Performance Marketing Manager

Palo Alto, CA (On-site)

$119K/yr – $179K/yrSenior Level3+ years expFull time

Posted 3 days ago

Top 1% of applicants do these two things.

The other 99% submit and hope. You're about to do something different.

Job Summary

Own end-to-end performance marketing across channels and partnerships, driving growth from zero and optimizing CAC, ROAS, and activation.

  • Own budget, channels, and partner relationships end-to-end
  • Lead measurement, testing, and full-funnel optimization

Job Description

Responsibilities

  • Every paid channel. You are the channel manager across the full performance marketing mix: Meta, TikTok, Google, programmatic, ad networks, and any emerging channel worth testing. You decide where we spend, how much, and why — and you live with the results.
  • Off-platform partnerships. Beyond self-serve ad platforms, you will identify, negotiate, and manage relationships with external partners — media companies, OEM and on-device distribution partners, ad networks, affiliate and performance platforms, publisher direct buys, and other non-standard acquisition channels. You own these relationships end-to-end: partner evaluation, deal structure, execution, and ongoing performance management.
  • Budget and efficiency. Own the monthly performance marketing budget with full accountability to CAC, CPI, LTV, and ROAS. Allocate across channels and partners dynamically based on performance, scale what works, cut what doesn't, and report spend decisions clearly to leadership.
  • Measurement and analytics. Work on tracking setup to extract meaningful signal — diagnosing performance shifts, identifying what's working and what isn't, and translating data into clear actions. You are comfortable going deep into the numbers independently, spotting anomalies before they become problems, and working cross-functionally with product, data, and engineering teams to investigate and resolve issues collaboratively.
  • Creative and channel testing. Run structured tests across audiences, creatives, bidding strategies, ad formats, and partner inventory. Treat every campaign and partnership as a hypothesis. Document what you learn and build a compounding playbook over time.
  • The full funnel. You are accountable not just for installs but for quality users. Partner with product and growth teams to understand post-install behaviour, feed those insights back into performance marketing strategy and creative direction, and optimise toward activation and retention, not just volume.
  • New distribution thinking. A new social platform lives or dies by how it finds its first million users. Beyond standard channels, you will proactively explore non-obvious distribution: influencer/KOL paid amplification, content seeding partnerships, cross-platform distribution deals, incentivised install ecosystems, and anything else early data suggests is worth testing.

Requirements

  • 3-7 years of brand-side performance marketing experience, with direct ownership of budgets and outcomes for a consumer app, marketplace, or digital product
  • Proven experience driving growth from cold start — you have launched performance marketing for a new product or market from zero, not just optimised an existing system, and you know what it takes to find the first users before there is any data to work with
  • Hands-on fluency across Meta Ads Manager, TikTok Ads Manager, and Google Ads; programmatic and ad network experience a strong plus
  • Demonstrated experience managing off-platform or non-self-serve partnerships — ad networks, OEM or device partnerships, media direct buys, affiliate or performance platforms, or similar; you have negotiated deals and managed these relationships independently
  • Mobile attribution tooling experience with Adjust or equivalent; able to set up and own measurement infrastructure end-to-end, not just read reports someone else configured
  • Thinks in the right metrics: CAC, CPI, LTV, ROAS, Day 7/30 payback, and funnel conversion rates — and can diagnose when numbers move and why
  • Strong negotiation and partner management skills; comfortable building and managing external vendor and partner relationships independently
  • Senior individual contributor mindset — you thrive working independently, go deep on execution without needing a team beneath you, and bring enough seniority to set strategy and defend decisions to leadership without hand-holding

Preferred

  • Experience running performance marketing specifically for a social, entertainment, or consumer app
  • Exposure to influencer or KOL-driven paid amplification as an acquisition channel
  • Familiarity with incrementality testing, geo-splits, or media mix modelling
  • SQL or BI tool fluency (Looker, Tableau, Metabase) for self-serve analysis

Benefits

  • Top-of-market compensation
  • Full ownership of a critical function from day one, inside a company with the infrastructure, ad tech depth, and platform relationships to back you up
  • A lean, high-trust environment where decisions move fast and your impact is direct and visible
  • Equity eligible
  • Health Insurance: Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Disability
  • Retirement Benefits: 401(k) Retirement Plan
  • Paid Time Off: Unlimited Discretionary Time Off
  • Paid Holidays: 10 paid holidays per year
  • Paid Sick Leave: 80 hours per year
AppLovin logo

AppLovin

3.4 Glassdoor

AppLovin makes technologies that help businesses of every size connect to their ideal customers. The company provides end-to-end software and AI solutions for businesses to reach, monetize and grow their global audiences. AppLovin is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with several offices globally.

Founded in 2012
Palo Alto, California, USA
638 employees (100 in marketing)
47% recommend to a friend
65% CEO approval

Traffic Signals

Monthly Visitors
9.4M
Monthly Google Ads Budget
$1.1K
Traffic Source Mix
Search
31.4%
Direct
61.8%
Referral
5%
Social
1.3%
Paid
0.5%

Headcount Trend

Current headcount: ~636

Marketing Team

Marketing Team Size
69 (11% of company)
Median Career Experience
11 years
Median Tenure
3.8 years
Marketing Roles Posted (Last 30 Days)
4

Funding

Total Funding
$5.1B
Last Raise
$3.6B
Post IPO Debt, 1 years ago

Funding History

  • Nov 2024
    Post IPO Debt • $3.6B
  • Feb 2024
    Post IPO Secondary
  • Aug 2023
    Post IPO Secondary

Recent News