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Marketing Manager

$166,790
median / year
$90,260 – $293,610
what most earn per year (10th–90th percentile)

What the job actually is

Plan and direct campaigns that promote products and services, and lead the teams that create them.

You may also see this posted as: Brand Manager, Business Development Manager, Marketing Director, Account Supervisor, Business Development Director, Commercial Lines Manager.

Where you work

Offices or remote; at a desk with frequent meetings.

The hours

Full-time; long hours around launches and deadlines.

The day to day

What you'd actually spend time doing

  • Identify, develop, or evaluate marketing strategy, based on knowledge of establishment objectives, market characteristics, and cost and markup factors.
  • Formulate, direct, or coordinate marketing activities or policies to promote products or services, working with advertising or promotion managers.
  • 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.
  • Compile lists describing product or service offerings.

Good fit if you like…

Enterprising

leading, persuading, selling, or turning an idea into action

Conventional

organizing information, following systems, and getting details right

Investigative

solving problems, analyzing evidence, and figuring out how things work

O*NET job zone 4 of 5

High preparation—usually a four-year degree plus experience—is common.

Work styles that matter most

InnovationLeadership OrientationAchievement OrientationAdaptability

Software that shows up in the work

Examples employers report—not a checklist you must already know.

Atlassian JIRAMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft PowerPointSalesforce softwareStructured query language SQL

By the numbers

May 2025 BLS wage & employment data · 2024–34 BLS employment projections.

Median pay
$166,790
per year
Hourly median
$80.19
per hour
What most earn
$90,260–$293,610
yearly, 10th to 90th percentile
Openings a year
~34,300
projected, 2024–34
Outlook to 2034
+6.6%
Faster than average
Working in the U.S.
395,240
people, nationwide

Openings a year counts new jobs plus the ones that open when people retire or move on — a truer picture of your odds than growth alone.

“Median” means half earn more and half earn less. Your city, employer, and years on the job move it a lot — that is what the 10th-to-90th range shows.

BLS estimates 3.6% of workers in this occupation are self-employed.

What it pays in your state

Statewide medians are a better starting point than the national number. Your city and experience still matter.

BLS state wage tables

How you get in

Typical starting education

Bachelor's degree

Training path: Degree plus years of campaign experience.

Related work experience: 5 years or more.

On-the-job training: None.

License or certification

No license required; a track record of results matters most.

Check the path where you live

Licensing rules and available programs change by state. These federal tools take you to the current official listings.

What it takes

CreativityCommunicationAnalytical thinkingLeadership

The honest take

The highest-paid job on this list that starts from any major.

Standard Occupational Classification 11-2021. Pay and employment from the BLS May 2025 OEWS survey; outlook and openings from the 2024–34 employment projections; job context from the Occupational Outlook Handbook; tasks, interests, work styles, software examples, and job zone from O*NET 30.3. See something off? Tell us.