Director, Paid Search & Social

About the role

AUDIENCEX is seeking an experienced, strategic, and hands-on leader to oversee our Paid Search and Social team. This role requires a balance of strategic leadership, operational oversight, and hands-on execution, driving both client success and departmental growth. The successful candidate will be a seasoned performance marketing professional, highly skilled in client-facing engagements, adept at team leadership, and deeply enthusiastic about leveraging emerging technologies and AI-driven solutions to push the boundaries of paid media.

Responsibilities

Strategic & Client-Facing Leadership

• Own the strategic direction and performance of paid search and paid social across a diverse portfolio of clients, budgets, industries, and objectives.
• Develop full-funnel media strategies spanning brand awareness, engagement, B2B and B2C lead generation, customer acquisition, eCommerce sales, and revenue/ROAS goals.
• Guide campaign architecture, audience strategy, bidding, creative approach, channel mix, budget allocation, optimization, and performance forecasting.
• Serve as a trusted senior advisor to clients; lead strategic discussions, executive presentations, and business reviews, and step into relationships to resolve challenges and support retention and growth.
• Lead paid search and social audits for prospective clients, identify growth opportunities, and partner with business development on media plans, proposals, new business calls, and pitch presentations.
• Collaborate with Account Management, Programmatic, Creative, Analytics, and Data Science teams to connect paid media execution with broader business outcomes.
• Design and prioritize structured tests across audiences, creative, bidding, campaign formats, and emerging platform capabilities; translate learnings into actionable recommendations.

Departmental & Team Oversight

• Lead, coach, and develop Paid Search and Paid Social analysts/media buyers; cultivate accountability, collaboration, continuous learning, and strong execution standards.
• Oversee staffing capacity, workloads, resource allocation, and account assignments; conduct performance reviews, provide actionable feedback, and support career development.
• Own hiring and onboarding for additional team members, including interviews, candidate assessment, training, and knowledge transfer.
• Establish and improve workflows, documentation, quality assurance, and departmental best practices; act as the senior escalation point for complex strategy, platform, and client issues.

Hands-On Execution

• Remain hands-on in key accounts, executing campaign builds, optimization, performance analysis, and troubleshooting while coaching team members through day-to-day execution.
• Oversee budget pacing, bids, keyword and search-term strategy, audience segmentation, creative/ad copy testing, targeting refinements, and campaign QA.
• Lead tracking and measurement strategy, including pixels, conversion tags, server-side tracking, Conversions API, offline conversion imports, GA4, CRM integrations, and analytics implementations.
• Troubleshoot complex platform, tracking, and attribution issues with clients, technical partners, and internal teams; maintain reliable data capture and reporting.
• Apply a sophisticated understanding of cross-channel attribution, incrementality, conversion quality, and differences between platform-reported results and business outcomes.
• Oversee new client onboarding across Search & Social channels, including ad account creation, MCC/Business Manager structures, access permissions, billing coordination, audience and data integrations, tracking readiness, and campaign launches.

Innovation & Emerging Technology

• Champion the exploration and adoption of new platforms, tools, and AI-driven solutions, integrating them into client campaigns and departmental processes.
• Evaluate and pilot emerging technologies, establishing AUDIENCEX as a leader in leveraging data, automation, and machine learning for Paid Search and Social excellence.
• Share thought leadership internally and externally on how technology is reshaping the future of paid media.
• Stay ahead of the curve by exploring emerging social channels and ensuring the team remains a first mover in adopting innovative opportunities for client growth.
• Maintain deep, current platform expertise across Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, X, and relevant video advertising formats.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in Paid Search and Paid Social strategy and execution, with proven leadership experience overseeing teams.
• Minimum of 3-5 years of experience working in a digital marketing or advertising agency.
• Demonstrated success in client-facing roles, including senior-level presentations, QBRs, and strategic workshops.
• Experience supporting new business development through participation in pitches, proposals, and client acquisition.
• Hands-on proficiency with major platforms (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc.) and third-party tools.
• Strong grasp of emerging ad tech, automation, and AI-driven solutions in digital marketing.
• Familiarity with the influencer marketing space and its role in shaping broader paid media strategies.
• Ability to articulate and leverage the correlation between programmatic, search, and social, driving holistic strategies that maximize client ROI.
• Deep awareness of emerging social platforms and trends, with a passion for testing and scaling into new channels.
• Exceptional ability to balance strategic leadership and tactical execution, while managing team development and operational improvements.
• Proven track record of driving measurable performance outcomes and scaling department capabilities.
• Strong communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base Salary: Starting at $125,000 annually, with compensation determined by the candidate's experience, qualifications, and demonstrated expertise.
• Performance-Based Commission: Strong commission structure tied to new business and client growth outcomes.
• Equity & Options: Robust options package providing long-term upside and alignment with company success.
• Benefits: Excellent health, dental, vision, retirement, and wellness benefits, plus generous PTO and professional development support.

Why Join AUDIENCEX?

• Cutting-edge technology and AI leadership: Powered by AXi, our proprietary AI-enabled data science platform enabling privacy-safe predictive analytics, machine learning, and optimization across search, social, programmatic, creative, and analytics.
• Integrated, multichannel capability: Approach spans Search & Social, Programmatic Advertising, Creative, Analytics & Insights, and unified media across all platforms — shaping strategies that connect the dots between channels.
• Data-led & performance-oriented culture: Results are foundational — reducing CPC, increasing conversion, improving ROAS, lowering cost per booking — with shared accountability and laser-focus on outcomes.
• Growth, risk-sharing & innovation mindset: Solutions like PriceFix shift from CPM to CPA in a risk-free model; embrace experimentation, emerging social channels, new ad tech, and constantly evolving media platforms.
• Collaborative & expert team environment: Expertise is central; thrive on collaboration across media, creative, analytics, and data science with smart, passionate, curious people always pushing for better.
• Culture built on curiosity, collaboration & continuous growth: Entrepreneurial spirit, relentless curiosity, embrace learning, foster creativity, and believe greatest strength comes from collaborating — with each other, partners, and clients — to turn change into opportunity.
• Impact & career leverage: Shape how brands navigate the fast-changing landscape of digital advertising with access to advanced tools, a full suite of media capabilities, and an expanding platform to lead high-visibility work that advances both your and the company's trajectory.