Building Your Marketing Function: Which Hire Will Have the Biggest Impact?

Northern Ireland's marketing landscape is growing, but the shape of marketing teams is changing with it. Northern Ireland's creative industries employed 44,000 people in 2024, an increase of 5,000 jobs, or 14%, in a year. That compares with employment growth of 2% across Northern Ireland overall. The number of creative industry business sites also continued to grow in 2025, with advertising and marketing among the subsectors recording the strongest increase, up 8%.

There is growth across many of the industries employing marketing talent too. The Department for the Economy's Skills Barometer projects particularly strong employment growth in areas including ICT and professional services through to 2033, creating opportunities for marketers working across B2B, technology, professional services and other growing sectors.

But the interesting change isn't simply that more businesses need marketing. It's what they need their marketers to do.

At MCS, we're seeing marketing briefs become more defined as teams and careers develop. A broad Marketing Executive remains an important hire for many businesses, particularly within smaller teams where someone may work across content, campaigns, social media, digital and events. As marketing functions grow, however, we're seeing greater demand for deeper capability in areas such as SEO, PPC and performance, product marketing, CRM, content, analytics and AI.

For employers building a marketing function, that creates more options when considering the next hire. For candidates, it is creating increasingly distinct career paths. So, what are we seeing in the market, and where can different marketing skills add value?

How Marketing Teams Are Becoming More Specialised

Marketing has always covered a wide range of responsibilities, and that's particularly true within Northern Ireland's SME market.

In a smaller team, having a marketer who understands several channels can be a real advantage. They might manage campaigns, create content, update the website, support events, coordinate social media and work with external agencies, often developing a strong understanding of the whole customer journey as a result.

As the function develops, some of those responsibilities naturally become specialisms in their own right. What might initially sit with one Marketing Executive can eventually develop into several distinct areas:

This doesn't mean every business needs six different marketers. The more useful consideration is where greater depth could complement the skills already in the team.

A business with strong content and brand capability but growing investment in paid acquisition may benefit from performance expertise. Another may have a successful product and sales team but need stronger positioning and go-to-market capability. For a smaller organisation, one experienced generalist may still be the most valuable addition.

Understanding those differences is becoming increasingly important when defining marketing roles.

SEO and Performance Are Becoming More Defined Specialisms

Digital marketing is a good example of how broad job titles can now contain very different skillsets.

Someone working in a Digital Marketing role might have experience across website management, email, social media, SEO, Google Ads and reporting. That breadth can be extremely useful, particularly earlier in a marketing career. SEO and performance marketing themselves, however, have become increasingly sophisticated disciplines.

An experienced SEO professional may now work across:

• technical website performance
• keyword and competitor research
• content and search strategy
• digital PR and authority
• analytics and conversion journeys
• changes in how people search across traditional and AI-powered platforms

Performance marketers are likely to bring a different set of strengths, including paid search and social, campaign optimisation, attribution, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs and return on advertising spend.

For employers, the distinction becomes particularly relevant when one of these channels starts to play a bigger role in commercial performance. There is a difference between a marketer who has worked with SEO or PPC and somebody who has developed several years of specialist expertise within it. Both can be valuable, but they solve different recruitment needs.

We're seeing those distinctions become clearer in digital marketing jobs in Belfast and across Northern Ireland, particularly as employers look for stronger evidence of what candidates have delivered through individual channels rather than digital experience in general.

Why We're Hearing More About Product Marketing

Product marketing is one specialism coming up more frequently in conversations with our Sales & Marketing team. It can also be one of the harder marketing functions to define.

A Product Marketer typically sits between the customer, product, sales and wider marketing functions. Rather than focusing solely on promoting a product, they help a business understand how that product should be positioned and taken to market.

Depending on the organisation, that could include:

• researching customers and competitors
• developing product positioning and messaging
• planning go-to-market strategies
• supporting product launches
• translating product features into customer value
• creating sales enablement materials
• bringing customer insight back into product and marketing teams

The growth of technology and professional services in Northern Ireland makes this an interesting area to watch.

Under the Department for the Economy's high-growth scenario, ICT employment is projected to grow by around 3.1% annually between 2023 and 2033, while professional services is projected to grow by around 1.8% annually.

As businesses develop more complex products and services, the ability to explain who a product is for, what problem it solves and why somebody should choose it becomes increasingly valuable. That doesn't mean every growing business needs a Product Marketing Manager. Some of those responsibilities may continue to sit effectively within broader marketing, product or commercial roles. But where product development is moving quickly, new markets are being entered or sales teams need stronger positioning and messaging, dedicated product marketing capability can become increasingly relevant.

CRM, Content and the Growing Role of Data

Other marketing specialisms are developing too. CRM is a good example. Email marketing might once have been one part of a broad marketing role, but larger customer databases, automation platforms and increasingly sophisticated customer journeys have created demand for much deeper expertise.

A CRM or lifecycle marketer might focus on segmentation, automation, lead nurturing, personalisation, retention and re-engagement, using customer data to improve the experience after somebody first interacts with the business.

Content is changing in a different way. Producing content itself has become faster as AI tools have developed, but that doesn't remove the need for content expertise. If anything, it places more emphasis on the skills that make content worth consuming in the first place.

Strong content marketers increasingly need to understand:

• what their audience is actually searching for and interested in
• how content supports wider commercial objectives
• SEO and distribution
• different formats, including written, video and social
• subject matter expertise and thought leadership
• performance and analytics
• where AI can improve efficiency without compromising quality

The common thread across both areas is greater accountability.

Marketing teams have access to more data than ever, and employers increasingly have the opportunity to understand which activities are driving engagement, leads, conversions and customer retention. That changes the skills that become valuable as a marketing function matures.

Where Does AI Fit Into the Marketing Team?

AI is already changing how marketers work, but we're cautious about treating "AI marketing" as a completely separate discipline.

For many businesses, AI is more likely to become a capability that sits within existing marketing specialisms. An SEO professional may use AI to support research and analysis. A content marketer may use it to accelerate parts of the production process. A CRM specialist may use AI-supported tools for segmentation and personalisation, while performance marketers are already working with increasingly automated advertising platforms.

The skills around the technology still matter.

Marketers need to understand where AI genuinely improves the work, how to assess the quality of its output and where human judgement, customer knowledge and creativity remain essential.

For employers, that makes specificity useful when AI appears on a job description. Rather than simply asking for "AI experience", consider what that actually means within the role. The AI capability required by a Content Marketer could look very different from the capability expected from somebody working in marketing analytics or CRM.

It's an area we expect to continue evolving as both the technology and the marketing roles using it develop.

Where Generalists and Specialists Both Add Value

Greater specialisation doesn't mean the traditional marketing generalist is disappearing.

In many businesses, particularly smaller organisations, broad marketing experience remains extremely valuable. The right structure depends on the maturity of the marketing function, the existing team and what the business needs marketing to deliver.

A generalist can be particularly valuable where:

• the marketing function is still developing
• the team is relatively small
• priorities regularly move between channels
• the business needs additional capacity across several areas
• no individual channel currently requires a full-time specialist

Specialist capability can become more relevant where:

• an individual channel is responsible for a significant proportion of leads or revenue
• the existing team has good breadth but lacks depth in a particular area
• the business is investing significantly in areas such as paid acquisition
• new products or markets require dedicated positioning expertise
• customer data and retention are becoming more commercially important
• the scale of marketing activity requires deeper measurement and analysis

Larger functions will often need a combination of both.

A Marketing Manager or Head of Marketing might maintain the broader commercial view, while specialists develop deeper capability across areas such as performance, SEO, product, CRM or content. There isn't one marketing team structure that works for every organisation. The balance changes as the business changes.

What We're Seeing as Marketing Careers Develop

There is another side to this shift, and it's particularly relevant to candidates considering their next move. At entry level, breadth can be a significant advantage.

Exposure to campaigns, content, events, social media, email, digital and analytics helps early-career marketers understand how the different parts of a marketing function work together. It can also help someone work out where their strongest skills and interests sit. One of the shifts our Sales & Marketing recruitment team is seeing happens as candidates move beyond those first couple of years of experience.

Career paths begin to become more defined.

Someone who particularly enjoys the analytical and technical side of digital might start looking towards SEO jobs or performance marketing roles. Someone interested in customers and data might move towards CRM. A marketer working within technology could find themselves increasingly involved in product positioning and eventually move into Product Marketing. Others deliberately maintain broader experience and progress towards Marketing Manager, Head of Marketing and wider leadership roles.

For candidates looking at marketing jobs in Belfast or across Northern Ireland, neither route is necessarily stronger than the other. What becomes more important is being able to demonstrate the depth behind your experience.

An employer isn't only interested in hearing that you "managed PPC". They may want to understand the budget, results and commercial impact. Someone working in SEO should increasingly be able to explain what improved and why. A Product Marketer should be able to demonstrate how their positioning or go-to-market work influenced a launch or commercial outcome.

Building the Right Marketing Function for Your Business

For employers, the increasing range of marketing specialisms creates opportunity, but it can also make recruitment briefs more complicated. Sometimes the requirement is straightforward. You know exactly which capability is missing and the level of experience required. Other times, the conversation starts more broadly.

You may know that the marketing team needs additional support, but not whether the biggest impact would come from another generalist, deeper digital expertise, product marketing capability or a more senior hire who can bring the different areas together.

That's where market insight can be useful before the recruitment process begins. At MCS, our Sales & Marketing team works with businesses across Northern Ireland to understand what already exists within their marketing function, what they want the next hire to deliver and what the relevant candidate market looks like.

That includes conversations around candidate availability, salary expectations, the experience available at different levels and how a role can be positioned to the people an employer wants to attract.

Sometimes that confirms the original brief. Sometimes it helps refine it.

Either way, the aim is the same: to find the marketing talent that fits where the business is going next.

FAQs

What marketing role should a growing business hire first?

It depends on the marketing capability already within the business. For a small or developing function, a marketer with broad experience across several channels can offer valuable flexibility. As the function grows, specialist hires across areas such as SEO, performance, CRM or product marketing may become more relevant where those channels are commercially important.

Should I hire a marketing generalist or a specialist?

A generalist can work particularly well when a business needs support across several areas of marketing. Specialist capability becomes more valuable when an individual discipline requires greater depth, investment or accountability. Many established marketing teams combine both.

What does a Product Marketer do?

A Product Marketer helps connect a product with its market. The role can include customer and competitor research, positioning, messaging, go-to-market strategy, product launches and sales enablement. They often work closely with product, sales and wider marketing teams.

What is the difference between an SEO specialist and a Digital Marketer?

A Digital Marketer may work across several online channels, including email, social, paid advertising, website activity and SEO. An SEO specialist develops deeper expertise in organic search, which can include technical SEO, content strategy, keyword and competitor research, analytics and search performance.

When should a business hire a PPC or performance marketer?

Specialist performance capability can become particularly useful when paid acquisition represents a significant marketing investment or source of leads and revenue. The role typically brings deeper expertise in campaign optimisation, attribution, conversion and commercial performance than a broader digital marketing position.

How is AI changing marketing jobs?

AI is becoming part of many existing marketing disciplines rather than necessarily creating a completely separate marketing function. Marketers are increasingly using AI-supported tools across research, content, SEO, advertising, CRM and analytics, while human judgement, strategy and customer understanding remain important.

Are marketing jobs growing in Northern Ireland?

Official statistics do not isolate all marketing employment as one occupational category, so there isn't a reliable growth figure for marketing jobs alone. However, Northern Ireland's wider creative industries employed 44,000 people in 2024, up 14% from 2023, while advertising and marketing business sites increased by 8% in 2025.

Where can I find marketing jobs in Northern Ireland?

MCS recruits across Sales & Marketing roles in Belfast and throughout Northern Ireland, including generalist and specialist positions across digital, content, SEO, performance, product marketing and marketing leadership. Browse our latest Sales & Marketing jobs [internal link] or speak to our specialist team about your next move.

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Whether you're growing an existing marketing team, adding specialist capability or considering your first dedicated marketing hire, our Sales & Marketing recruitment team can help you understand the market and find the right experience for your business.

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