Director of Performance Marketing (Remote, Buffalo)

Location: Remote (USA, Canada, or South Africa) – Full‑time

About the Role

Blacksmith Agency runs PPC and SEO for clients across multifamily, B2B, and technical verticals. As Director of Performance Marketing you will lead the performance‑marketing department. The PPC strategist and the SEO strategist report to you; they are the channel specialists. This is a management seat, not a senior individual‑contributor role. You will not be building campaigns yourself, and on technical SEO your strategist will have deeper expertise. Your responsibilities focus on channel strategy, budget allocation as accounts scale, and ensuring the department delivers results.

What You Own

• Quality bar, development, performance reviews, and escalation decisions for the PPC and SEO strategists.
• Defining and enforcing standards for audits, pre‑delivery checks, and client reporting.
• Overall client results for the performance‑marketing function, including honest reporting and attribution/GA4 accuracy.
• Escalation handling when an account is at risk: diagnose issues, direct the strategist to fix them, and join the client call.
• Channel strategy and budget allocation as accounts scale.
• Communicating credible deliverables to sales before they are sold.
• Hiring plan for the department and conducting first‑round interviews for new team members within roughly a quarter.

What You Need

• 7+ years of experience across paid media and SEO, with demonstrated responsibility for managing strategists or specialists, including performance reviews and performance‑management decisions.
• Deep knowledge of Google Ads, GA4, Search Console, Meta, and Microsoft Ads sufficient to evaluate work quality.
• One concrete example of turning around an account, including before/after metrics and the rationale for the change.
• Comfortable being the client‑facing owner when an account underperforms; the escalation call comes to you, not the strategist.
• Agency experience handling multiple accounts simultaneously.
• Do not apply if you have never had direct reports, have never owned performance reviews, have only ever managed a single channel, have only in‑house brand experience, or are looking to continue building campaigns yourself.

Process

The interview process consists of three conversations: a 30‑minute screen with a recruiter, a first‑round interview with the founder (the person you would report to), and a final interview. There is no take‑home project and no panel interview.

How To Apply

• Complete the four required fields on the application link.
• Take the short (≈6 minute) Predictive Index assessment.
• Use the same email address throughout the process.
• No cover letter is required.