I have chimed in about martech job descriptions in the past. It’s time to revisit the topic.
Job descriptions typically range from specific to vague and reasonable to aspirational. (For example, an entry-level position requiring a graduate degree and several years of experience.) Many are understandably specific to an organization’s circumstances. There’s plenty left to read between the lines. Sometimes, descriptions fail to communicate all the intriguing challenges and opportunities associated with a job.
In the same vein as honest, perspective-themed social media posts, here’s a martech job posting. While it certainly highlights some challenges and contradictions that many practitioners face, they are part of what makes working in martech so intellectually fulfilling, stimulating and professionally growth-oriented.
Martech specialist
ACME Inc. is seeking a martech specialist who can deal with ambiguity. As a company, it invests plenty in marketing to diverse audiences. There is a very real need to ensure that marketing and technology spending yields definable results, as shown through revenue, profit, efficiency, reliability and nimbleness.
In order to succeed, we’re looking for the following qualities:
- Must play well with others.
- You’re a mover and a shaker, and you need to make affected folks feel good about all that change.
- For example, as a martech practitioner, you will play a role in determining which platforms are the best. Stakeholders often won’t agree and may even have different needs. You’ll need to find a way to make everyone happy.
- An artist who understands some science
- Martech is not a copy-and-paste endeavor. What works for one team or company may not necessarily work for another, even if it is very similar.
- It is important to remind vendors of that and apply some critical thinking to best practices.
- A “Jack of all trades.”
- You will wear many hats, including analyst (gathering requirements), platform power user and admin, project participant (perhaps as a Scrum product owner), end-user trainer, primary contact for vendors, solution researcher and evaluator and many more.
- A strategic and tactical actor.
- Sometimes at the same time!
- Sometimes, you’ll be in the weeds of a platform.
- Sometimes, you’ll have to speak to a platform you haven’t used in a long time or never have. Learn to lean on power users.
- Sometimes, you’ll have to build and maintain a multi-year product roadmap.
- You will have to make quick decisions that will have a long-term impact.
- Must be ambidextrous.
- You’ll need to use both right and left hands and brains!
- Get ready to analyze a problem and then persuade others to a solution.
- Must be a problem solver since you’ll create many yourself as a mover and shaker
- Everyone makes mistakes.
- Martech practitioners constantly need to make quick decisions (sometimes with great ambiguity), and those will have consequences. That’s why risk mitigation is critical.
- Find ways to harness more value out of investments and efforts through:
- Helping platform users work more effectively and stay up to speed with platform evolution.
- Find ways to get more out of vendor relationships.
- Stay abreast of and highlight innovation.
- Encouraging others to share ideas and perspectives.
- Must be able to work with a whole host of stakeholders, including:
- Colleagues who can barely send an email.
- Marketers who know a lot about technology.
- Developers who understand coding but not business needs.
- Lawyers who need to know all about contracts and what’s going on for regulatory purposes.
- Creatives who make beautiful stuff.
- IT specialists focused on data, architecture, security, incident management, etc.
- Folks who understandably are frustrated that things shouldn’t take this long and cost so much.
- Project managers who will ask about timing, sequencing and risks.
- Vendors who are always selling.
- A leader with or without a fitting title or direct reports.
- It is important to speak up and offer reasoned perspectives.
- Finding ways to ease others’ burdens and fixing problems will increase your influence.
- Practitioners must find ways to persuade a large group of stakeholders on solutions and strategies.
- Have the ability and willingness to fulfill other duties as assigned.
- There is no possible way a job description can account for all potential duties.
- Sometimes you’ll need to clean the dishes in the breakroom.
- Sometimes you’ll be asked to lead a complex task typically reserved for more senior employees.
Dig deeper: Skills-based hiring for modern marketing teams
What it’s really like to work in martech
Granted, practitioners from many other fields can claim the same complexity, contradictions and ambiguity. Marketing technologists are far from the only ones who can paint such a heroic image about themselves.
However, I don’t think it hurts for everyone to occasionally take stock of all that we’re charged with. While we shouldn’t boast, realizing that we deal with complexity is healthy. Besides, these are what help make working in martech so fascinating and fun.
Dig deeper: The latest jobs in martech
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