The paid media landscape shifts constantly. A Paid Media Manager who only knows today’s platforms is already behind.
We place people who own multi-channel performance across Google, Meta, TikTok, and YouTube, and who are built to evolve as the channels do.
If you’ve ever hired a Paid Media Manager who reported strong CTRs while your CPA climbed month-on-month, you know the cost.
Budget misallocated across platforms, attribution gaps left unquestioned, and paid channels running in silos, these are the symptoms of a hire who could execute individual campaigns but couldn’t manage paid media as a function.
“We’ve spoken to hundreds of Paid Media Managers who can talk fluently about campaign performance but fall apart when you ask them how they’d restructure a budget that isn’t delivering. That question tells you everything. It’s the difference between someone who manages campaigns and someone who manages paid media as a growth function, and it’s exactly what we’re listening for.” – Daris Benallal, Head of Recruitment
We assess real operational capability: whether a candidate can govern a multi-channel budget against ROAS targets, interrogate attribution discrepancies using GA4, and direct a team of specialists toward a single commercial outcome. Not whether their CV has the right platform logos on it.
SEO, Paid Media, and Growth is all we do. That specialism is what allows us to evaluate Paid Media Managers at a depth no generalist recruiter can match.
We work exclusively in search marketing, paid media, and growth. Our network was built from inside these industries, through relationships, not job boards.
We assess real commercial thinking, channel depth, and proven impact. Not tenure. Not titles.
The best SEO, PPC, and growth professionals aren’t browsing job boards. We go to them, directly, discreetly, and with a reason to move.
The difference between a strong Paid Media Manager and a weak one is not visible on a CV. Strong candidates treat multi-channel paid media as a revenue system: they allocate budget based on attributed performance, own cross-channel reporting, coordinate creative briefing and team delivery, and report to senior stakeholders in commercial terms.
The wrong hire optimises individual campaigns in isolation. They report platform metrics without questioning attribution, accept default conversion data without verification, and have no framework for shifting budget when channels underperform.
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Paid Media Manager salary expectations vary significantly by location, sector, and seniority.
Use this as a baseline. Expect variation of 15–20% in either direction depending on the business, the team size, and the commercial complexity of the role.
| Region | Salary Range | Experience |
|---|---|---|
| US | $82,000 – $110,000 | Mid-Level |
| UK | £40,000 – £52,000 | Mid-Level |
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These benchmarks are backed by the world’s #1 marketing salary directory. With over 15,000 verified submissions. We offer total transparency into the market, helping you hire with confidence based on real-world data.
An early-career Paid Media Manager executing under close supervision commands a lower rate than one with a track record of owning multi-channel budgets and delivering against CPA and ROAS targets independently. Proven commercial impact compounds into higher compensation with each role.
Technology, SaaS, financial services, and e-commerce businesses with significant paid acquisition budgets pay a premium. Sectors where paid media is the primary revenue driver, rather than supplementary to broader marketing, attract stronger offers.
London, New York, and Sydney carry higher base salaries than regional equivalents. Remote roles are increasingly normalised, but location-adjusted pay remains common, particularly at US-based companies with headcount in lower-cost regions.
A Paid Media Manager overseeing a team of paid specialists and owning a multi-million-pound ad budget commands a higher rate than one operating as a solo channel practitioner. Budget authority, team size, and accountability for composite channel performance all move the number upward.
Base salary is one part of the total hiring cost. Add employer taxes, benefits, onboarding, and ramp time, and the true cost is typically 15–20% above the headline figure. A mis-hire compounds this: according to the Society for Human Resource Management, replacing a bad hire can cost up to 5 times their annual salary.
Benchmarks are directional. Live market data gives you negotiation power.
A traditional job board process takes 60 to 90 days and produces a huge list of candidates who applied.
Our process takes on average 22 to 25 days and produces Paid Media candidates who are qualified, available, and assessed against the specific demands of your role.
We brief against your commercial context, not just your job description. Team structure, growth stage, technical complexity, and the gap the hire needs to close: this shapes who we target.
We do not post and wait. We go directly to the Paid Media Manager talent pool, agency-side, in-house, and consulting, and approach candidates who match your brief. The right hire rarely applies speculatively.
Every candidate is evaluated across a 9-area scorecard, including multi-channel budget allocation review, cross-channel attribution audit, and campaign architecture assessment, as well as communication under pressure and leadership track record.
Assessments include practical challenges depending on the role: a multi-channel budget reallocation simulation, a cross-platform performance review, and a stakeholder reporting exercise. We assess execution, not interview performance.
You receive a shortlist of two to three Paid Media candidates, each with a full brief from us on their capability, commercial context, and the specific rationale for their inclusion. No padding. No volume.
Every Search For Hire placement is backed by a one-year satisfaction guarantee. If the hire leaves or underperforms within 12 months, we replace them at no additional cost. Accountability is built into the process.
A Paid Media Manager owns the planning, execution, and optimisation of paid advertising across multiple channels, sitting between a Paid Media Specialist and a Head of Paid Media or Director of Performance Marketing.
Day-to-day responsibilities include budget allocation across platforms, multi-channel campaign strategy and briefing, conversion tracking oversight, and performance reporting to senior stakeholders. They manage campaigns across Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, TikTok Ads, and YouTube, and direct specialists or agency partners to execute against a shared plan. The role is accountable for composite ROAS, CPA targets, and paid media’s measurable contribution to commercial growth.
Freelance platforms surface available capacity. Generalist recruiters surface applicants. Neither evaluates whether a candidate can actually perform in your specific commercial environment.
A Paid Media Manager who can run campaigns is not the same as one who can govern a multi-channel budget, interrogate attribution data, and direct a team of specialists toward a shared commercial outcome. Generalist recruiters cannot assess that gap: they match keywords on CVs and present volume.
We operate exclusively within SEO, Paid Media, and Growth, and our vetting process is built specifically to evaluate multi-channel budget ownership, cross-channel attribution rigour, and the stakeholder communication skills that separate strong Paid Media Managers from average ones.
Our average placement time is 22 to 25 days from brief to accepted offer, with 95% of roles filled within 28 days.
Traditional job board hiring takes 60 to 90 days and floods your pipeline with speculative applicants.
We maintain an active pipeline of vetted Paid Media talent: practitioners we know, have assessed, and can brief against your role immediately. The speed comes from specialism, not shortcuts.
Every Search For Hire placement is backed by a one-year satisfaction guarantee. If the candidate leaves or fails to perform within 12 months, we replace them at no additional cost.
The guarantee is a commercial commitment grounded in process rigour. Because every Paid Media Manager we place is assessed against a structured scorecard, including multi-channel budget simulations and cross-platform performance reviews, we place with confidence. The guarantee exists because we stand behind the evaluation.
Yes. We place Paid Media Managers across the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia, and have placed internationally beyond these core markets.
We headhunt actively rather than posting regionally, which means candidate reach is defined by the role requirements, not by geography.
If your role is remote, hybrid, or requires relocation, we will structure the search accordingly and advise on salary benchmarking by market.
High-stakes roles require high-precision hiring. Tell us what you need. We will tell you whether we can place it and how.
