Hiring a marketing technologist? Hear from 17 of these unicorns first Curated by Erica Seidel, Founder & Executive Recruiter, The Connective Good

1. 17 Things Marketing Technologists Want You to Know
…Before You Try to Recruit Them

2. Hiring a marketing technologist?
Hear from these unicorns first
Curated by Erica Seidel
Founder, The Connective Good
Recruiting talent for the marketing tech ecosystem
erica@theconnectivegood.com | @erica_seidel

3. Marketing technology is
on the rise. Scott Brinker’s
annual influential
infographic makes that
abundantly clear.

4. How should CMOs stay on top of marketing tech
trends, apply them to their business challenges,
and optimize their marketing tech stacks?

5. Enter the marketing technologist — often called a unicorn.
CMO+

6. The right marketing technologist can be the secret weapon
for a CMO looking to drive top-line and bottom-line growth.
In other words, the difference between succeeding and failing.

7. Because, when marketing technologists are at their best, they can
make marketing faster. Better. More efficient.

8. How can your organization attract marketing technologists?
And keep them?

9. I’ve been helping companies land senior talent at the intersection of
marketing/tech/analytics for several years. But I wanted to hear
from marketing technologists… in their words.

10. So I posed 2 questions to a slew of marketing technologists.

11. 1: “Thinking ahead to your next career
opportunity, what would represent
career growth to you?”

12. 2: “What is the single most compelling
thing – aside from money — that would
entice you to explore a new role?”

13. Here’s what they said…

14. Isaac Wyatt
D i r e c t o r, M a r k e t i n g O p e r a t i o n s
N e w R e l i c
“
There is nothing more rewarding to a
Marketing Technologist than seeing a
beautiful system working in harmony to
achieve a company's mission.
Companies looking to hire the best Unicorn talent
need to be at a stage that represents either a new
learning opportunity, or a new challenge to the
Marketing Technologist.
For example, I've parachuted into orgs that
have an existing MarTech stack that needs
work to unlock its full potential. That is great, but
a more attractive challenge would be to start
with nothing.
It's all about choosing tech that matches the org's
talent that matches the org's process. That’s the
trifecta for productive growth.

15. My current goals are to build out an integrated
MarTech stack leveraging our Marketing Team and IT
resources, so we can really start to reach out
personally to our customers at scale.
The single most compelling thing that would entice me
to a new role is to have strategic control and
creative freedom over a cross-functional team with:
• access to data scientists
• an already built stack
• the right data to execute on what the team
thinks would have the biggest impact
• R&D budget
“
Daryl Hemeon
M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g i s t
U n u m

16. Most companies do not realize what they need
most are candidates who have the right technical
and marketing education, backed by the right
work experience that will allow them to keep up
with the ever-changing technical product
landscape.
When I consider a position, I am looking for
roles that are a mix of marketing technology
and strategy.
I am interested in evaluating and optimizing
corporate digital ecosystems that solve
cross-channel challenges faced by
multi-brand companies.
“
Poonam Kalinani
M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g y C o n s u l t a n t
P e r n o d R i c a r d

17. Freedom = Career Growth and Freedom =
Enticement to explore.
A role that gives me the freedom to explore
Marketing Technology's boundaries, such
as integration of media with traditional
online and offline channels.
A role that gives me the freedom to let loose
my software engineering side and drive new
process to enhance Marketing capabilities.
Samuel
V P, M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g i s t
P h a r m a c e u t i c a l I n d u s t r y
“

18. Career growth would be the opportunity to
guide a company from their existing
MarTech that has grown organically to a
ground-up clean design based on the best
technology available.
What would absolutely entice me to explore a
role is a shared commitment in the C-Suite to
using marketing technology to drive better
marketing and sales results.
“
Chris Dav is
C h i e f M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g i s t
Te c h n o l o g y S e c t o r

19. I am not open for a change as I am currently happy in
leading the digital marketing transformation for one of
the world's biggest corporations. If I was open then….
The single most compelling thing would be
ownership of Sales Automation (e.g. CRM) in
addition to MarTech. I am a career digital
transformation guy, and I have learned that MarTech
alone is not enough to make the transformation
happen!
Rohit Prabha ka r
H e a d o f D i g i t a l M a r k e t i n g S t r a t e g y &
M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g i e s
M c K e s s o n
“

20. Career growth balances three core areas:
1.Expansion in charter to have broader
influence and impact on the organization
2.Growth in personal abilities: to have more self
awareness, lead myself/others better, and
manage resources/situations effectively
3.Deeper technical skill set that encompasses
process, technology, data, and analytics
What would be most compelling is to be in a
situation to transform a department, a
company, or an industry. Such an opportunity
would enable me to utilize my creative and
innovative attributes.
“
Saad Hameed
D i r e c t o r, M a r k e t i n g O p s ,
A n a l y t i c s & Te c h n o l o g y
S u m o L o g i c

21. Team: A confident, compassionate and playful team.
Collaboration is key — if there are bad eggs then
communication breaks down and progress is
nearly impossible.
Support: Support from upper management
regarding innovation is also important. The
organization needs the confidence to take risks
and try new things, especially when it comes to
technology. This approach starts at the top.
Speed: To implement innovations as part of a
system or process requires an allocation of funds
as well as thinking fast to stay competitive.
Ann em a ri e Criv elli
M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g i s t
C a m b r i d g e B i o M a r k e t i n g
“

22. James Solo
M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g i s t
Te c h n o l o g y S e c t o r
Architecting the alignment of a company's
overall customer experience vision with
the right multi-channel technologies
providing the ability to make timely data
driven decisions.
Solving new challenges using new
technologies for a open minded and
agile company.
“

23. Building a Marketing Technology organization at a
much larger scale — and more opportunities to
learn from other people that I consider to be
world-class Marketing Technologists.
Getting in early on a growing company with
world-changing technology (AI, self-driving cars,
etc.)
Jason Seeba
C h i e f M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g i s t
B l o o m R e a c h
“

24. Christoph e r Penn
V P, M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g y
S H I F T C o m m u n i c a t i o n s
The most compelling thing – and the reason
why I’ve stayed at my company despite bigger
money offers – to my career today is the freedom to
explore and innovate.
I’m constantly looking for new questions to
answer rather than defend old answers, looking
for more things to learn, try, break, and master.
Marketing technology is evolving so quickly that we
have boundless opportunities to grow our skills and
knowledge, but only if our places of employment
make a serious, real commitment to giving us the
time and resources we need to learn. Lots of
companies give lip service to training and
development, but few dedicate any real time or
energy to true innovation.
“

25. I'm best in spaces where everything is new. I’d
consider something with a new technology or a
different business problem the organization was
looking to solve using existing technology.
Also, I'd consider something with a decent budget
that I had control over.M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g i s t
M a j o r E n e r g y C o m p a n y
“

26. Taking risks no longer just means testing
'humor' or 'controversial' messages in your
ads. Technology has enabled us, marketers, to
be risk takers in strategy and use of data.
A role at the intersection of where technology
meets marketing meets leading in strategy,
meets moderate to high risk appetite.
Having a seat at the table — the big table —
where decisions are made and strategies
are created.
The ability to work with data, test, measure, and
test again is a key ingredient for a marketing
technologist. In many roles, as marketers we are
allowed to hold the parachute but not open it. If I
can open it and jump, I'm in!
Ellie
S e n i o r M a r k e t i n g
Te c h n o l o g i s t
L a r g e C o n s u l t i n g C o m p a n y
“

27. I enjoy staying close to execution and operations,
so movement towards exec team isn't the long-term
career objective. Instead, career growth for me is
measured by the budget I control and influence,
scope of responsibility, team size and ability to
affect bottom-line change within an organization.
Being in a results-only work environment is key to
even considering a position. I'm capable of driving a
lot of growth within an organization because of my
position. I would never work for a company that
spent more time focusing on how many hours
my butt is in a seat instead of on what I've done
for the company and how I've contributed to the
bottom line.
Ald en Dale
M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g i s t
T i p s F o r M a r k e t e r s
“

28. Bob Land
V P o f C o n s u m e r E n g a g e m e n t
D o r e l J u v e n i l e
I felt an inflection point in my career when I landed
the opportunity to set up my dream MarTech
strategy after years of cobbling together low-
cost, freeware and otherwise dysfunctional
marketing programs.
The timing of a right-sized budget and steadfast
exec sponsorship (who are driven by data) really
allowed me to step up my game to the next level.
I could experiment well outside my comfort zone
and that has made all the difference.
“

29. As the Chief Marketing Technologist for a digital
consulting firm with amazing clients, It would take a
lot to get me to move. Moving to a C-Suite role at a
Fortune 250 company or a well-funded innovative
startup might be enticing.
I would most likely need substantial stock options,
travel flexibility, and the ability to work on solutions
to big problems. To me, it's more important to work
on important projects that help make the world a
better place. For example, a huge agribusiness
company recently reached out to me. They could
offer me a million dollars a year, but I'd still turn it
down. Conscious business is crucial to me.
Trav is Wright
C h i e f M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g i s t
C C P G l o b a l
“

30. Brad Dambaugh
M a r k e t i n g Te c h n o l o g i s t
G A I C o n s u l t a n t s , I n c .
The opportunity to make an impact by collaborating
with executives, Chief Marketing Officers, and IT
management.
A company that can adapt to new technologies,
ideas, and changes.
A company that nurtures leadership skills through
leadership training and mentoring.
“

31. So what do unicorns want?
Let’s sum up the key themes
 Organization with big learning opportunities/real problems to solve
 New MarTech stacks to create from the ground up
 Scale: bigger budget, bigger teams, bigger impact
 Budget for doing and learning
 Risk-taking culture
 Support from the top
v
b

32. Your next steps for
attracting a unicorn v
b Get clear on what your organization is looking to learn now. This will help you
decide what you need in a marketing technologist.
 Understand marketing technologists. Do some market research with them.
 Identify what’s cool about your technology, opportunity, and/or organization.
 Channel that cool factor into a compelling job spec and other materials to market your role.
 Approach your unicorns with your informed and irresistible pitch.

33. Want help?
And sign up for The Connective Good’s newsletter, with
regular tips on recruiting great analytical marketing
talent
Erica Seidel
Founder
The Connective Good
Recruiting rare talent for the marketing tech ecosystem
erica@theconnectivegood.com | @erica_seidel
Contact me

34. Thank you…
to each unicorn who participated in this project
…and to Lisa Finch, visual designer