How To Build An E-commerce Marketing Team That Drives Revenue
6 minutes
8 May 2025
Building a high-performing e-commerce marketing team is one of the most critical steps in scaling your business online. Without the right people handling customer acquisition, content, SEO, and paid ads, you risk falling behind competitors who execute their marketing strategies more effectively.
The right team can make your brand visible, bring in high-intent traffic, and turn visitors into paying customers. But how do you figure out who you need? How should responsibilities be divided? And how do you avoid wasting time (or money) on the wrong hires?
This guide walks you through what your e-commerce marketing team should look like and how to structure your team for maximum results. Whether hiring your first marketer or expanding an existing team, you’ll learn how to build a results-driven team from the ground up.
Understanding The E-commerce Team Structure
An e-commerce marketing team doesn’t work in isolation. It’s part of a larger system that keeps your business moving, and if that system’s misaligned, you’ll burn budget, miss targets, and lose customers to brands that have their act together.
The question isn’t just who to hire but how they’ll work together. A solid structure ensures your team isn’t stepping on each other’s toes or leaving major gaps in your strategy. Let’s get into the key roles that make it all work.
Roles and responsibilities of a good e-commerce team
E-commerce Marketing Manager
This person oversees the entire marketing operation. They set goals, allocate budgets, and make sure campaigns actually drive sales instead of just looking good on a PowerPoint slide. They work closely with leadership to align marketing efforts with business objectives and ensure the team stays focused on results.
Content Marketer / Copywriter
A great product doesn’t sell itself – someone has to craft compelling stories, product descriptions, emails, and blog posts that make customers take action. Your content marketer keeps your brand voice consistent and ensures your message isn’t lost in a sea of generic marketing fluff.
SEO Specialist
Without SEO, your site might as well be a storefront in the desert – no signs, roads, or foot traffic. Your SEO specialist ensures your store ranks on Google, optimising product pages, blog content, and site structure so customers find you when they search for what you sell.
If you need guidance on hiring one, check out our blog to know what skills to look for when hiring an SEO professional.
Paid Ads Specialist
Running ads without a strategy is a great way to burn through cash fast. A paid ads specialist manages your PPC (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.), optimising campaigns to maximise ROI. Their job isn’t just to drive traffic, it’s to attract the right traffic that actually converts.
Social Media Manager
This role goes way beyond posting memes and hoping for likes. A social media manager is responsible for growing your audience, increasing engagement, and turning followers into customers. Whether it’s organic content, influencer partnerships, or paid social campaigns, they ensure your brand stays at the top of your mind.
Email Marketing Specialist
Email marketing is still one of the highest ROI channels in e-commerce (when done right). An email marketing specialist will handle automated flows (welcome series, abandoned cart emails, post-purchase sequences) and campaign emails, ensuring your subscribers don’t just open your emails but actually buy from them.
Data Analyst
Data shows you what’s actually working and what’s not. Your analyst tracks key metrics, identifies patterns, and helps the team make informed decisions. If a campaign flops, they figure out why. If something’s working, they show how to double down on it.
Graphic Designer / Creative Lead
From website banners to ad creatives, visuals matter. This person ensures your brand looks professional, your ads stop the scroll, and your product images make people want to buy.
💡 Your team size should match your growth stage. If you’re in the early days, some roles can be combined, but as you scale, hire for focus, as that’s when specialists start paying off.
Next, we’ll get into how to structure your team for efficiency and growth.
Structuring Your E-commerce Marketing Team for Growth
Hiring great people is one thing; ensuring they work together efficiently is another. A poorly structured team leads to confusion, duplicated efforts, and campaigns that never quite hit their potential. Here’s how to set up your team for maximum impact:
Small Business or Startup (1-3 Marketers)
When you’re just starting, you need versatility. One person might simultaneously wear multiple hats, handling content, social media, and email marketing. A lean but effective setup could look like this:
Marketing Manager – Oversees strategy, performance, and budget allocation.
Generalist Marketer – Manages content, email marketing, social media, and basic SEO.
Paid Ads Specialist – Runs Google and social media ads to drive traffic and sales.
If your budget is tight, start with a generalist marketer – someone scrappy who can write, analyse, launch campaigns, and adjust on the fly.
Mid-Sized Business (4-7 Marketers)
Once you have steady revenue, specialisation becomes more critical. You’ll need dedicated roles for key functions, reducing bottlenecks and improving efficiency:
Marketing Manager – Leads the team and ensures alignment with business goals.
Content Marketer – Creates product descriptions, blog content, and email copy.
SEO Specialist – Optimises product pages and blog content for organic traffic.
Paid Ads Specialist – Manages PPC campaigns and optimises ad spend.
Social Media Manager – Grows engagement and drives brand awareness.
Email Marketing Specialist – Handles automated and promotional email campaigns.
This setup ensures specialists cover all significant areas while allowing collaboration between roles.
Enterprise-Level (8+ Marketers)
Once you’re at scale, structure matters as much as talent. Deep specialisation helps, but only if your teams communicate and stay aligned. Here’s how you can split your team into sub-departments, each focused on a specific marketing channel:
Head of Marketing – Sets high-level strategy and oversees all marketing efforts.
Performance Marketing Team – Handles PPC, retargeting, and paid media strategy.
Content & SEO Team – Focuses on organic traffic, brand storytelling, and site optimisation.
CRM & Email Team – Manages customer retention, loyalty programs, and automated workflows.
Creative Team – Designs ads, landing pages, and product visuals.
Analytics Team – Tracks performance, attribution, and customer behaviour data.
At this stage, transparent processes and communication channels are essential. Without them, even the best e-commerce marketing teams can become inefficient, with different departments working in silos instead of as a unified force.
How to Hire the Right People for Your E-commerce Marketing Team
Start with role clarity. Define what each team member will own, what outcomes they're responsible for, and how their success will be measured. The more specific you are, the more likely you are to attract candidates who can actually do the job.
Look for people with hands-on e-commerce experience, ideally those who’ve worked at startups or scaled DTC brands. Test projects and structured interviews work better than resumes for spotting real talent. Focus on how they think, not just what they've done.
If you’re unsure what skills to look for or how to assess a high-quality e-commerce marketer properly, we’ve got you. At GrowthBuddy, we specialise in finding and vetting top-tier marketing talent – people with real experience driving growth for online brands. We handle the entire hiring process and deliver candidates you can trust to perform from day one.
Just tell us what you’re looking for, and we’ll handle the rest!