Head of Paid Search

Responsibilities

• Accounts — about half your time
• Full strategic and tactical ownership of 3-4 of our largest and most complex engagements
• Campaign architecture, bidding strategy, budget allocation, audience strategy, and testing roadmaps
• Direct counsel to client decision-makers. You are the senior paid search voice in the room, not support for someone else's.
• Accountability against documented KPI targets — ROAS, CPA, conversion volume
• The practice — about a quarter
• Set and hold paid search standards across the book: account architecture, naming, QA, testing methodology, reporting
• Review and approve analyst strategic recommendations, closely during their first 90 days
• Develop the analyst team, and help us hire it as we grow
• Own escalation on underperforming accounts and diagnose root causes

Requirements

• 7+ years in paid search, agency or in-house, including meaningful time at a senior or lead level
• Direct ownership of accounts at $100,000+/month; comfort at $500,000+ strongly preferred
• Deep Google Ads expertise across search, shopping, and Performance Max — bidding strategy, audience layering, attribution
• Demonstrated ability to diagnose a struggling account and build a recovery plan that works
• Credibility with VP Marketing, CMO, and founder-level stakeholders without needing backup in the room
• Track record of developing analysts and setting standards that outlasted your direct involvement
• Real enthusiasm for AI-assisted workflows, paired with the judgment to know when the output is wrong

Preferred

• Experience with mid-market companies with complex multi-product or multi-geography structures
• Working knowledge of GA4, attribution modeling, and the practical limits of platform-reported conversions
• Hands-on use of AI tools in paid media work — analysis, reporting, creative evaluation, workflow automation
• Comfort querying data directly to check what automated analysis is telling you

Benefits

• Hybrid working model
• The most senior channel role in the company, with real ownership of where the practice goes
• Our largest and most interesting accounts
• Genuine influence over how a modern agency uses AI. We are further along than most at our size and you would shape what comes next.
• A small, senior team where your judgment carries weight