Paid Media Manager

Formative

• $85K — $145K *
Media
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Minimum 5+ years experience in audience engagement and paid media marketing strategies.
  • Experience with various digital media channels and multi-channel strategy building.
  • Proficient in search and social platforms, capable of managing paid campaigns end-to-end.
  • Some experience in content strategy and editorial planning preferred.
  • Proven ability to turn insights into actionable recommendations for campaigns.

Responsibilities

  • Serve as the primary project contact for all paid media inquiries and decisions.
  • Represent the project comprehensively across paid, organic, editorial, and copy aspects.
  • Identify and escalate non-paid issues to the appropriate team member instead of resolving them alone.
  • Take ownership of reporting and perform quality assurance alongside the engagement lead.
  • Develop paid media strategies, including budget allocation and test-and-learn approaches.
  • Approve optimizations and respond to platform changes as they arise.
  • Present integrated paid and organic insights to clients, managing regular reporting schedules.

Benefits

  • Competitive compensation package including medical, dental, vision, and life insurance.
  • Employer contribution to a 401K account that is 100% vested.
Full Job Description
Formative is seeking a Paid Media Manager on our Marketing & Strategy team with a passion for digital marketing, strategy, communications, and data. This full-time role will support and lead development of major client projects and initiatives.

Who We're Looking For

This role works on one of the key agency clients and owns the paid client relationship, paid strategy, and the overall reporting and insights narrative. All client-facing materials and any changes to spend go through this role, and you'll partner with the engagement lead for overall client management, scoping, and decisions on non-paid workstreams

This person is energized to be a part of a bigger integrated team and eager to provide subject matter expertise for paid strategies and tactics to meet long-term client goals and shorter-term project objectives. You're hungry for growth in account leadership and actively seek opportunities to improve the work product.

Requirements

Experience

  • Minimum 5+ years experience developing audience engagement and paid media marketing strategies, as well as tactical go-to-market plans, is required.


  • Experience with a range of digital media channels and familiarity with what makes each unique, how to build a multi-channel strategy, how to leverage individual platform tools, how to setup and manage paid campaigns (Meta business manager, Google stack, YouTube, LinkedIn UI, Reddit, TikTok).


  • Robust in-platform experience and demonstrated proficiency across search and social platforms including Google (YouTube, Demand Gen, Display), Meta Ads, SEM (Google and Microsoft); experience building and launching paid campaigns end-to-end across multiple platforms inclusive of ad setup, audience targeting trafficking, QA and go-live.


  • Some experience in content strategy, editorial planning, and content development (i.e. writing social posts, writing/editing blog posts, etc.) is preferred.


  • Experience playing a leading role in multi-channel paid and organic campaigns, turning insights into actionable recommendations, and integrating real-world happenings into campaign strategy.


Skills

  • Demonstrated integrated campaign thinking across channel disciplines (organic social, PR, paid media, social media, creators, bespoke content).


  • Strong business and marketing strategy skills, experience developing KPIs and measurement frameworks, competency developing data-driven stories and insights.


  • Comfortable with executing, QA, trafficking ads or overseeing teammates who execute campaigns with excellence.


  • Use of web analytic software such as Adobe Analytics or Google Analytics and UTM tracking codes.


  • Experience with platform pixel creation and conversion/events tracking.


  • Demonstrated expertise in ad trafficking, quality assurance (QA), campaign pacing, reporting, and managing the day-to-day operations of complex digital media programs.


  • Ability to provide constructive feedback based on creative best practices across diverse platforms.


Responsibilities

Client leadership:

  • Primary project contact for paid: status, recommendations, and hard questions.


  • Help represent the full project across paid, organic, editorial, and copy. Navigate overall engagement and provide holistic strategy.


  • Surfaces non-paid issues to the right owner (engagement lead, strategist, editorial, copy, etc.) rather than resolving them alone.


  • Owns the reporting and QA reset with the client alongside engagement lead, then holds scope.


Paid strategy:

  • Sets channel mix, budget allocation, and test-and-learn roadmaps, including GEO strategy.


  • Approves optimizations above the strategist's thresholds.


  • Decides the response to platform changes.


Reporting (all-up):

  • Owns the integrated paid and organic insights narrative and presents it to the client.


  • Sets the report structure and what the client sees.


  • Ability to manage and facilitate weekly, monthly, and quarterly reporting.


  • Recommend optimizations based on performance and insights.


Team and process:

  • Directs the strategist's priorities and coaches on hands-on quality.


  • Approves SOPs, templates, and AI workflows.


  • Accountable reviewer on QA exceptions.


Additional responsibilities as client and business needs arise.

Work Location & Scope

This position is located in Seattle, WA

Formative has a '2-3-5 Hybrid Office' Policy. We ask that all employees who live in the Seattle metro area work from the Formative Seattle office 2 days per week within a 3-day window -- Tuesday, through Thursday -- each week. Formative employees work 5 days per week as a norm with periodic evening and weekend work when required to meet client deadlines.

Salary Range

$85k - $145k, inclusive of associate through senior manager titles

Benefits

Competitive compensation package based on experience including medical, dental, vision, and life insurance. Formative also contributes a percentage of your salary to a 401K account that is 100% vested.

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