Layoffs, restructuring, and vanishing entry-level roles: the past year has brought little relief for agency talent navigating a volatile job market.
Since January 2022, staff-level jobs at U.S. ad agencies have declined by more than 10%, according to Live Data Technologies. Entry-level positions are being hit hardest, as agencies automate routine tasks and lean more heavily into AI.
The industry has yet to recover to its pre‑2023 peak of 228,000 jobs. Ad agency employment now sits at around 219,500 jobs, down nearly 4% year‑over‑year.
Following cost-cutting efforts at WPP and Interpublic Group—including hundreds of layoffs and sweeping reorganizations—and ahead of the latter’s acquisition by Omnicom, holding companies are increasingly adopting AI and offshoring functions to boost efficiency amid mounting profit pressures.
While executive- and director-level roles have remained relatively stable, junior talent looking to break into the ad industry are facing a shrinking pipeline of traditional entry-level roles.
“We’re seeing the erosion of the apprentice model,” said Jay Pattisall, principal analyst at Forrester. “Agencies are playing the role of editors now—orchestrating workflows, managing creators, content pipelines, influencer strategies. That requires seasoned professionals.”
AI-related job skills are also becoming standard; mentions of AI in global job listings for advertising and marketing roles have jumped more than 67% year over year, according to a recent report from Autodesk.
As the agency job market shifts, a new wave of independent and private equity-backed shops is hiring in earnest—and reshaping the profile of ad industry talent.
The New Agency Hirers
Independent full-service agency Known is currently hiring for 30 open roles, representing about 7% of its workforce. The hiring spree comes as Known is growing between 20% and 30% year over year, according to CEO Kern Schireson.
“It’s driven by demand for the things that we do—and that’s inseparable from the talent we hire,” he said.
DEPT, a global agency backed by PE firm Carlyle Group, is seeing similar momentum. It is growing double digits and has more than 130 open roles across the Americas—nearly 10% of its regional headcount. Most of those roles are mid- to senior-level.