2026 Hiring Trend: Sales & Marketing hiring market remains active despite economic headwinds

Up against challenging economic conditions, Taiwan’s businesses remained laser-focused on responding to market shifts and pursuing growth in 2025. Continued reorganisation efforts gave rise to more regionally-driven team structures, along with a growing reliance on data in decision-making. 

“Over the past two years, companies have adjusted team structures for greater agility and market responsiveness. In turn, these moves have transformed team dynamics, decision-making processes and talent deployment across industries,” relates Chuan Chang, Senior Manager at Robert Walters Taiwan. “Another emerging trend is the use of data analytics, which businesses believe uncover strategic insights that position them for growth.”

Read on to find out more about the labour market and hiring trends for Taiwan’s Sales & Marketing professionals in 2026.

Industry trends for 2026

Amid ongoing economic uncertainty, consumer spending has become more cautious. Combined with the continued rise in overseas travel, a portion of consumption has shifted away from the domestic market, placing pressure on local demand across industries. In response, organisations are not only reassessing their existing operating models but are also taking a more proactive approach to identifying new growth drivers and commercial opportunities. This includes diversifying sales channels, expanding into new markets, and accelerating product and service innovation. As a result, demand is rising for professionals with strong commercial strategy capabilities, data-driven insight, and market development experience—reflected in sustained hiring activity and team expansion across related roles.

Within the hiring market for FMCG and retail, there is growing demand for talent in areas like revenue growth and market research, with job scopes specifically calling for the use of data to drive strategy and innovation. Similarly, professionals experienced in new business development will also be in strong demand. Employers may take on candidates from other industries or overseas locales as the sector continues to face a shortage of skilled talent.

Meanwhile, little is expected to change within the marketing sector. The job market continues to be active, with healthy hiring volumes for roles in product marketing, digital marketing, consumer insight, business strategy and innovation marketing, and customer relationship management (CRM) and data. Candidates skilled in product innovation and OEM vendor management remain highly sought after, particularly if they can demonstrate experience in maximising marketing outcomes amidst limited budgets.

Chuan also anticipates a vibrant hiring market for sales positions. Consistent hiring activities are expected for positions like key account or channel manager, trade marketing head and commercial manager. There is also rising demand for commercial excellence managers, who will be expected to optimise pricing, promotions and sales processes through revenue growth management and analytics. Overall, businesses will seek support for diversifying and strengthening their e-commerce channels to expand market reach and improve customer engagement.

Most in-demand positions and skills

Within the FMCG and retail sector, businesses are prioritising the recruitment of hybrid talent to address the combined challenges of channel diversification, rapidly evolving consumer preferences, and ongoing digital transformation. Employers are increasingly seeking professionals who bring together strong commercial acumen, data-driven decision-making capabilities, and digital commerce expertise, with the aim of strengthening brand innovation and sustaining market competitiveness.

In parallel, organisations are placing greater emphasis on core professional attributes when evaluating candidates—particularly a performance-driven mindset and resilience in the face of organisational change. Talent with a “business partner” mentality is especially valued, as companies look to generate tangible commercial impact rather than purely functional outcomes. Key roles in demand include:

• Key Account Manager
• Channel Manager
• Innovation-focused Brand Manager
• E-business & Digital Marketing Manager

In marketing, hiring demand is primarily driven by business growth objectives. Chuan notes that, to achieve differentiation in an increasingly competitive market, marketing strategies are undergoing a clear transformation—shifting away from traditional one-way promotion towards customer-centric, technology-enabled operating models grounded in data and insight. Roles seeing the strongest demand include:

• Product Manager
• Digital & E-commerce Manager
• Insights & Market Research Manager

In addition, employers are placing growing importance on cross-market exposure and experience in product innovation and development, viewing these capabilities as critical enablers of global business growth. Professionals with such backgrounds remain highly scarce in the market and typically benefit from stronger salary negotiation leverage and greater career mobility when making a job move.

For sales, organisations are strengthening channel strategies and distributor management capabilities, leveraging data-driven insights to improve channel performance. As a result, professionals who can optimise sales effectiveness, execute integrated online-to-offline (OMO) strategies, and align trade marketing with e-commerce growth are gaining a clear competitive advantage. Roles seeing the strongest demand include:

• Key Account Manager
• Channel Manager
• Commercial Excellence
• Trade Marketing Manager
• E-business Manager

Beyond technical expertise in data analysis, e-commerce execution, and channel management, employers are placing increasing emphasis on cross-functional integration capabilities and soft skills, particularly as organisational structures become leaner and flatter. Strong English communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively across teams have become essential criteria when evaluating senior sales talent.

Advice for talent attraction and retention

Taiwan’s professionals now increasingly seek out meaning and purpose in their work. Many have shown willingness to take on new challenges to expand their skillsets and industry knowhow. They are balancing this drive for growth with a desire for work-life balance, which dovetails with a larger mindset across the market that now champions mental health and career breaks.

Therefore, it may come as no surprise that one of Chuan’s top recommendations for employers seeking to better retain their talent is to support flexibility and work-life balance. Candidates have a stated preference for one to two days of remote work per week, though Chuan adds that employers can also consider adjustable hours and location-agnostic roles.

To find and nurture top talent, companies are advised to promote internal mobility and expand their talent pool. Starting from open dialogues about career paths, employers can provide internal rotations across functions, categories or geographies to help employees grow and stay engaged. In hiring, employers should also prioritise soft skills and learning agility over traditional work experience. Chuan also advises looking beyond conventional profiles, as professionals from other industries bring fresh perspectives and transferable skills.

Lastly, Chuan recommends improving the candidate experience and focusing on employer branding, stating,

Use storytelling, social media and employee advocacy to amplify your reputation and attract high-calibre talent.

The salary increments for job movers

In 2026, salaries for job movers are expected to increase by 15–20%.

Chuan attributes this wage growth to a talent shortage in certain domains and leaner teams arising from restructuring. “Individual workloads have significantly increased, and many employees now have to engage directly with regional or global counterparts. Salaries will go up to reflect these added responsibilities and complexities.”

Find out more

Request access to our 2026 Salary Survey to benchmark salaries and to find out more about key hiring trends in Taiwan.