Tech
• Independent/entrepreneur
• Media
• Sales and support
• Other

This sheer variety of feeder roles shows the breadth and uniqueness of the skills that marketing technologists have. It’s not surprising, since we see this variety when almost any new role emerges.

#2. Some of these precursor roles are really cool! Check out the list below to see which ones stand out to you, but some of my favorites are:

• E-commerce Production, Content & Operations Leader
• Marketing & Sales Information System Analyst
• Manager, Digital Innovation
• Manager, Global Sales Enablement

#3. While marketing tech is a hybrid function, there are far more marketing technologists coming from marketing than from tech. Almost half (47%) of my sample had a previous role in marketing, while only 18% had previous roles in tech.

#4. Marketing technologists appear to skew junior to mid-level. Before becoming marketing technologists:

• 25% of this sample held manager-level titles
• 19% were previously at levels typically associated with an early career phase, like analyst, specialist, coordinator, or assistant
• 11% were previously Director-level

This range of previous titles isn’t too surprising, as there were a variety of current job levels represented in the sample. Remember that the sample was of people with current titles that include the term “Marketing Technologist.” So this includes titles like “Chief Marketing Technologist” and “Senior Marketing Technologist” and “Consultant/Visionary– Marketing Technologist” and “Marketing Technologist and Marketing Operations Leader,” as well as the straight-up “marketing technologist.”

My observation based on the data and based on my experience is that some people are moving up, while others are rechristening themselves as marketing technologists, laying claim to a title that accurately describes what they do and that has increasing traction and legitimacy.

#5. At the same time, 17% of this sample had previous titles of “entrepreneur” or consultant of some stripe, representing a range of seniorities. Some of these consultants have moved into companies as full-time marketing technologists. Others have stayed independent, and added the “marketing technology” moniker, likely in an effort to describe and differentiate their skillset.

#6. I didn’t see as many people with histories in marketing operations as I had expected. My hypothesis from this research and direct experience is that in many companies, “marketing technology” and “marketing operations” refer to pretty much the same set of responsibilities.

The List

Here’s the list — verbatim — of previous roles for today’s marketing technologists, categorized as I saw fit. (You will likely see many other categorizations that make sense.)

Digital/eCommerce:

1. Digital Marketing Manager
2. Sr Dir Digital Marketing
3. Sr Dir Digital Marketing
4. Sr Dir Digital Marketing
5. Sr Dir Digital Marketing
6. Web Manager
7. Social Marketing Manager
8. Organic SEO Manager
9. Web and Email Marketing Specialist
10. eMarketing Specialist
11. Digital Marketing Strategist
12. eMarketing Manager – CRM
13. Social Media and Brand Manager
14. SVP of Operations/Digital Marketing
15. Social Media Manager
16. Head of Digital Marketing/eCommerce
17. IS Digital Marketing Project Manager
18. E-commerce & Online marketing manager
19. Web Analytics and Data Senior Consultant
20. Head of Digital
21. SEO/SEM Specialist
22. Digital Project Manager
23. Social Media Analyst
24. Head of Digital Channels
25. Chief Digital Officer
26. Campaign Optimization Manager
27. Digital Marketing Project Lead
28. Head of SEO/SEM
29. eCommunications Manager
30. E-commerce Production, Content & Operations Leader

Straight-Up Marketing (not explicitly digital):

31. Sr Dir of Marketing
32. Marketing Specialist
33. Marketing Manager
34. Marketing Assistant
35. Marketing and Communications Associate
36. Marketing Analyst
37. Marketing Manager

Other Marketing:

38. Growth Marketing Manager
39. Marketing Support manager
40. VP, Marketing Information Management
41. Director, Technical Marketing
42. Senior Web Producer
43. Content Marketing Specialist
44. Marketing Automation Coordinator
45. Brand and Marketing Coordinator
46. Marketing & Sales Information System Analyst
47. Manager CRM and Business Analytics

Tech:

48. Solutions Architect
49. Director of Technology
50. IS Department Manager
51. Lead Developer
52. Senior Interactive Developer
53. Developer
54. Applications and Processes Manager
55. Software Developer
56. Sr UI/web developer
57. CTO Senior Developer
58. Technical Architect
59. Development & Technology Manager
60. Multimedia Developer
61. Facility Engineer
62. Software Entrepreneur and Developer
63. Web Developer
64. Development Lead
65. Chief Solutions Architect

Independent Consultant/Entrepreneur:

66. Entrepreneur
67. Entrepreneur
68. Entrepreneur
69. Entrepreneur
70. Entrepreneur
71. Entrepreneur
72. Principal Consultant
73. Consultant
74. Consultant
75. Consultant
76. Consultant
77. Marketing Consultant
78. Marketing Consultant
79. Marketing Consultant
80. Marketing Consultant
81. Technical Consultant
82. Digital Strategy & Marketing Consultant

Media:

83. Senior Digital Media Producer
84. Creative Media Manager
85. Interactive Media Specialist

Sales and Support:

86. Senior Coordinator, Sales
87. Sales Support Specialist
88. Manager, Global Sales Enablement
89. Associate Account Director
90. Associate Account Director
91. Client Support Specialist
92. Sales & Marketing Director

Other:

93. Manager, Digital Innovation
94. Director, Project Management
95. Product Manager
96. SAP/HR Payroll Co
97. Process Specialist
98. Innovation Manager
99. Senior Business Systems Analyst
100. Business Intelligence Analyst

So…

If you’re hiring a marketing technologist, prepare to turn over many leaves. Exploring talent with digital marketing experience is a no-brainer, but just because someone has been a digital marketer doesn’t necessarily make them the right marketing technologist for you.

What other conclusions do you draw from this quick-hit research?

Thank you, Erica!