Director of Digital Marketing (Remote, San Diego)

Full‑time, remote (USA, Canada, or South Africa)

About the Role

Blacksmith Agency runs PPC and SEO for clients across multifamily, B2B, and technical verticals. As Director of Digital Marketing you lead that department. The PPC strategist and the SEO strategist report to you and are the specialists in their channels. This is a management seat, not a senior individual‑contributor role. You will not be building campaigns, and on technical SEO your strategist will know more than you do. You carry channel strategy and budget allocation as accounts scale, while the strategists handle execution and you ensure the department delivers.

What You Own

• Oversight of the PPC and SEO strategists: set quality standards, manage their development and reviews, and make decisions when performance is insufficient. Define audit standards, pre‑delivery checks, and reporting expectations.
• Accountability for client results across the function, including the honesty of reporting and current gaps in attribution and GA4 accuracy.
• Escalation handling for at‑risk accounts: diagnose issues, direct the strategist to fix them, and join the client call.
• Channel strategy and budget allocation as accounts scale.
• Defining what the sales team can credibly promise before a deal is closed.
• Creating the hiring plan for the department and conducting first‑round interviews for new team members within roughly a quarter.

What You Need

• Experience managing strategists or specialists, including conducting reviews, guiding development, and making performance‑management decisions.
• 7+ years of experience across paid media and SEO; owning a single channel alongside another does not meet this requirement.
• Deep knowledge of Google Ads, GA4, Search Console, Meta, and Microsoft Ads sufficient to evaluate work quality beyond surface‑level metrics.
• A demonstrable account turnaround: be able to discuss the metric, pre‑ and post‑change figures, and the reasoning behind the improvement.
• Comfort acting as the client‑facing owner when an account underperforms, taking the call yourself rather than delegating to a strategist.
• Agency experience managing multiple accounts simultaneously.
• Do not apply if you have never had direct reports, have never performed performance‑management, have only ever run a single channel, have only in‑house brand experience, or are seeking a role focused on hands‑on campaign building.

Process

Three conversations, then a decision: a 30‑minute screen with our recruiter, a first round with the founder (the seat’s direct report), and a final interview. No take‑home project and no panel interview.

How to Apply

Complete the four fields at the provided link, then take a short 6‑minute Predictive Index assessment. Use the same email throughout. No cover letter is required.