Job Description

The role

This hands-on Paid Media Strategist role sits within a busy paid media / tech agency team and combines strategic planning, campaign management and performance optimisation to deliver measurable ROAS, customer acquisition and long-term growth for client portfolios. The role is client-facing and requires a balance of analytical rigour, creative problem solving and commercial accountability.

Key responsibilities include

• Developing paid media strategies across search, social, display, programmatic, video and shopping channels aligned to client business objectives and KPIs.
• Planning and executing end-to-end campaign activity: audience targeting, channel allocation, bid and budget management, creative testing and landing page recommendations.
• Day-to-day campaign management in platforms such as Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Meta Ads, DV360, Campaign Manager and trade desks; implementing tracking and tag management via GTM.
• Optimising performance through structured testing (A/B and multivariate), bid strategies, audience layering and creative iteration to improve CPA, ROAS and lifetime value.
• Setting up and maintaining measurement frameworks: conversion tracking, attribution models, UTM tagging and integration with analytics platforms (GA4, BigQuery or equivalent).
• Producing clear, actionable performance reports and dashboards; extracting insight and presenting regular recommendations to clients and internal stakeholders.
• Collaborating with creative, CRO and data teams to design high-converting assets, experiment roadmaps and improved user journeys.
• Managing budgets and pacing across multiple clients and campaigns; forecasting media spend and ensuring efficient use of investment.
• Maintaining strong client relationships: acting as the day-to-day paid media contact, leading meetings, setting expectations and communicating optimisation plans.
• Keeping up to date with platform changes, privacy and regulatory developments, and emerging formats to propose innovative channel opportunities.

About you

You are an analytically minded paid media specialist with a track record of planning and delivering performance campaigns in an agency or in-house environment. You combine technical capability with commercial awareness and clear client communication, and you enjoy working in a fast-paced, collaborative team.

We are particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate the following

• Hands-on paid media experience at an agency or performance-focused in-house team, managing end-to-end campaigns across multiple channels.
• Proven experience with Google Ads and Meta Ads; familiarity with programmatic platforms and DV360 or similar is highly desirable.
• Strong analytical skills with experience using GA4, spreadsheets, and dashboarding tools to report on performance and drive decision-making.
• Practical knowledge of tracking and measurement: GTM, server-side tracking, attribution concepts and managing data flows to analytics platforms.
• Commercially focused: able to set media KPIs, manage budgets, forecast outcomes and recommend optimisations that align to client ROI objectives.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with experience presenting performance and strategic recommendations to client and senior audiences.
• Curious and test-driven: comfortable designing experiments, interpreting results and iterating quickly to improve outcomes.
• Organised and collaborative: able to manage multiple client priorities, work with cross-functional teams and support more junior colleagues.

Why join

• Work on varied, performance-driven accounts across retail, lead-generation and direct-response clients at a growth-focused paid media agency.
• Develop technical and strategic expertise across leading ad platforms and measurement technologies.
• Be part of a supportive, multidisciplinary team with opportunities for professional development and progression.
• Competitive salary with benefits and opportunities for performance-related bonuses.

Application notes

We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace. We aim to respond to every applicant; if you have not heard within two weeks, please assume your application has not been shortlisted on this occasion. We may retain your details to contact you about future roles being managed by The Growth Foundation Talent.