Marketing managers: pay, outlook and skills
Plan, direct, or coordinate marketing policies and programs, such as determining the demand for products and services offered by a firm and its competitors, and identify potential customers. Develop pricing strategies with the goal of maximizing the firm's profits or share of the market while ensuring the firm's customers are satisfied. Oversee product development or monitor trends that indicate the need for new products and services.
Pay distribution and location comparison
These are published pay distribution points for everyone working in this occupation, not pay levels for junior, mid, or senior roles. Location figures are pay as published; no cost-of-living adjustment is applied.
United States, all industries
| Pay point | United States | Selected area |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $90,260 | - |
| 25th percentile | $123,020 | - |
| Median | $166,790 | - |
| 75th percentile | $216,410 | - |
| 90th percentile | $293,610 | - |
| People employed | 395,240 | - |
Source: OEWS May 2025, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file Reference period: OEWS May 2025.
Long-term outlook
Official ten-year projection for 2025 to 2035. Projected annual openings are an average per year over the decade, including openings from workers leaving the occupation. They are not a count of jobs open today.
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file Employment is published in thousands of jobs and converted here to people.
OptimizeResume analysis using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. This is not a BLS statistic or a prediction that an individual will be hired.
Score trend
Historical scores may be restated when BLS revises underlying data. The chart uses the latest restated values.
Confidence
- At least 90% of required inputs and occupation-industry mapping are covered.
How this score is built
Monthly industry demand is mapped to this occupation using official occupation-industry relationships, then combined with occupation fundamentals and long-term projections.
Read Methodology v1.0Skills, software, and day-to-day work
Skill values are O*NET importance ratings on a 1-5 scale for the occupation itself. They describe what the work requires, not how much employers are hiring right now.
Most important skills
- Active Listening4.1 / 5
- Speaking4.0 / 5
- Active Learning3.9 / 5
- Complex Problem Solving3.9 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.9 / 5
- Judgment and Decision Making3.9 / 5
- Monitoring3.9 / 5
- Persuasion3.9 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5
- Systems Evaluation3.9 / 5
- Coordination3.8 / 5
- Negotiation3.8 / 5
O*NET importance rating, 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Software and technology
- Data base user interface and query softwareStructured query language SQL (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Amazon Redshift (hot technology), Amazon Web Services AWS software (hot technology), Microsoft Access (hot technology), Microsoft SQL Server (hot technology), MySQL (hot technology)
- Customer relationship management CRM softwareSalesforce software (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Blackbaud The Raiser's Edge, Constant Contact, MarketSharp, Oracle Eloqua, Oracle Siebel Server Sync
- Presentation softwareMicrosoft PowerPoint (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Apple Keynote, Google Slides, Mentimeter
- Content workflow softwareAtlassian JIRA (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Spreadsheet softwareMicrosoft Excel (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Office suite softwareMicrosoft Office software (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Web platform development softwareCascading style sheets CSS (hot technology), Hypertext markup language HTML (hot technology), JavaScript (hot technology), PHP (hot technology), Drupal, Dynamic hypertext markup language DHTML
- Video creation and editing softwareAdobe After Effects (hot technology), TikTok (hot technology), Apple Final Cut Pro, Flipgrid, Kapwing, Screencast-O-Matic
- Data base management system softwareApache Cassandra (hot technology), Apache Hadoop (hot technology), Apache Hive (hot technology), Elasticsearch (hot technology), NoSQL (hot technology), Oracle PL/SQL (hot technology)
- Analytical or scientific softwareIBM SPSS Statistics (hot technology), SAS (hot technology), The MathWorks MATLAB (hot technology), Lyris HQ Web-Analytics Solution, Minitab, Nedstat Sitestat
- Enterprise resource planning ERP softwareOracle PeopleSoft (hot technology), SAP software (hot technology), Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite ERP, Oracle Fusion Applications, Oracle Hyperion
- Development environment softwareC (hot technology), Microsoft Azure software (hot technology), Microsoft Visual Basic (hot technology), Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications VBA (hot technology), Ruby (hot technology), Adobe ActionScript
O*NET marks individual examples only. “Hot technology” means the tool is frequently named across job postings generally; “in demand for this occupation” means O*NET recorded it as required by employers for this occupation. Unmarked examples are still commonly used.
Typical tasks
- Formulate, direct, or coordinate marketing activities or policies to promote products or services, working with advertising or promotion managers.
- Use sales forecasting or strategic planning to ensure the sale and profitability of products, lines, or services, analyzing business developments and monitoring market trends.
- Identify, develop, or evaluate marketing strategy, based on knowledge of establishment objectives, market characteristics, and cost and markup factors.
- Direct the hiring, training, or performance evaluations of marketing or sales staff and oversee their daily activities.
- Evaluate the financial aspects of product development, such as budgets, expenditures, research and development appropriations, or return-on-investment and profit-loss projections.
- Develop pricing strategies, balancing firm objectives and customer satisfaction.
- Initiate market research studies, or analyze their findings.
- Compile lists describing product or service offerings.
- Consult with product development personnel on product specifications, such as design, color, or packaging.
- Recommend modifications to products, packaging, production processes, or other characteristics to improve the environmental soundness or sustainability of products.
Also advertised as: BD Director (Business Development Director), BD Manager (Business Development Manager), Brand Manager, Market Development Executive, Market Development Manager, Marketing Communications Manager, Marketing Coordinator, Marketing Director.
Check your resume against a real job posting
This page describes the occupation in general. A free scan compares your own resume with the specific job description you are applying to, requirement by requirement, and shows where your real experience is already strong and where it is simply not documented yet. Only experience you actually have should ever be added.
Scan my resume freeSource: O*NET Database version 31.0 by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Used under CC BY 4.0. OptimizeResume has modified the data for display only: selected the most important rated skills, grouped software examples by category while keeping each example’s official flags, and shortened the task list.
Guides for applying to this work
Sources and how to read this page
Source: OEWS May 2025, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file
O*NET 31.0 Database version 31.0 by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0 and modified for display on this page. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
How each number should be read
- Pay percentiles describe the spread of pay across everyone in the occupation, not experience levels.
- Employment counts are jobs, not people hired during the year.
- Projected annual openings are a decade average from the official projection, not current vacancies.
- O*NET skill ratings describe the work, not employer hiring demand.
- Values BLS did not publish, suppressed, or top-coded are shown as such and never treated as zero.