The Creative Store Australia Salary Survey 2024

Our 2024 salary review is a guide on how the industry is performing - a gauge on the Australian market.  Figures are based on the candidates we meet, their current salaries and their skills vs salaries.  This combined with our client salary expectations gives an overall market expectation.

Changes and salary trends in the industry we have noted:

Salaries continue to adjust post Covid era, however there is now a steadying of salaries – they have grown from the 2019 level, yet down from the 2021/2022 over-inflated expectations.

Added Incentives - Besides base pay, we are finding creatives are looking for roles that come with extra perks like performance-based bonuses, profit-sharing, and health benefits, adding significant value to the overall package.

Influence on Redundancies – Globally 2023 and continuing into 2024, there has been large scale redundancies across agency, digital and client-side marketing.

Significant growth in demand for midweight ‘content’ focused roles that are hybrid in nature. For example, these roles often require content creation (design/ video/ copy), content production and content management (web/ social/ email), as well as being able tweak strategy on a day-to-day basis through data lead insights. Job titles for this new breed of content roles has varied significantly.

Digital Design roles have been more popular - this job title is not a deep dive UI but more reflects working with digital assets, landing pages, EDM campaigns and banners, where proficiency in Figma, Squarespace, After Effects or Premier Pro are generally requested.

We have seen a change in the average scope for Social Media Manager roles. Where previously these were quite junior level roles, with the focus being on execution and community management, they now require a more senior level skill set that includes strategic content decisions, hands-on creative skills and a strong handle on trends and audience behaviour.

Social media roles with a heavy focus on paid advertising are becoming more commonly briefed, with candidate skillsets yet to meet this requirement.

Digital marketing roles continue to get more technical and more specialised, with growth in email marketing/marketing automation, data and CRO.

Power of Portfolios - Portfolio’s still hold immense weight in the creative industry. Display work aligned with the company's ethos. Showcasing a broad skill set is crucial, while overly specialized work might not always hit the mark.

While WFH and hybrid working continues, many agencies’ expectations are 3-4 days in the office with flexibility.  Candidates are expressing a preference for 2-3 days in the office per week to collaborate and connect with colleagues – particularly in agency environments. Remote only roles have dried up but remain prevalent in the digital / developer side.

UX and UI roles really dried up during 2023 - the post-Covid environment saw Graphic Designers upskilling and transitioning into UI and UX, which resulted in more supply and less demand during the year.

‘Creative’ is the new job title – graduates now have mixed skillset ie blend of Art Direction & Copywriting, or Design & Motion, Social Media Manager & Designer.

With all the creative industry redundancies during 2023, helped drive the requests for copywriters and or art directors who have the ability to handle both skillsets.

Lots more complexity with Motion Designers and Editors moving into audio requirements, including offline and online skills.

Content continues to be king with growth, especially in the video space - more roles merging the lines between the management of social media channels and reporting and creating the assets with an in-depth knowledge of Adobe CC including Premiere Pro and After Effects.  Canva is still popular, however this skill is requested less.

We have seen a range of new senior design job titles that all mean the same thing: Design Lead, Head of Design, Experience Design Lead, Design Manager - we would still group these under Design Director level.

Digital Design roles have been more popular - this job title is not a deep dive into UI but is more likely to reflect working with digital assets, landing pages, EDM campaigns and banners.

The request for Developers has commenced in early 2024. The last half of 2023 showed a real slow down.  More and more companies are using local market developers, rather than putting the projects offshore.

Growth of strong international candidates bringing in a technical digital marketing skillset.

If you have any questions or queries or would like salary $s for specific roles - contact Louise@thecreativestore.com.au

Australian salary figures exclude Super contribution.