A growing sector makes a good opening line. IAB UK reports that UK retail media spend reached £3.8bn in 2025, up 18% on the previous year. That is a meaningful shift in where advertisers are spending. It tells a prospective hire very little about what they would be walking into at your business. IAB UK
AdTech hiring in 2026 is selective. In our searches, employers want people who can show revenue impact, build valuable customer relationships and explain complex technology in commercial terms. Experienced candidates, meanwhile, are looking closely at business stability, the scope of the job and whether the growth plan is achievable. Those are reasonable questions when someone is leaving a role where they are already doing well.
So, if you are hiring in a fast-moving part of AdTech, how well does your company story hold up once the conversation gets specific?
What is the customer actually buying?
Rodney, our Managing Director, raised a useful distinction in AI-native AdTech: businesses built around AI from the outset, and businesses that have added AI agents to an existing product. It is worth looking past either label to the customer problem underneath.
Say a platform promises faster creative testing. What was the customer’s old process? Which decisions does the technology make? What can the customer measure afterwards? Where does a person still need to check the work? If the team can answer those questions with a real example, a prospective commercial hire has something they can take into a buyer meeting.
There may be a strong business case for AI added to an established platform, too. What matters is being able to show what changed for the customer. “AI-powered” on a job advert cannot carry the weight of a product demonstration, a clear use case and an honest account of what the technology can do today.
The same principle applies to hiring product and customer-facing people. They will want to understand the problem they are expected to solve and which parts of the proposition are proven. Give them the evidence you would want them to use with a sceptical customer.
Where does market growth meet your company’s plan?
Retail media is a good example of how a growing category can hide very different stages of business. One company may have signed brands who spend again every quarter. Another may have promising pilots but little repeat business yet. Both could offer an interesting job; they require different plans and different expectations of the person who joins.
What is already working? Where is revenue getting stuck? Can the business deliver and measure what the sales team promises? A candidate should know whether they are joining to extend something repeatable or to help find the first version that works.
Our 2026 AdTech salary report points to selective demand for sellers with established relationships, customer leaders who can protect and expand accounts, and specialists who can connect technical capability to commercial value. There is no single job title that covers all three needs. A strong brief says which result matters first.
This also helps a candidate make a fair decision. If they are being hired to establish a new market, tell them what is still untested. An experienced person can work with uncertainty when they know where it is and have the authority and resources to do something about it.
What would make a good candidate move?
Our consultants are finding that proven enterprise AdTech sellers are often well looked after where they are. They already know the sector is moving. They need to know why the next year at this particular company would be worth the change.
Be ready for questions about why the role is open, how the business is funded or performing, what progression could look like and who owns the decisions needed to hit the target. Give a straight answer where the plan is firm, and say where it is still developing. The package also needs to make sense alongside the target, sales cycle and support on offer.
The hiring process is part of that story. Rodney has seen lengthy, stakeholder-heavy interviews cost businesses strong candidates. Agree who needs to meet the person, what each conversation needs to establish and when a decision can be made. A thorough process can still respect someone’s time.
A quick test before the search starts
Ask the hiring team to finish these four sentences in plain English:
- Customers choose us because … and we can show it through …
- This hire will be responsible for … in their first 12 months.
- They will have … in budget, people, product support and decision-making authority.
- The most honest reason to join now is … and the biggest open question is …
If the answers disagree across your leadership team, that is useful to find out before candidates start asking. Work through the gaps, then build the brief around what the business can explain and support.
An industry growth chart may get a candidate to take your call. The answers about your customers, your product and the job will determine whether the conversation goes anywhere.
Hiring in AdTech? Talk to Grey Matter about the commercial problem behind your next hire.