Library
Digital marketing career path, levels and ladder
Updated
5 levels, from Marketing Executive to Head of Growth. Each one is rated on the same 37 skills — what changes between the rungs is how good you have to be at each. A performance marketing ladder from marketing executive to head of growth: paid media, lifecycle, conversion, measurement, strategy.
- Level 1 of 5
Marketing Executive job description
Executes campaigns and content under guidance from senior marketers.
Read the job description - Level 2 of 5
Digital Marketing Specialist job description
Owns a channel or workflow and reports on its performance.
Read the job description - Level 3 of 5
Digital Marketing Manager job description
Plans and runs multi-channel campaigns against a budget.
Read the job description - Level 4 of 5
Senior Marketing Manager job description
Owns channel mix and budget for a product or a segment.
Read the job description - Level 5 of 5
Head of Growth job description
Sets acquisition strategy and owns the growth budget and team.
Read the job description
Digital marketing levels and job titles
Marketing titles are not standard, and many employers number the same title instead of renaming it. This table maps each level on this ladder to the titles you will commonly see elsewhere. For how these titles line up across departments, see the job title hierarchy.
| Level on this ladder | Common job titles |
|---|---|
| Marketing Executive | Marketing Executive, Marketing Coordinator, Marketing Specialist I |
| Digital Marketing Specialist | Digital Marketing Specialist, Marketing Specialist, Marketing Specialist II |
| Digital Marketing Manager | Digital Marketing Manager, Marketing Manager, Marketing Specialist III |
| Senior Marketing Manager | Senior Marketing Manager, Senior Digital Marketing Manager, Marketing Specialist IV |
| Head of Growth | Head of Growth, Head of Digital Marketing, Head of Marketing |
Skills matrix
37 skills and 4 certifications across 5 levels.
| Skill/Certification 41 | Marketing Executive | Digital Marketing Specialist | Digital Marketing Manager | Senior Marketing Manager | Head of Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paid Media4 | |||||
| BasicYou can build a small search campaign from a brief, structuring ad groups by keyword theme and writing ad copy that a reviewer approves with minor changes. | ProficientYou can run a search account independently, adjusting bids and keywords against a target cost per result and explaining why a campaign is under or over performing. | AdvancedYou can restructure an account with structural problems, set the bidding and budgeting approach the team follows, and rescue a campaign that has stopped converting. | AdvancedYou can restructure an account with structural problems, set the bidding and budgeting approach the team follows, and rescue a campaign that has stopped converting. | AdvancedYou can restructure an account with structural problems, set the bidding and budgeting approach the team follows, and rescue a campaign that has stopped converting. | |
| BasicYou can build a small social campaign from a brief, choosing an objective, audience and placement that a reviewer approves with minor changes. | ProficientYou can run a social ad account independently, testing audiences and placements against a target result and explaining a swing in performance using the data. | AdvancedYou can plan a multi platform social campaign, set the testing and budgeting approach the team follows, and diagnose an account whose performance has collapsed. | AdvancedYou can plan a multi platform social campaign, set the testing and budgeting approach the team follows, and diagnose an account whose performance has collapsed. | AdvancedYou can plan a multi platform social campaign, set the testing and budgeting approach the team follows, and diagnose an account whose performance has collapsed. | |
| NoviceYou can build campaigns and ad groups by following a given structure and naming convention. | BasicYou can structure the ad groups or ad sets of one campaign around its objective and explain why you split them that way. | ProficientYou can structure a set of campaigns across a channel, merging or splitting ad groups when reports show they compete for the same audience. | AdvancedYou can design the account and campaign structure a whole account uses, including naming, audiences and conversion settings, so results compare across campaigns. | ExpertYou can set the structure standard every paid account in the organization follows and decide when an account is restructured instead of patched. | |
| NoviceYou can build a display line item from a brief someone else has written, load the creative and confirm it is serving. A colleague sets the targeting and the budget and checks the buy before it goes live. | BasicYou can run a live display buy to an agreed budget and target cost, pause placements that waste spend and rotate creative on a schedule. You raise pacing problems yourself rather than waiting to be asked. | ProficientYou can plan and buy programmatic inventory across exchanges for a whole campaign, set the audience, frequency and inventory quality rules, and hold the buy to its target cost per acquisition. You spot fraud and brand safety risks before they cost money. | AdvancedYou can restructure a display account that is not delivering, decide which buying platforms and deal types the team uses, and defend the spend to the budget holders. | AdvancedYou can restructure a display account that is not delivering, decide which buying platforms and deal types the team uses, and defend the spend to the budget holders. | |
| Lifecycle Marketing4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can apply a segmentation someone else has defined to a list or an audience, and check that the count looks right. | BasicYou can build a segment from a stated rule, such as recency or a product owned, using the tools the team already has. | ProficientYou can design a segmentation scheme for a campaign or program from first principles, and show that it changes what each group is sent. | AdvancedYou can build the segmentation model a team uses across campaigns, and retire segments that no longer earn a different message. | ExpertYou can set how the organization defines and maintains its audience segments, and settle disputes between teams about which segment a contact belongs in. | |
| NoviceYou can build a single automated flow from a map someone else has drawn, wire up the trigger and test it with a dummy contact. You check with a colleague before anything sends to real people. | BasicYou can design a straightforward flow such as a welcome or abandoned basket series, set the entry and exit rules and stop contacts receiving it twice. You test every branch before switching it on. | ProficientYou can design multi-step flows that branch on what a contact does and who they are, and keep the live flows from overlapping or contradicting each other. You retire flows that no longer earn their place. | AdvancedYou can rebuild an automation program that has grown tangled, set the rules for how flows enter and suppress one another, and trace failures that cross systems. | AdvancedYou can rebuild an automation program that has grown tangled, set the rules for how flows enter and suppress one another, and trace failures that cross systems. | |
| BasicYou can plan and send a campaign to a defined lifecycle segment, pick the sending window and report the opens, clicks and conversions afterwards. You propose the next send from what the last one did. | ProficientYou can own the email program for a lifecycle stage, changing segments, cadence and offers from the results and suppressing sends that would not help the recipient. | AdvancedYou can design a lifecycle email plan across every stage, settle conflicts between teams who all want the same inbox, and turn a flat program around. You set what good email looks like for your team. | AdvancedYou can design a lifecycle email plan across every stage, settle conflicts between teams who all want the same inbox, and turn a flat program around. You set what good email looks like for your team. | AdvancedYou can design a lifecycle email plan across every stage, settle conflicts between teams who all want the same inbox, and turn a flat program around. You set what good email looks like for your team. | |
| NoviceYou can check a list for hard bounces and unsubscribes before a send and remove the addresses that must not receive it. A colleague explains what the authentication records and sending domains are for. | BasicYou can act on bounce, complaint and unsubscribe rates in a post-send report and keep a dated consent record for each address you mail. | ProficientYou can keep a sending domain healthy on your own: set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC, warm a new domain or address, and sunset contacts before reputation slips. You work out why one mailbox provider filters you when others do not. | ProficientYou can keep a sending domain healthy on your own: set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC, warm a new domain or address, and sunset contacts before reputation slips. You work out why one mailbox provider filters you when others do not. | AdvancedYou can recover a domain that is landing in spam, prove the recovery from postmaster tool data, and change the sending habit that caused it. | |
| CRO & Creative5 | |||||
| NoviceYou can update the copy or an image on an existing landing page from a brief, without changing its layout. | BasicYou can build a new landing page from a template and a brief, and read its conversion rate against previous pages. | ProficientYou can design a landing page from scratch for a specific offer and audience, and propose a change to a page that is under performing. | AdvancedYou can set the landing page standards and template library the team builds from, and diagnose why a whole class of pages is converting badly. | AdvancedYou can set the landing page standards and template library the team builds from, and diagnose why a whole class of pages is converting badly. | |
| NoviceYou can read the result of a test someone else designed and name the winning variant, and log a test idea with its change and metric in the backlog. | BasicYou can design and launch a simple A/B test with one changed element and a stated success metric, scoring the idea for impact and effort with the team method. | ProficientYou can run a test roadmap for a page or flow, sequencing tests so they do not share traffic and calling each result only once the planned sample is reached. | AdvancedYou can prioritize experiments across competing areas where the evidence is thin, and stop a test that is contaminated or being misread. | AdvancedYou can prioritize experiments across competing areas where the evidence is thin, and stop a test that is contaminated or being misread. | |
| BasicYou can set up a creative test with a couple of variants and a stated hypothesis, with support choosing what to vary. | ProficientYou can run an ongoing creative testing cadence for a channel, pull out the pattern behind several winning ads, and brief a new creative round from it. | AdvancedYou can set the creative testing approach the team follows across channels, and coach others to test one variable at a time instead of guessing. | AdvancedYou can set the creative testing approach the team follows across channels, and coach others to test one variable at a time instead of guessing. | AdvancedYou can set the creative testing approach the team follows across channels, and coach others to test one variable at a time instead of guessing. | |
| NoviceYou can use the approved messaging and tone of voice guide when writing a piece of copy. | BasicYou can adapt approved messaging to a new channel or format without drifting from the guide, and flag when a brief conflicts with it. | ProficientYou can write new messaging for a campaign or product line that fits the brand, presents the agreed price and offer, and has been tested with customers. | AdvancedYou can define the positioning for a product line or segment, giving marketing's view on price and offer to product and sales, and hold it against requests to deviate. | ExpertYou can set brand positioning for the organization, including the marketing view on pricing and offers, and decide when the positioning itself, not only the messaging, must change. | |
| BasicYou can write copy for a campaign that fits the offer and the audience, keep it inside brand and legal limits, and rewrite it when it underperforms. You take an edit without needing the reason explained twice. | ProficientYou can write the copy set for a campaign across ads, landing page and lifecycle messages as one message, with each claim evidenced and required disclosures in place. | AdvancedYou can write for unfamiliar audiences and awkward products, set the voice others then write inside, and edit their work so the campaign holds together. Your rewrites of tired copy visibly move response. | AdvancedYou can write for unfamiliar audiences and awkward products, set the voice others then write inside, and edit their work so the campaign holds together. Your rewrites of tired copy visibly move response. | AdvancedYou can write for unfamiliar audiences and awkward products, set the voice others then write inside, and edit their work so the campaign holds together. Your rewrites of tired copy visibly move response. | |
| Measurement4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can read an attribution report someone else built and say which channel it credits. | BasicYou can explain the difference between the common attribution models and say which one a given report is using. | ProficientYou can build an attribution view for a campaign or channel, and explain to a stakeholder why it disagrees with what the ad platform itself reports. | AdvancedYou can choose and defend an attribution approach for the whole marketing program, and adjust it when a new channel does not fit the existing model well. | ExpertYou can set attribution methodology for the organization, including when to move beyond last touch models, and reconcile it with the finance view of revenue. | |
| BasicYou can build a simple report in an analytics tool for a specific question, with a colleague helping you choose filters, and confirm its totals match a second source before sharing it. | ProficientYou can investigate a change in traffic or conversion without being told where to look, checking for tracking faults before calling it a real shift. | AdvancedYou can set up the analytics tracking and reporting a team relies on, and catch a data quality problem before it changes a decision. | AdvancedYou can set up the analytics tracking and reporting a team relies on, and catch a data quality problem before it changes a decision. | AdvancedYou can set up the analytics tracking and reporting a team relies on, and catch a data quality problem before it changes a decision. | |
| NoviceYou can add a tag or pixel through the tag manager to a written spec and confirm it fires on the right page. A colleague writes the spec and reviews the container before it is published. | BasicYou can build campaign UTM tagging to the naming convention and set standard conversion events that fire only after the visitor's consent choice allows it. | ProficientYou can design the measurement setup for a campaign end to end, implement the events and consent rules, and reconcile platform figures against analytics. You find the tagging fault behind a number nobody trusts. | AdvancedYou can rebuild tracking across several sites and platforms, including server-side collection and consent, and keep it working through site releases. | AdvancedYou can rebuild tracking across several sites and platforms, including server-side collection and consent, and keep it working through site releases. | |
| NoviceYou can pull a campaign report into an agreed template, check the figures match the source and note what has changed since last time. Someone else writes the interpretation that goes with it. | BasicYou can produce the regular report for a channel, explain in plain words what moved and why, and answer follow-up questions on the numbers. You query results that look wrong instead of publishing them. | ProficientYou can turn a mixed set of campaign and analytics data into a report that ends in a clear recommendation. You pick the few measures that matter for the decision at hand and leave the rest out. | AdvancedYou can report on a whole program where the sources disagree, say plainly what the data cannot tell you, and put an unwelcome finding in front of senior stakeholders. You raise the standard of everyone else in the team. | ExpertYou can decide which measures the organization manages marketing by and how performance reaches the board. You retire metrics that drive the wrong behavior, even the popular ones. | |
| Marketing Strategy5 | |||||
| NoviceYou can explain what each channel the team uses is generally good for. | NoviceYou can explain what each channel the team uses is generally good for. | ProficientYou can propose a channel mix for a campaign or a quarter from evidence, and defend the tradeoffs it makes. | AdvancedYou can set the channel mix for a product or a segment across a year, and change it as the returns from a channel move. | ExpertYou can set channel mix strategy for the whole organization, deciding which channels to enter, scale back or exit. | |
| NoviceYou can track spend against a budget line you are given and flag when it is close to running out. | BasicYou can build a budget for a single campaign from a target result, and explain a variance against it after the campaign runs. | ProficientYou can manage a channel or program budget across a quarter, moving spend between lines as results come in without asking permission each time. | AdvancedYou can build and defend the marketing budget for a product or a segment, and make the call on where to cut when the total is reduced. | ExpertYou can own the marketing budget for the organization, negotiate it with finance, and decide how it is split across teams and channels. | |
| NoviceYou can do routine admin in the marketing tools: add users, set permissions and check that a scheduled sync ran. You escalate anything that changes how two tools talk to each other. | BasicYou can configure a tool to an agreed setup, keep its data flowing to the CRM and raise support tickets with enough detail to get a fix. You keep an accurate record of what is connected to what. | ProficientYou can own a set of marketing tools: run the integrations, handle renewals and data hygiene, and add a new tool without breaking the ones already in place. You decide what each tool is for and what it is not for. | AdvancedYou can redesign a stack that has grown by accident, choose vendors on evidence rather than a demo, and migrate off a tool without losing history. | AdvancedYou can redesign a stack that has grown by accident, choose vendors on evidence rather than a demo, and migrate off a tool without losing history. | |
| NoviceYou can produce a simple forecast from recent figures in a model a colleague has set up, and state what you assumed. Someone else checks the numbers before they go to anyone. | BasicYou can forecast volume and cost for one channel from its own history, then compare what happened against what you predicted. You explain a miss rather than quietly editing the model. | ProficientYou can forecast a campaign across channels allowing for seasonality and saturation, state the assumptions and give a range instead of a single number. You revise the forecast in flight when delivery diverges. | AdvancedYou can forecast for a new channel or product with no history, show what results do if budget is halved or doubled, and defend the numbers to finance. Others adopt your model as the team standard. | ExpertYou can set how the organization forecasts marketing return, deciding which methods the business plans on and how forecast misses are reviewed. | |
| NoviceYou can collect customer feedback or competitor details from the sources you are given and record them in the team insight log. | BasicYou can run a short customer survey with guidance and summarize the findings in a one-page note that states the sample size. | ProficientYou can combine survey, analytics and competitor evidence into an audience profile and recommend one change to targeting or messaging from it. | AdvancedYou can plan research for a product or segment, choosing quantitative or qualitative methods for each question, and show how the findings change the marketing plan. | ExpertYou can decide which customer and market research the organization commissions and how its findings reach the executive team. | |
| Certifications4 | |||||
| Not required | Required | Required | Required | Required | |
| Not required | Required | Required | Required | Required | |
| Not required | Required | Required | Required | Required | |
| Not required | Not required | Required | Required | Required | |
| Organic & Community1 | |||||
| BasicYou can publish scheduled posts from the content calendar and reply to comments using the community guidelines, while a senior marketer checks sensitive replies. | ProficientYou can plan a month of organic posts for one platform from audience data and moderate its community within the published guidelines. | AdvancedYou can set the organic plan and moderation rules across platforms and lead the response when a post draws a public complaint. | AdvancedYou can set the organic plan and moderation rules across platforms and lead the response when a post draws a public complaint. | AdvancedYou can set the organic plan and moderation rules across platforms and lead the response when a post draws a public complaint. | |
| Delivery4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can keep your own tasks and deadlines in a current to-do list, and tell your manager as soon as work you own will be late. | BasicYou can organize a small piece of work into steps, put them in a sensible order, and finish it by the date you agreed, raising problems before they cause a delay. | ProficientYou can coordinate a small team's work on a shared goal: who does what by when, what has to wait for what, and a revised plan when things change. | AdvancedYou can keep several people's work in step across teams, agree priorities and hand-offs with them, and keep one shared task list that all of them actually use. | ExpertYou can set the everyday habits for how work is organized and followed up across the organization, and teams you do not lead adopt the routines you introduce. | |
| NoviceYou can estimate how long a task will take once the approach is clear, and you say promptly when the estimate turns out to be wrong. | BasicYou can estimate your own work with reasonable accuracy and keep a steady enough pace that other people can plan around you. | ProficientYou can estimate a whole project including its risks and unknowns, split it into stages, and defend the estimate when it is challenged. | AdvancedYou can estimate work that spans several teams, name the assumptions behind each figure, and rework the plan when those assumptions break. | ExpertYou can forecast work and staffing quarters ahead, and set the estimating method other teams use. | |
| BasicYou can stay responsible after you hand work over: you check it did what it was meant to, fix your own mistakes, and give updates before anyone asks. | ProficientYou can pick up a problem that has no obvious owner and make yourself accountable for it, including the parts nobody enjoys. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | ExpertYou can report the organization's most exposed outcomes to its leaders as they stand, including bad news, and answer for them. | |
| BasicYou can choose checks that suit the task in front of you, catch your own mistakes before anyone else sees them, and confirm the result works once people start using it. | ProficientYou can define what good enough means for a project, put checks in place to show it has been met, and hold work back when it falls short. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | ExpertYou can raise the quality bar across the organization by building the tools and habits that make the careful way the easy way. | |
| Craft3 | |||||
| BasicYou can work out what is wrong in work you did not create, and you fix the underlying cause instead of working around the symptom. | ProficientYou can break a large, ambiguous problem into pieces and weigh the options for each against the evidence. | AdvancedYou can make the call on a problem outside your expertise and explain its cost, time and risk. | AdvancedYou can make the call on a problem outside your expertise and explain its cost, time and risk. | ExpertYou can crack problems the organization has repeatedly failed to solve, and your approach becomes how others tackle that whole kind of problem. | |
| NoviceYou can apply the basics of your field to the work you are given, and ask an expert when a task goes beyond what you have learned. | BasicYou can work confidently with the tools and methods your team uses daily, and you can explain how your work serves the team's goals. | ProficientYou can advise the team on your area and apply new developments in the field where they pay off. | AdvancedYou can bring in good practice from outside the organization and make it work here, and your judgment clearly improves the work you touch. | ExpertYou can influence how the field is practiced beyond this organization, and your expertise settles questions that have stood open for years. | |
| ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | ExpertYou can set what the organization invests its learning time in, and the material and practice you create outlive your involvement. | |
| Communication4 | |||||
| BasicYou can explain your work so your team can act on it, and play a request back in your own words before you act on it. | ProficientYou can explain a complex topic to people with very different backgrounds, adjusting the detail to the audience without talking down to them. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to agreement on the facts and the next steps, and help colleagues frame a difficult or sensitive message. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to agreement on the facts and the next steps, and help colleagues frame a difficult or sensitive message. | ExpertYou can set how the organization communicates by creating the forums and norms that teams use to share information. | |
| BasicYou can work well with people in other roles, share context and credit, and take criticism of your work without defending territory. | ProficientYou can build working relationships beyond your own team and get things done through people who do not report to you. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | ExpertYou can remove the barriers that stop teams working together by putting in place routines and forums they use across the organization. | |
| BasicYou can document your own work well enough for a colleague to follow it unaided, such as a how-to guide or a handover, and keep it current as things change. | ProficientYou can write for a defined audience, whether a proposal, a policy, a report, or a decision record, and make the reasoning as clear as the conclusion. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were not involved can carry it on. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were not involved can carry it on. | ExpertYou can set the writing standard the organization works to, and documents you wrote are still in use long after you have moved on. | |
| NoviceYou can keep your manager and immediate team informed of your progress, and you raise an issue before someone else discovers it. | BasicYou can identify who is affected by your work and keep them updated at a level of detail and a frequency that suits them. | ProficientYou can win support for a proposal, reset expectations when the plan changes, and turn down a request with a reason the other side accepts. | AdvancedYou can hold senior and external relationships, negotiate between competing demands, and deliver unwelcome news without losing trust. | ExpertYou can represent the organization in its most important relationships and set how it engages with everyone who depends on it. | |
| Leadership3 | |||||
| NoviceYou can act on direction well, seek feedback on how you work, and be open about what you need help with. | BasicYou can spot a problem and propose a way forward unprompted, and you take a small leading role such as running a working group. | ProficientYou can lead one piece of work shared by several people, on your own team and beyond, and make calls that they act on. | AdvancedYou can lead across team boundaries, build the credibility that makes people follow you by choice, and create room for others to lead. | ExpertYou can set direction for the whole organization, make hard calls under real uncertainty, and carry the decisions nobody else wants to own. | |
| NoviceYou can share what you have just learned with your peers and help a newer colleague find their way around. | BasicYou can help someone new settle into your team's work, answer their questions patiently, and give feedback specific enough to act on. | ProficientYou can mentor someone over months, tell them the uncomfortable thing they need to hear, and adapt how you teach to how they learn. | AdvancedYou can develop other mentors, coach people through career decisions rather than tasks, and lift the capability of a whole team. | ExpertYou can shape how the organization grows its people, and those you developed are themselves named by others as strong in their field. | |
| NoviceYou can explain why the work you were given matters and who it is for. | BasicYou can connect your team's work to its goals and question a task that does not appear to serve them. | ProficientYou can look a year ahead in your area, name what will matter by then, and turn that into work people can pick up now. | AdvancedYou can set direction for an area, choose deliberately what not to do, and defend that choice when it is challenged. | ExpertYou can shape the organization's strategy, and the bets you argued for are visible in where it ended up. | |
Use this ladder with your own team
For managers and HR teams: create a free account, then add digital marketing from Departments → Add from template in one click: all 37 skills, with the mastery expected at each of your 5 career levels.