Every GTM Hire Should Be Technical Now
Mahdin M Zahere
We don't hire "GTM people." We hire GTM engineers. Most companies haven't caught up to this yet.
Here's what I mean. Three years ago, a great marketing ops hire was someone who could build HubSpot workflows and keep the CRM clean. That person is now table stakes. The bar has moved.
The GTM stack in 2025 is deeply technical. We're talking API integrations, data pipelines, Clay workflows, custom enrichment logic, multi-tool automation chains, and AI models plugged into the lead flow. A GTM person who can't read an API doc or build a basic automation isn't operating at the level the job requires.
This isn't an engineering gatekeeping take. I'm not saying every marketer needs to write production code. I'm saying the line between "marketing" and "engineering" has blurred to the point where the distinction is holding companies back.
At Surface Labs, every GTM hire needs to be comfortable with technical tools. Not because we want to be difficult about hiring — because the best campaigns in 2025 are built, not just planned. The person who can design a lead scoring model AND implement it in the platform is 3x more valuable than someone who writes a spec and hands it to an engineer.
What this looks like in practice
Our marketing team builds automations directly. They configure routing logic. They set up webhook-triggered responses. They connect enrichment APIs to qualification criteria. They don't file tickets with engineering to change a form field — they change it themselves, test it, and push it live.
Our SDR team doesn't just "use" the CRM — they understand the data model, they know how lead records flow through the system, and they can diagnose when something breaks without waiting for ops to investigate.
This isn't because we hired engineers and taught them marketing. It's because we hired marketers and SDRs who are technically fluent — people who see a Clay workflow as a tool, not a mystery.
Why this is the future
The companies that separate "GTM people" from "technical people" will always have a translation layer — a bottleneck where marketing ideas wait in an engineering queue. The companies that merge these capabilities into every GTM role will move faster, iterate faster, and compound improvements faster.
We're building Surface Labs for this world — a world where marketing ops IS engineering. Where the person designing the campaign is the same person building the infrastructure to run it. Where the line between "strategy" and "implementation" disappears.
The uncomfortable truth
If your GTM team can't touch the technical stack, they're not really running your go-to-market. They're writing briefs about it and hoping someone else builds what they described.
The best GTM teams I've seen — ours included — are teams where everyone can ship. Not just plan. Not just strategize. Ship.
Are you hiring GTM engineers or GTM people? There's a difference.
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