Key Takeaways
- Australia's hiring landscape is currently experiencing a multitude of contradictory forces from wage stagnation, strong employment, and shifting hiring needs
- The “skill stack” is replacing the job title. Hiring and pay are now tied to a hybrid mix, or “stack”, of technical, digital, and human capabilities.
- Human-centric skills like strategy and account management are earning a premium as AI automates routine production tasks.
- Building leadership from within is essential to closing the growing experience gap in today's talent market. Organisations are required to build internally through upskilling, rather than just buying expensive talent.
If there’s one way to describe the Australian job market in 2026, it’s this: Two things can be true at the same time. Employment is still relatively strong, and unemployment remains low. But at the same time, 67% of businesses say they’re struggling to find the talent they need for their roles. Add to that flat wage growth in some areas, and hiring leaders are navigating a pretty complex landscape.
Our latest Aquent 2026 Australian Salary Guide looks at more than 5,400 real-time salaries across marketing, creative, design, and tech. What we’re seeing is a market in transition. AI isn’t replacing jobs en masse, but it IS reshaping them. And increasingly, a candidate’s value isn’t defined by their title—it’s defined by their skill stack.
Here are the five trends we're seeing play out across the job market:
1. A two-speed economy: Data vs. creative roles
One of the clearest patterns in this year’s data is the widening gap between technical and creative roles.
Data and analytics are driving salary growth right now. Wages in this area are up 8.2% year-on-year—more than double the overall industry average of 3.1%. That reflects just how dependent organisations have become on data, automation, and machine learning. There simply aren’t enough skilled people to meet the demand.
On the flip side, salary growth in creative and human-centred design has slowed. Creative roles are sitting at 1.6% growth, and human-centred design at 1.9%. Part of this is AI taking over some of the more production-heavy tasks, and the other part is simply more talent being available in the market.
What this means for hiring managers:
Flat budget increases across the board won’t cut it anymore. You’ll need to weigh your investment toward high-impact technical and data roles, because that’s where the real competition is.
2. Skill stacks are replacing static job titles
The days of paying someone purely based on their title or years of experience are fading fast.
In 2026, compensation is increasingly tied to skill stacks: The combination of technical, digital, and human skills someone brings to the table.
With around 90% of Australian jobs now touched by AI in some form, organisations are looking for hybrid talent. And by hybrid, we don’t mean location, we mean capability. Think of a Product Manager who understands AI governance, or a Content Strategist who can confidently work with LLM prompting.
What this means for hiring managers:
It’s time to revisit job descriptions and salary bands. Pay should reflect the depth and relevance of skills, not just tenure or a generic title.
3. The human premium and the rise of AI orchestration
While AI is everywhere, human skills are actually becoming more valuable, not less.
As automation takes over routine execution, people are shifting into what we call “AI orchestration” roles, which guide the strategy, shape the output, and manage the bigger picture.
You can see this in the salary data of our 2026 Salary Guide. While creative production roles have flattened, account management and strategy salaries grew by 4.7%. Junior Account Executive salaries jumped by a huge 20%.
What that tells us is simple: As more work becomes automated, the skills machines can’t replicate—think communication, relationship-building, commercial thinking, and strategic oversight—are getting harder to find.
4. The executive experience gap facing today's jobs
Another trend we’re seeing is a growing divide between entry-level talent and executive leadership.
C-suite salaries are growing at 5.3% year-on-year, well above the 3.1% average for directors and individual contributors. There’s a real premium on leaders who can navigate digital transformation, regulatory change, and cross-functional complexity.
But this top-heavy growth, combined with slower increases at the junior and mid levels, is creating what we’d call an “experience gap”.
What this means for hiring managers:
You can’t just buy leadership from the outside. It’s becoming too expensive and too risky. Organisations need to invest in their “missing middle” by mentoring, upskilling, and creating clear pathways into leadership roles.
5. Pay transparency is becoming a retention lever
On a positive note, we’re also seeing steady progress on the gender pay gap in Australia.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s latest data shows the national gap dropping by 0.7 percentage points, from 21.8% to 21.1%. That shift is largely driven by stronger reporting requirements and a broader push toward pay transparency.
In marketing, design, and tech, the pay gap is already much smaller—and it’s closing further. It’s dropped from 5.33% last year to 3.56% this year, a 1.77 percentage point improvement.
For hiring managers, transparency is no longer just about compliance. It’s a powerful retention tool. When people understand how pay is linked to skills and progression, it builds trust and encourages continuous learning.
Three strategic recommendations for hiring leaders
Based on what we’re seeing, there are three clear actions for hiring leaders:
- Invest in high-value skills: Shift the conversation from headcount to capability. Focus on hybrid skills that drive efficiency and growth.
- Anchor pay to competency: Use competency frameworks so salaries reflect the rarity and commercial impact of a person's skill stack.
- Bridge the experience gap: Don't just buy talent, build it. Invest in upskilling your existing workforce, especially in AI tools, to keep your teams resilient and future-ready.
For a comprehensive breakdown of salaries across 100+ marketing, creative, design and technology roles, download the full Aquent 2026 Australian Salary Guide.
About the author
As the Managing Director, my role is to continually review, develop, diversify and grow our business in Australia. Looking at our strategic direction, financial management (budgeting, financial forecasting, P&L, etc), people management, local sales and marketing, talent acquisition, retention and performance management. I'm an enthusiastic, positive and high impact leader with a proven ability to inspire high performing teams. I have over 15 years experience across general management, solutions focused sales, operations, finance and workforce solutions within multinational businesses. What I love: communicating and connecting with my colleagues and our clients to create the ultimate partnership. I'm good at: future-focused thinking, streamlining business operations, driving growth and inspiring high-performing sales teams. I have demonstrated experience in creating a client-centric approach along with implementing financial controls, productivity improvements and change management. What inspires me: my team, results, high energy, a growth mindset and positivity. What is my leadership style: I like to lead with integrity, self-awareness, courage, respect, empathy, and gratitude. I'm passionate, energetic, genuine and decisive and I look to establish a strong rapport with all of our staff both locally and internationally. What are my strengths: a deep understanding of the APAC region, identifying opportunities for growth, strategy, storytelling, people and culture and P&L management. Who I am outside of work: a partner, a very hands-on mum to three amazing tiny humans and fur pawrent to the world's laziest border collie! As someone with a ridiculous (and somewhat annoying) amount of energy, I can usually be found at the gym, the beach, on a trampoline, soccer field or on a climbing frame hoping to out-energise my kids!
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