Engineering remains one of America's most male-dominated professions: as of 2023, women held just 16% of engineering roles in the U.S. Marketing tells a different story. While not perfectly balanced, the field leans female, with women occupying roughly 60% of marketing positions.
But a curious trend in recent job postings has sparked debate: is marketing undergoing a subtle reinvention—one that might make it more appealing to men?
The "Engineer" Rebrand
The conversation ignited when brand consultant Miranda Shanahan highlighted a pattern on LinkedIn. In a TikTok video that has since reached over 1 million views, she argued: "I'm convinced marketing jobs are being rebranded so that boys can do it too."
Her observation? Familiar marketing roles are increasingly appearing under new, technically coded titles: "senior branding engineer," "marketing engineer," "GTM [go-to-market] engineer."
But what do these roles actually entail? A closer look reveals responsibilities that align closely with traditional marketing functions:
- Quizlet's "UGC Engineer" seeks someone to lead creators, shape content strategy, and understand viral trends—core marketing competencies.
- Baseten's "Content Engineer" is described as "a primarily technical writing position."
- Stable's inaugural "Growth Engineer" will handle data analysis, targeted outreach, and marketing asset management.
Many of these positions do include technical components like software engineering or web design. Yet the core functions often remain rooted in strategy, storytelling, and audience engagement—the hallmarks of marketing.
History Repeating Itself?
Shanahan draws a parallel to the mid-20th-century evolution of programming. Once a female-dominated field viewed as clerical work, computing underwent a cultural shift with the rise of the personal computer. As the profession gained prestige and higher pay, fewer women pursued it—a pattern some scholars attribute to deliberate rebranding and shifting perceptions of "technical" work.
"Software was feminized when it was considered clerical, masculinized when it became high status," Shanahan explains. "Marketing was feminized when it was 'making things pretty.' Now, marketing is being masculinized because AI has made it so anyone can code, and now the biggest problem is distribution."
Her concern isn't about the work itself, but about perception and access: "This technical language is being applied to earn respect with leadership, without considering what that means for who those roles might go to and who feels qualified to apply."
Of course, jobs don't have genders. Men have always worked in marketing; women have always worked in engineering. But given the persistent gender gaps in both fields, a linguistic shift that makes marketing sound more "technical" warrants scrutiny.
The Debate Heats Up
Shanahan's video quickly polarized social media. On X (formerly Twitter), many users echoed her concerns:
"Someone at Ramp once told me 'growth is marketing when men do it.'"
"It's hard to find jobs that are actually in my field because they've started using tech buzzwords for job descriptions to make men feel like they're doing something when it's really just a role that would previously be like a secretary or something."
Journalist Taylor Lorenz endorsed the take: "They're calling social media managers 'growth engineers' now. She's 100% spot-on with this analysis."
But not everyone agrees. Julia Pintar, cofounder of UGC company Playkit—who says she coined the term "UGC engineer"—called Shanahan's interpretation "so backwards."
"We call it this because distribution is integral to a company's success—it's a big-time job," Pintar countered. "The nomenclature gives these roles the integrity that they deserve—we can't win the gender war if we refuse to be equal."
Others argue the title changes reflect genuine evolution, not gendered rebranding:
"The reason why job titles have changed is not because men now do the jobs women were doing & therefore [it's] called 'engineering' now. That kind of work has traditionally been called engineering, so the title has simply changed to reflect the evolution of the role itself."
Indeed, as marketing increasingly relies on data analytics, automation tools, and AI-driven content, the line between "creative" and "technical" continues to blur. Many modern marketing roles now require coding skills, A/B testing expertise, or platform integrations that didn't exist a decade ago.
The Bigger Question
So what's really happening? Is this a cynical rebrand to attract male talent to a female-leaning field? Or is it an honest acknowledgment that marketing itself has become more technical—and that job titles should reflect that reality?
The answer likely lies somewhere in between. Language shapes perception, and perception influences who applies, who gets hired, and who advances. If "engineer" signals higher status, broader skill requirements, or greater compensation, then the shift matters—not just for gender representation, but for how we value different kinds of work.
What remains clear: as industries evolve, so do the words we use to describe them. The challenge is ensuring that evolution expands opportunity—rather than quietly narrowing it.