International Women’s Day 2026: The AdTech Gender Pay Gap

 4th Mar 2026

In our International Women’s Day 2025 report, we identified a gender pay gap of 15.6% across Marketing, Sales, Media & Creative, driven not only by differences in salary, but by structural differences in progression. Women were well represented at mid-career levels, but their presence declined at senior leadership levels. This reinforced a critical point: the gender pay gap is shaped as much by progression as by pay.

One year on, data from our 2026 Salary & Work Insights Survey allows us to examine AdTech & Commercial specifically, combining professionals working across AdTech/MarTech, SaaS, and Publisher/Media Owner companies.

The latest data reveals a complex and nuanced picture. Women are well represented in middle management positions, earning salaries equal to or higher than men. However, progression into the senior leadership positions remains uneven, and it is here that the most significant differences in earnings emerge. This is not a traditional glass ceiling preventing women from entering leadership roles altogether. Instead, it is a ceiling at the very top floor where the lack of female representation is starkest.

AdTech & Commercial salary comparison by seniority

The following table combines salary data across AdTech/MarTech, SaaS, and Publisher/Media Owner roles, self-reported by respondents in our 2026 Salary & Work Insights Survey, using midpoint salary estimates from reported salary bands. In total, we surveyed 74 women and 96 men from Manager up to C-Suite level.

Women earn more at mid-career level, but the gap reverses in leadership

At Manager level, women actually earn more than men on average. Female Managers earn £61,848 on average, compared with £58,725 for men, representing a 5.3% advantage in favour of women. With sample sizes of 46 women and 51 men, this is not a marginal difference, and it demonstrates clearly that women are entering leadership pipelines at competitive salary levels.

This finding is important because it confirms that the gender pay gap in AdTech is not driven by unequal pay at entry into leadership. Instead, the gap emerges as careers progress.

• At Head-of level, women earn 14.9% less than men
• At Director level, women earn 13.2% less
• By C-Suite level, the gap widens dramatically, with women earning 33.3% less than men

This progression pattern reveals that the gender pay gap in AdTech is fundamentally a progression gap.

The overall senior leadership gender pay gap

When combining all senior leadership roles (Head-of, Director, and C-Suite), the overall averages are:

This creates a senior leadership gender pay gap of 12.5%.

It is narrower than the 15.6% overall pay gap across Marketing, Sales, Media & Creative identified in our 2025 report but still represents a significant difference in earnings at the highest levels of the profession. Crucially, this gap exists despite women earning more at Manager level, reinforcing that inequality emerges through progression, not entry-level pay.

To further highlight the disparity across senior leadership roles, the average gender pay gap of £14,632 per year represents a substantial difference in annual earnings. Over the course of a typical 15-year leadership career, this equates to approximately £219,000 in lost earnings for female leaders compared with their male counterparts.

Top leadership remains male-dominated

The most striking disparity in the data emerges at C-Suite level, where representation drops sharply for women despite relatively strong progression into leadership roles overall. Within our C-Suite sample, there was just one female respondent compared with four male respondents. While women are progressing into senior leadership roles, the final transition into top leadership positions appears less accessible, reinforcing the existence of a structural barrier at the very top.

A strong pipeline, but a narrowing path to the top

Encouragingly, the broader leadership pipeline appears relatively healthy, with women well represented across mid-level and senior leadership roles. Based on our survey data, women account for approximately 47% of Manager-level professionals and 40% of Directors, demonstrating that women are clearly progressing into leadership positions.

However, this representation continues to decline higher up the career ladder. The progression pattern suggests that the primary barrier facing women in AdTech is not entry into leadership, but advancement beyond senior operational roles into the highest strategic and executive positions. This is the defining structural challenge revealed by the data. The pipeline exists, and women are progressing through it, but far fewer are reaching the very top.

International Women’s Day 2026: Give To Gain

This year’s International Women’s Day theme, #GiveToGain, emphasises the importance of creating pathways that enable individuals to reach their full leadership potential. Supporting progression into these roles is essential to achieving genuine equality. Because equality is not defined only by access to leadership, it is defined by access to opportunity at every rung of the leadership ladder. To learn more about this year’s International Women’s Day theme and how you can get involved, visit the official IWD campaign website.

Key AdTech & Commercial findings

• Women earn 5.3% more than men at Manager level

• Women earn 12.5% less than men at senior leadership level

• Women earn 33.3% less than men at C-Suite level

• There were no female C-Suite respondents in SaaS or Publisher sectors

• The gender pay gap emerges through progression, not starting salaries