From misaligned expectations to the race for niche skills, here’s what’s really slowing down your marketing hires and how to fix it.
Hiring the right marketer in a tech company isn’t just about finding someone with a good CV. It’s about finding someone who can align with product, collaborate with sales, and deliver measurable growth, fast.
But too often, hiring managers struggle to move from “we need someone” to “we found the right person.” Why?
At Marketing Moves, we work with technology companies every day to solve these exact problems. In this article, we explore the key challenges facing hiring managers and provide a framework to overcome them.
1. Role Confusion: What Do You Actually Need?
Many tech companies launch the hiring process without a clear or realistic definition of the role. A job description might ask for a bit of product marketing, a dash of demand gen, and some marketing ops thrown in, all at a mid-level salary.
This lack of clarity leads to misalignment, slow shortlisting, and ultimately, poor hires.
✅ Solution:
- Focus on outcomes: What does success look like in 3, 6, 12 months?
- Prioritise must-haves vs nice-to-haves
- Collaborate with marketing leadership to scope the role based on strategic need
2. Misjudging Market Realities
Hiring managers often expect unicorn candidates: strategic yet tactical, data-driven yet creative, senior-level thinking with junior-level salary expectations. But the market doesn’t work like that, especially in competitive areas like Product Marketing, Marketing Ops, or RevOps.
✅ Solution:
- Benchmark against live market data (we provide this as part of our service)
- Understand salary ranges, availability, and speed of movement
- Partner with a specialist recruiter to gain honest, current sector specific insight
3. Internal Misalignment
Product wants one thing. Sales wants another. The CEO wants something else entirely. As a hiring manager, you’re caught in the middle, often without the time or headspace to align everyone.
This misalignment results in shifting goalposts and delayed decision-making, frustrating both candidates and internal teams.
✅ Solution:
- Run a stakeholder alignment session before launching the search
- Agree on a shared understanding of the role’s purpose and priorities
- Create a consistent interview process with defined scorecards
4. Choosing Speed Over Quality
Yes, speed matters, especially in fast-growing tech companies. But rushing to hire often leads to costly misfires. A mismatched hire can damage team morale, waste budget, and derail growth.
✅ Solution:
- Work with a partner who understands the role, market, and your company culture
- Define a structured but efficient process: brief → shortlist → assess → offer
- Don’t wait for “perfect”. Hire for 80% fit with growth potential
5. Interviewing the Wrong Way
Too many marketing interviews focus on CV walkthroughs and vague competency questions. That won’t uncover whether someone can execute a product launch, build a scalable demand engine, or optimise your tech stack.
✅ Solution:
- Structure interviews around real-life tasks or business problems
- Ask for specific outcomes, not just responsibilities
- Bring in cross-functional team members to assess collaboration fit
Final Thoughts for Hiring Managers
You don’t need more CVs – you need the right process, partners, and positioning to attract and secure the right marketer.
We’re here to help you do exactly that.
🔍 Need Help Defining or Filling a Key Marketing Role?
At Marketing Moves, we specialise in placing exceptional marketers across the technology sector from scale-ups to global software companies.
👉 Contact us today to talk through your hiring needs
👉 Follow us for the next article in this series: The Challenges Faced by Internal Talent Teams
👉 Explore our live roles and case studies at www.marketingmoves.com
Marketing Moves is the leading recruitment firm specialising in marketing hires across the global tech industry. We understand marketing. We understand tech. We deliver results.
