Performance Marketing Director
About the role
We're hiring a sharp, strategic, and dependable Performance Marketing Director to lead our Paid Media and SEO departments — owning results across Google Ads, Meta, Microsoft Ads, LinkedIn, all organic search, AI visibility. You'll lead a blended team of paid media managers, SEO managers, and freelancers, and work cross-functionally with project managers, designers, and copywriters. This role blends leadership, strategy, performance accountability, and hands-on support across paid and organic.
Responsibilities
Own and execute integrated performance strategy across Paid Media and SEO.
Set goals, KPIs, and campaign strategy across platforms and search environments, tailored to each client's growth stage and service focus.
Lead and mentor a team of paid media managers and SEO managers (plus freelancers) — building accountability, communication, and real ownership, not just task completion.
Partner with project managers and leadership to forecast capacity, set priorities, and resolve bottlenecks before they become client problems.
Maintain strong QA and reporting processes for both paid and organic — where "reported" and "actually true" are the same thing.
Identify and prioritize cross-channel growth opportunities — campaigns, content strategy, local SEO, landing pages, and testing.
Ensure paid and SEO strategies reinforce each other and align with client goals, seasonal cycles, and budgets.
Act as the internal escalation point for performance issues and strategic pivots — present and accountable, not reachable only after the fact.
Paid Media Oversight
Direct strategy, execution, and optimization across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, and Microsoft Ads.
Review and support ad copy, campaign structure, pacing, targeting, and platform fit.
Set testing agendas and creative frameworks for performance lift.
Step in to troubleshoot campaign issues and guide budget-allocation decisions.
Lead performance reporting, client insights, and recommendations.
SEO Oversight
Own the SEO roadmap across all clients — keyword strategy, on-page optimization, link-building, content direction, and AI visibility / GEO (how clients surface in AI search and answer engines).
Review and guide SEO work done by team members, and confirm it actually ships — live, across every client site it should touch, including legacy sites, at the scope represented.
Ensure strong collaboration across SEO, web, content, and UX.
Interpret performance data, rankings, and AI-visibility signals to shape recommendations — and reconcile reported progress against actual organic leads and traffic.
Stay ahead of algorithm, AI-search, and answer-engine changes that affect rankings, AI visibility, or lead flow, and translate them into action fast.
Lead reporting on organic traffic, keyword growth, AI visibility, lead quality, and overall search presence; ensure technical SEO tasks are managed and resolved.
Collaboration & Communication
Partner with copywriters so all messaging (ads and organic) aligns with StoryBrand principles.
Work with designers and video editors on creative assets for paid and organic — e.g., paid media landing pages and campaign creative.
Collaborate with project managers to track performance, align on goals, and respond quickly to client needs — supporting the PM who owns the account, not taking it over.
Train and coach team members to strengthen cross-functional knowledge and performance thinking.
Participate in internal marketing planning, tool selection, and team development.
How this role is measured
Own it end to end. You own performance problems from the moment the signal appears through to a confirmed fix — present in the escalation, on the client call, in the thread.
See it before it's escalated. You surface underperformance and risk proactively — typically within a few business days of the signal — rather than waiting for a client, a PM, or your VP to raise it.
Report honestly, backed by evidence. Your status reflects reality. A channel isn't "green" while its leads are falling. You bring bad news early and plainly, and you back completion and quality claims with the source — the dashboard, the account, the live result — never a verbal "it's handled."
Verify the work shipped — everywhere. "Done" means confirmed live everywhere it should be, at the scope and depth represented. You check; you don't assume a task marked complete actually reached every site.
Analysis drives action. Being right about the data is the starting point, not the deliverable. You turn insight into the right action at the right time — for your own accounts and for the team you lead.
Own the economics. You run both channels to their margin and labor-efficiency targets, not just their lead targets — results the business can afford to deliver, and that improve over time.
What you'll do
Leadership & Strategy
Own and execute integrated performance strategy across Paid Media and SEO.
Set goals, KPIs, and campaign strategy across platforms and search environments, tailored to each client's growth stage and service focus.
Lead and mentor a team of paid media managers and SEO managers (plus freelancers) — building accountability, communication, and real ownership, not just task completion.
Partner with project managers and leadership to forecast capacity, set priorities, and resolve bottlenecks before they become client problems.
Maintain strong QA and reporting processes for both paid and organic — where "reported" and "actually true" are the same thing.
Identify and prioritize cross-channel growth opportunities — campaigns, content strategy, local SEO, landing pages, and testing.
Ensure paid and SEO strategies reinforce each other and align with client goals, seasonal cycles, and budgets.
Act as the internal escalation point for performance issues and strategic pivots — present and accountable, not reachable only after the fact.
Qualifications
A performance strategist at heart — always chasing results and clarity.
4+ years leading paid media campaigns and SEO strategy.
Managed and mentored a multi-disciplinary team (paid + SEO + freelancers).
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support — comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
Blend high-level