Customer success manager is officially the fastest growing job in Australia, closely followed by a handful of different tech roles.

LinkedIn has released its Emerging Jobs report, detailing the job titles that have seen the largest growth in terms of frequency on the site over the past five years.

And it’s all about tech.

The top five emerging jobs are:

  • Customer success manager
  • Data scientist
  • Full stack engineer
  • Cyber security specialist
  • Experience designer

The growing popularity of the customer success manager (CSM) is a direct result of the global rise of Software as a Service (SaaS), according to the LinkedIn.

“As more companies shift to cloud-based SaaS, demand for the CSM role is likely to grow and spread into a range of areas that might once have been dominated by more traditional marketing and sales roles,” says LinkedIn in the report.

“Organisations now understand the cost to acquire new business far outweighs the cost of keeping existing customers happy, so maintaining positive engagement with customers is key.”

Due to SaaS products running on an annual renewal basis, companies hire CSMs to ensure the software is used successfully and annual renewal revenue is secured.

The data also shows that many CSMs come into the role with a background as a project manager, business development manager or account manager.

Due to their versatility and ability to run a project from start to finish, full stack engineers have also experienced significant growth in demand over the past five years.

“Full stack engineers never used to be a thing, but our back-end team started to learn more about front-end and wanted more responsibility for this area,” talent acquisition and employer brand lead at The Iconic, Katie Noakes, is quoted as saying in the report.

“Suddenly, the full stack engineer was born and it’s not just us seeking this sort of talent – all businesses want someone who can do both sides.”

Having the skills for the job

The popularity of CSMs is not just an indicator of the rise in technology, but also the importance of soft skills in the modern workplace.

“CSM is a role reliant on soft skills and a terrific example of how job candidates don’t need to be tooled-up with hard STEM skills to be part of a tech-driven economy,” says the report.

It lists adaptability, collaboration and leadership as the most desirable soft skills.

Foundational skills like javascript, machine learning and big data are also highly sought-after, and are in common for the top five jobs.

It urges employers to “hire for skills” and focus on a recruit’s skills ahead of their previous job titles.

There is also the question of transferable skills across different sectors.

Australian data scientists are identified as mostly coming from an academic background, with 44% holding a PhD.

The report explains the challenge this poses for recruiters.

“Australian HR and talent acquisition teams will need to understand what makes homegrown data scientists tick, and what kind of pitch might convince them to move,” it says.

“The promise of engaging work, and the scope to drill down into interesting data, can be powerful drawcards for curious candidates, and should be highlighted in employer branding pitched at this talent pool.”