I have spent the last four months speaking with e-commerce leaders and senior candidates daily. One trend stands out: there is a significant shortage of quality talent across almost every pocket of the Amazon ecosystem. As client side brands look to grow, the traditional preference for hiring purely from other in-house teams is shifting as the market becomes more bouyant.
Every day, I am seeing more Heads of Amazon, D2C and e-commerce directors look toward agencies to find their next mid – senior hires. Agencies have become incubators for the exact type of talent that fast-growing brands need right now as pace & agility become premium requirements in the current market.
The Breadth of Agency Experience
The primary reason I see brands “fishing” from agencies is the sheer amount of exposure these candidates have. An in-house hire often wins on depth & tangible results: they know one brand, one catalogue, and one set of internal processes inside out. This works well when a business is stable and every task is clearly defined and candidates can point to end to end ownership of results.
However, agency talent brings a different set of skills:
- Multiple Categories: An agency account manager might look after beauty, electronics, and FMCG brands simultaneously. They understand how different algorithms and consumer behaviours affect various sectors.
- Speed of Growth: Brands today want to scale quickly. Agency professionals are used to high-pressure environments where they must deliver results for several clients at once.
- End-to-End Ownership: In many AMZ agencies, Account Managers and Client Directors own the entire brand relationship. They handle everything from strategy to execution.
Hire direct from Amazon?
I often hear from clients that candidates coming directly from Amazon can sometimes feel more like project managers than hands-on operators – they can run a great process which fits businesses with great structure. While they understand the internal workings of the platform, they may lack the “scrappy” execution skills required by a D2C brand – the vast majority of these have minimal structure and need talent who work with ambiguity (or chaos depending on the time of year!)
In contrast, performance marketers and account leads in agencies are usually in the weeds of the data every day. For a D2C brand that views itself as agile and fast-moving, the agency mindset often feels like a more natural fit than the more “polished” approach of a Blue Chip or Amazon corporate hire.
The Reality of the Move In-house
While the move from an agency to a brand is popular, it does come with specific challenges that I discuss with candidates regularly.
- Salary Adjustments: It is common for candidates to sacrifice a portion of their base salary or bonus structure when moving from a high-level agency role to an in-house position. The trade-off is usually more focus and a closer connection to the product.
- Cultural Shifts: Moving from a fast-paced agency to a brand requires a change in pace. You move from managing ten brands to being responsible for the long-term health of just one.
- Depth of Focus: For those who enjoy the variety of agency life, moving in-house can feel restrictive. I advise candidates to ensure the brand they join has a large enough catalogue or ambitious enough expansion plans to keep them engaged. They will face different challenges and need to recognise that they will be sacrificing some of the exhilarating highs agency life can offer.
Finding the Right Fit
The talent landscape is changing. Agencies are no longer just service providers; they are training grounds for the next generation of e-commerce leaders. Whether you are a brand looking to hire someone who can hit the ground running, or a senior agency professional looking to take ownership of a single brand, the opportunities are there.
Want to discuss it further? Reach out to me on luke@vertical-advantage.com.
