Paid Search Lead

Soar-With-U; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Private health insurance (Vitality)

Life insurance

Cash plan

Company pension

Hybrid working

Professional development

Team socials

Job summary

Soar With Us is seeking a Paid Search Lead to oversee a team delivering growth for e-commerce clients. You will drive acquisition strategies across Google Ads and YouTube, manage high-spend campaigns, and shape the Paid Search service with a focus on Demand Gen and Shopify integration.

You'll report to the Head of Acquisition and play a pivotal role in hiring, training, and cross-functional collaboration to propel client outcomes and agency growth.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience running Google & YouTube Ads for e-commerce brands at a senior level.
• Strong management experience leading Paid Search teams in an agency or large-brand setting.
• Portfolio includes challenger/DTC brands with growth-focused results.
• Solid understanding of Shopify and e-commerce workflows.
• Excellent research skills and ability to pivot quickly between clients.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with ownership of successes and failures.
• Proactive, detail-oriented, and able to self-manage and prioritise.

Responsibilities

• Mentor and manage the Paid Search team to ensure exceptional delivery.
• Lead quarterly reviews and drive professional development and progression.
• Develop and optimize Paid Search services to stay market-leading.
• Own department P&L and client profitability, driving revenue growth.
• Assist in hiring new Paid Search team members.
• Plan and execute high-spend Google & YouTube campaigns (daily spends up to £25k+).
• Build end-to-end YouTube/Demand Gen training and pipeline for clients.
• Oversee a portfolio of clients and maintain senior stakeholder relationships.
• Communicate via Slack/Meet; align with Head of Acquisition on activity.
• Create training and resources; keep eCommerce best practices current.

Skills

Google Ads

YouTube Ads

Team management

E-commerce

Demand Gen

PMax

Shopify

Klaviyo

Triple Whale

Tools

Shopify

Klaviyo

Triple Whale

Job description

Role: Paid Search Lead/ Head of Paid Search

Function: Management | Google Ads | Acquisition Strategy

Responsibility: Ensuring the paid search team is driving growth across our portfolio of e-commerce clients

Reports to: Head of Acquisition

Location: Remote/Hybrid/flexible – London Head Office & working-from-home options

Compensation: Competitive Salary + Audit Bonus Scheme

Founded by Olly Hudson and Joe Marston in 2019, Soar With Us is one of the fastest-growing advertising agencies for e-commerce brands in the UK, with a team of 25 A-Players. In 2025, we spent over £100m+ on Meta, Google and TikTok ads profitably for clients including Nutrition Geeks, AKT London, Cowshed, and many more.

The Paid Search Lead will play an important and exciting role overseeing our team of Paid Search Managers, ensuring they're growing acquisition on behalf of our clients across Google Ads. Reporting directly to our Head of Acquisition, you'll own the success of a diverse portfolio of e-commerce clients spanning a range of niches. From onboarding to Soaring, you'll help brands achieve their goals and scale them to the moon — all while upholding our core values of extreme ownership, quality, happiness and profit. This is a career-defining opportunity, allowing the right candidate to take on start-up-style responsibilities and have a direct impact on catapulting Soar into the stratosphere.

What you'll do:

• Mentor, guide and manage the Paid Search team, ensuring consistent and outstanding service delivery.
• Lead quarterly review sessions for the team, prioritising professional development and clear career progression.
• Lead, develop and optimise our Paid Search service to keep it market-leading — staying ahead of major platform shifts (Demand Gen, PMax and beyond) and confidently guiding the team, and our clients, through change rather than reacting to it.
• Own the commercial performance of the department: think in terms of P&L, client profitability and driving additional revenue into the business, not just campaign metrics.
• Assist in the hiring process for any new team members joining the Paid Search team.
• Strategise, support the planning and execution of high-spending Google & YouTube/Demand Gen campaigns, and provide guidance, training and support material for internal teams — including instances spending £5,000–£25,000+ per day on clients' behalf, working alongside your Paid Search Managers.
• Build an end-to-end YouTube/Demand Gen Ads pipeline for internal training and client account execution, driving client growth and YouTube % of spend YOY, working cross-functionally with our ECD function.
• Oversee and retain a diverse portfolio of clients across your department, acting as the senior stakeholder in the room — giving clients confidence and reassurance at a leadership level.
• Communicate with your team regularly via Slack and Google Meet, and work closely with the Head of Acquisition to align on activity and progress of the Paid Search service.
• Develop and maintain training, resource and support materials so Soar stays at the forefront of all things Google & YouTube.
• Implement and enhance eCommerce best practices within your department — including paid ads, creative, CRO, landing pages, product strategy, Shopify and forecasting — with a particular focus on how landing pages and CRO pair with Demand Gen performance.
• Keep up to date with the eCommerce best practices of tomorrow through ongoing training and research.
• Utilise the latest AI developments relevant to Google Ads to improve outcomes and efficiencies, both for client results and internal team development.

What you'll bring:

• Proven, hands-on experience running Google & YouTube Ads for e-commerce brands at a senior level, with a track record of adapting your approach through major platform shifts (Demand Gen, PMax and beyond) rather than relying on how things used to work.
• Genuine management experience within the marketing industry — ideally leading a team of Paid Search Managers at an agency. If your background is in-house, you'll need experience managing a small marketing team within an 8-9 figure e-commerce brand.
• A portfolio that includes some challenger/DTC-style brands rather than exclusively large, network-level accounts — we want to see judgement built on brands that had to fight for growth, not just budget to spend.
• A broad understanding of Shopify and e-commerce — if you've never heard of Shopify, Klaviyo or Triple Whale, this role won't be for you.
• Top-notch research skills — with the need to pivot from client to client, you're able to get up to speed on a new industry or market quickly.
• Complete ownership of your successes and failures, with an entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to see the bigger picture.
• A proactive approach, exceptional attention to detail, and the ability to self-manage and prioritise efficiently.
• Confidence building long-term relationships with your client base, and excellent leadership qualities.

Why Join

• 25 days holidayplus public holidays, an extra paid day off on your birthday, and an additional day per year after 2 years' service (up to 30 days)
• Private health insurance (Vitality)and 50% off gym memberships
• Life insuranceincluding unlimited 24/7 GP access
• Cash planclaim back dental, eye care, physiotherapy and counselling costs
• Company pension
• Hybrid working, plus the option to work abroad for up to 30 days at a time
• Professional development support
• Regularteam socialsand a peer-to-peer kudos/rewards system