SEM Associate Director, Paid Search Activation

New York City, NY (Hybrid)

$130K/yr – $195K/yrSenior Level6+ years expFull time

Posted 1 day ago

Job Summary

Own and drive a high-scale paid search program across multiple products, leading activation, optimization, and governance in collaboration with Risk, Compliance, Legal, Data, and Engineering teams.

  • Lead architecture, bidding, and optimization of paid search campaigns across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and SA360.
  • Own program-level performance, budgeting, and cross-functional collaboration with Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Data Engineering teams.
  • Implement AI-driven optimization strategies and scale-first-party data activation across enterprise campaigns.

Job Description

Requirements

  • 6-10 years of paid search experience, including direct leadership of paid search activation or campaign management teams in complex, high-volume environments.
  • Demonstrated hands-on experience personally building, launching, optimizing, and troubleshooting paid search campaigns within Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and SA360, including campaign architecture, keyword strategy, ad creation, audience implementation, bidding strategy configuration, budget management, and performance optimization.
  • Proven experience managing large-scale paid search programs and budgets, with a strong understanding of account-level campaign structure, optimization strategies, and performance drivers.
  • Deep expertise in search campaign structure, keyword strategy, match type management, search query analysis, negative keyword development, audience targeting, and conversion tracking.
  • Advanced proficiency with Google Ads and SA360 bidding solutions, including tCPA, tROAS, portfolio bidding, shared budgets, seasonality adjustments, and AI-driven optimization strategies.
  • Solid grounding in digital analytics, attribution methodologies, A/B testing, incrementality measurement, and performance optimization best practices.
  • Experience operating within regulated environments, including collaboration with Risk, Compliance, and Legal stakeholders.
  • Familiarity with tagging, tracking implementation, and scalable marketing technology solutions developed in partnership with Data and Engineering teams.
  • Experience working with enterprise-scale campaign automation, audience strategies, and first-party data activation.
  • Bachelor’s/University degree required

Benefits

  • A hybrid working arrangement with 3 days in the office and 2 days working remotely, giving you flexibility alongside meaningful in-person collaboration.
  • Ownership of a high-impact paid search program that operates at significant scale across multiple products and business lines.
  • Direct involvement in the adoption of AI-driven search capabilities and automation, keeping you at the forefront of how the discipline is evolving.
  • Access to learning and development opportunities that support your continued growth as a senior practitioner and people leader.
  • Collaboration with cross-functional teams spanning Marketing, Technology, Product, Risk, Legal, and Finance, giving you broad exposure and influence across the organization.
  • Competitive financial wellbeing and benefits package, including support for long-term financial planning.
  • Wellbeing support and work-life balance resources designed to help you perform at your best.
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Citi

3.7 Glassdoor

Citi's mission is to serve as a trusted partner to our clients by responsibly providing financial services that enable growth and economic progress. Our core activities are safeguarding assets, lending money, making payments and accessing the capital markets on behalf of our clients. We have over 200 years of experience helping our clients meet the world's toughest challenges and embrace its greatest opportunities. We are Citi, the global bank – an institution connecting millions of people across hundreds of countries and cities. For information on Citi’s commitment to privacy, visit on.citi/privacy.

Founded in 1812
New York, New York, US
195K employees (3,957 in marketing)
69% recommend to a friend
70% CEO approval

Salaries

Posted range

$130K/yr – $195K/yr

Taken straight from the job posting.

See all Citi salaries

Funding

Total Funding
$22.3B
Last Raise
$6.5B
Post IPO Debt, 6 months ago

Funding History

  • Sep 2025
    Post IPO Debt • $6.5B
  • Apr 2025
    Post IPO Debt • $2.8B
  • Nov 2024
    Post IPO Debt • $4.3B

Traffic Signals

Monthly Visitors
2.3M
Monthly Google Ads Budget
$4.2K
Traffic Source Mix
Search
22%
Direct
42.9%
Referral
34.4%
Social
0.2%
Paid
0.5%

Headcount Trend

Current headcount: ~199.4K

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SEM Associate Director, Paid Search Activation

Citi · New York City, NY · Hybrid