Senior SEM Manager

Cambridge, MA (Hybrid)

$105K/yr – $115K/yrSenior LevelFull time

Posted 3 months ago

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Job Summary

Drive global SEM strategy and in-house tooling for high-budget performance marketing in travel, coordinating with engineering, product, and global teams.

  • Own end-to-end, cross-functional SEM initiatives with a focus on testing and automation.
  • Must-have: Experience managing large-scale paid search campaigns with automation and scripting.
  • Standout: Leads in-house tool development and mentors juniors.

Job Description

Responsibilities

  • Define global guidelines and contribute to the development of our suite of in-house marketing technologies.
  • Monitor industry shifts and emerging technologies, including AI and LLM-driven search, to design and execute rigorous testing frameworks that enhance the user journey.
  • Lead high-impact projects from ideation to delivery, managing competing priorities and coordinating across multiple teams to ensure results are delivered.
  • Communicate clearly with global teams, sharing optimization insights across the broader performance marketing team.
  • Use advanced analytical skills to turn deep-dive performance data into clear, actionable recommendations for senior leadership and global teams.
  • Provide day-to-day guidance and technical mentorship to junior team members, fostering a culture of excellence and training the team on advanced performance marketing processes.
  • Act as a strategic partner to Engineering and Product teams, providing the domain expertise needed to develop and automate our in-house tools.

Requirements

  • Hands-on experience managing large-scale, high-budget campaigns across top search engines.
  • Fluency in both written and spoken English. Proficiency in another language relevant to our international markets is a plus.
  • Strong knowledge of the search landscape, including attribution and tracking, with a proven ability to use advanced automation, scripting, and bidding technologies.
  • Advanced proficiency in Excel/Google Sheets; experience with SQL and data visualization tools is a plus to facilitate deep-dive performance modeling.
  • A high-ownership mindset with the motivation to lead complex projects from initial concept to final delivery, ensuring cross-functional alignment and measurable impact.
  • Ability to translate complex datasets into strategic recommendations for global teams and senior leadership.
  • Experience mentoring junior team members and contributing to a culture of technical excellence and continuous experimentation.

Preferred

  • Experience in the travel industry or a high-volume e-commerce environment is a plus.
  • Proficiency in another language relevant to our international markets is a plus.
  • experience with SQL and data visualization tools is a plus to facilitate deep-dive performance modeling.

Benefits

  • Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year
  • Focus on mental health and well-being: - Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth - Company-paid subscription to HeadSpace - Company-wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges (and returns without a pile-up of work!)
  • No meeting Fridays
  • Paid parental leave
  • Generous paid vacation + time off for your birthday
  • Paid volunteer time
  • Focus on your career growth: - Development Dollars - Leadership development - Access to thousands of on-demand e-learnings
  • Travel Discounts
  • Employee Resource Groups
  • Competitive retirement and health plans
  • Free lunch 2 days per week
  • Fun quarterly events such as boat trips, arcades, ski trips, Thursday happy hours, and more
KAYAK logo

KAYAK

4.5 Glassdoor

At KAYAK, we help millions of travelers around the globe make confident travel decisions. We are a leading travel search engine. KAYAK searches other sites to show travelers the information they need to find the right flights, hotels, rental cars and vacation packages. And because we aim to help travelers explore the world more confidently, we’re always on the lookout for ways to make travel planning and trip management easier – offering up a variety of tools and features such as KAYAK Trips, Explore, Price Forecast and our constantly evolving app and A.I. innovations.KAYAK is part of a global network that includes our sister brand OpenTable, as well as a portfolio of travel metasearch brands including Swoodoo, checkfelix, momondo, Cheapflights, Mundi and HotelsCombined. Collectively, we’re uniquely equipped to help people experience the world through travel and dining.KAYAK is part of Booking Holdings Inc. and operates sites in more than 70 countries and territories. KAYAK will never request payment(s) from its candidates for open positions. If you have ever been contacted about a job at KAYAK by phone/Whatsapp or email, and have been asked to provide a Credit Card, wire transfer or crypto payment, please be aware that KAYAK is not associated with this outreach. If you receive a suspicious request regarding a career opportunity at KAYAK, please report it to us. To find out more, visit KAYAK.com.

Founded in 2004
Stamford, Connecticut, USA
1.1K employees (181 in marketing)
95% recommend to a friend
98% CEO approval

Recent Ads

Traffic Signals

Monthly Visitors
32.9M
Monthly Google Ads Budget
$6.2M
Traffic Source Mix
Search
47.5%
Direct
48.3%
Referral
3.2%
Social
0.4%
Paid
0.6%

Headcount Trend

Current headcount: ~1.1K

Marketing Team

Marketing Team Size
136 (12% of company)
Median Career Experience
12 years
Median Tenure
5.2 years
Marketing Roles Posted (Last 30 Days)
3

Funding

Total Funding
$229M
Last Raise
$6M
Post IPO Equity, 14 years ago

Funding History

  • Aug 2012
    Post IPO Equity • $6M
  • Jan 2012
    Secondary Market
  • Mar 2010
    Series Unknown

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