It's been a little while since my last market insights (back in December), and that's not due to forgetfulness!

Over the Christmas ‘break’, I found myself surprisingly busy with senior-level (Head of and Director) positions. It was the first real indication that the leadership talent pool, which had been incredibly deep throughout 2024 and much of 2025 following widespread restructures, was starting to thin out. It gave me a little false hope that the market might be finding its feet, and that we'd continue the gradual growth we'd seen last year, setting us up for a more buoyant 2027, as many of us had cautiously predicted.

Then February arrived...

As geopolitical events unfolded, we saw an immediate handbrake applied to hiring. Roles dried up overnight, and for the first time in my 15 years recruiting marketing, communications and sales professionals, I was at a loss to voice any insights or forecasting.

That uncertainty continued through March and much of April. In fact, I found myself apologising to Jessie for convincing her to move from our Wellington office to join me in Auckland!

Thankfully, things have shifted. Since the Budget announcement, contracting activity has picked up considerably. Most engagements are still cautious, with initial terms of around three months, but the roles are there again.

My expectation is that this momentum (see what I did there?) will continue through to the election as organisations look to deliver key pieces of work while delaying longer-term permanent decisions.

A message to the industry: One overwhelmingly consistent piece of feedback I've heard from candidates (at every level), is the lack of communication during recruitment processes. Not even a standard ‘thanks, but no thanks’ email which we all know is only a click of a mouse away. It's disappointing, and frankly, it's not good enough.

So this is a plea to my fellow recruiters and to internal talent teams and hiring managers: please close the loop. Employer branding and candidate journeys should always be considered, and you forget this at your peril as candidate pool shrinks.

Auckland Market Snapshot

Communications:

Communications has seen one of the strongest rebounds in the roles we’re recruiting.

Permanent opportunities have increased around the five-year experience level due to many of these candidates heading overseas for their OE or relocating to Australia.

I've also seen something I've never encountered before: multiple urgent contract requirements for proactive PR specialists. The feedback I'm hearing is that this is being driven by the shift from traditional SEO towards GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation). Organisations are realising that to appear in AI-generated search results, they need a steady stream of quality, authoritative content. It's becoming much harder to simply "newsjack" (a new term I've picked up recently!), so businesses are investing in specialists who can proactively build their profile.

Marketing:

Marketing hiring remains steady at the mid-to-senior level.

The most sought-after roles continue to be:

• Marketing Managers who can own end-to-end campaigns, manage agencies and deliver commercially.
• Brand Managers, particularly within FMCG, where investment has remained relatively consistent despite broader market caution.

UX/UI:

These roles remain subdued compared with the peak hiring years of 2021-2023. That said, selective hiring has resumed, primarily through very short-term contract engagements where organisations need specialist capability at a certain point of a project.

Customer Experience (CX):

After a quieter 2025, organisations are beginning to reinvest in customer retention and experience initiatives. It's still early, but there are encouraging signs that CX is becoming a priority again (from a consumer standpoint, I’m grateful for this!)

Sales:

No major changes here - Senior Business Development Managers across SaaS, data and technology continue to be in demand. At this level, established New Zealand networks and a proven ability to generate revenue within a sales cycle remain essential. Clients are looking for people who can hit the ground running for immediate impact on the revenue. No mean feat.

As always, if you'd like to talk through what you're seeing in your market, benchmark salaries, discuss hiring plans or simply compare notes over a coffee, I'm forever keen to catch up to share some thoughts.

katewilliams@momentum.co.nz