Boston, MA – January 14, 2026 – Aquent, a global workforce solutions company, has released its 2026 Salary Guide for marketing, creative, and design and technology professionals, offering a data-driven view of compensation trends from the past year. The guide shows that year-over-year salary growth for individual contributors and managers has returned to pre-pandemic levels at 3.8 percent. The salary data revealed in this guide provides a blueprint for companies in this AI era, covering how key roles are transforming, which high-impact positions are emerging and strategic guidance on how to prepare as the industry evolves.
“AI isn’t just reshaping jobs, it’s intensifying the competition for scarce skills,” said John H. Chuang, CEO of Aquent. “The fastest salary growth is flowing to roles that combine technical depth with the ability to apply AI at scale, and that gap will only widen. Business leaders must understand which skills will drive performance, and how to attract, retain and deploy that talent before competitors.”
Fastest-Growing Salaries Reflect AI and Digital Demand
This year’s salary guide revealed a stark divide between growth areas and stagnating roles, as machine learning engineers experienced a median salary growth of 6 percent year over year, more than double the 2.8 percent growth seen among copy editors. This contrast highlights how AI-adjacent skills are now primary drivers of compensation growth, while roles less connected to digital transformation and roles easily replaced by automated tools experience slower momentum.
Among the highest-growing roles (median salaries):
- Data Scientist: $131,935 (5.5 percent YOY growth)
- Data Engineer: $113,684 (5 percent YOY growth)
- Technical Lead: $136,651 (5 percent YOY growth)
Leadership Roles See Steepest Pay Increases
Salary growth is even more pronounced for those in leadership. Furthermore, the largest salary jumps occur for leaders at the enterprise level, or companies with 10,000 or more employees, where median base salaries for leaders are 8.6 percent higher on average than at large companies.
Among the highest-growing Director+ roles at the enterprise level:
- CTO / Head of Engineering: $434,453 (6 percent YOY growth)
- CMO / Head of Marketing: $417,881 (5.5 percent YOY growth)
- VP of Engineering / Software Development: $395,396 (5.5 percent YOY growth)
The data reflects a job landscape that values leaders who can manage large and complex projects while successfully implementing emerging technologies into business operations.
Emerging Roles Signal the Future of Work
The data also points to a new class of high-paying emerging roles built around AI strategy and implementation. AI Product Managers are the highest-paid emerging role, with a median base salary of $162,000. Top-paying emerging roles include (median salaries):
- AI Domain Specialist / Trainer: $115,000
- Natural Language Processing Engineer: $155,623
- Blockchain Engineer: $135,439
Companies' Next Steps: Strengthen Talent Pipelines and Pay Frameworks
This year’s guide outlines several immediate actions for organizations, including aligning pay with the skills that drive AI performance and competitive advantage. It also emphasizes strengthening the talent pipeline, as slow entry-level wage growth threatens future leadership development. Finally, clear, data-driven pay frameworks can help organizations remain competitive while improving trust, retention and pay equity.
Aquent's comprehensive Salary Guide is a resource for job seekers and employers alike. Further explore the data by accessing Aquent's 2026 Salary Guide here.
About Aquent
Aquent is the leading global work solutions company helping guide businesses toward the talent, technology, and services they need to excel. From specialty recruiting and talent experience to creative strategy and project management, Aquent is making the future of work better for everyone. Its brands include Skill, Aquent Talent, Aquent Studios, Aquent RoboHead, Aquent Scout and Aquent Employer of Record. To learn more, visit aquent.com.
Media Contact: Anna Grace Thompson — annagrace.thompson@pinkston.co or (571) 429-2482
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