The Australian retail media market in 2025 is marked by rapid growth, and teams are chasing talent who understand in-store retail, cross-channel digital marketing, media planning and buying, strategy, audience segmentation, commerce, data and insights, ad tech — the list goes on.

Once considered a niche channel, retail media has exploded into a multi-billion-dollar global industry and Australia is quickly maturing as an industry. As major retailers build their own media networks, brands are realising the potential of connecting with shoppers at the point of purchase, using rich first-party data to deliver more targeted, measurable campaigns.

For talent, this growth means a wave of new opportunities from specialist roles within retailer-owned networks, to agency teams, vendors and tech platforms supporting the ecosystem.

We’re seeing demand across multiple skill sets:

1. Retail Media Managers & Specialists

Focused on campaign delivery, ad inventory management and liaising with brand partners. These roles require strong stakeholder management and a mix of media and commercial acumen.

2. Data & Insights Analysts

Experts who translate first-party shopper data into actionable insights informing targeting, creative and campaign optimisation.

3. Partnerships & Sales Managers

Building relationships with brands and agencies to drive media revenue. Often these roles seek talent with a background in media sales or publisher environments. rom a sales perpective, the ability to present compelling stories with customer data is vital.

4. Ad Operations Specialists

Hands-on delivery roles managing ad trafficking, QA, reporting and troubleshooting. Experience with retail media ad tech is a bonus.

5. Strategy & Product Roles

One of the most challenging roles to find in the current market, the product manager shaping the offering, pricing models and product roadmap of a retail media network. Often involves cross-functional collaboration between marketing, eCommerce, and technology teams.

Skills in Demand

• Media planning and buying experience (particularly from publisher backgrounds)
• Advertising Sales (being able to tell a compelling story with customer data insights)
• Knowledge of retail and eCommerce ecosystems
• Stakeholder engagement and partner management
• Data literacy — ability to interpret and act on insights
• Ad tech know-how (DSPs, retail media platforms, attribution tools)
• Adaptability – can cope with the level of change and ambiguity in a growing industry

Opportunities for Talent

If you’re coming from media, advertising or eCommerce, retail media could be your next big career move. It can be a perfect opportunity for agency talent to move to an in-house environment as big retailers start to build in-house teams and the perfect opportunity to combine marketing, data, technology, and retail capabilities in a dynamic and fast-growing sector.