Senior Digital Marketing Manager (Paid)

AF Selection; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 52,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

AF Selection is seeking a senior paid media professional to own the paid advertising strategy for a leading leisure business in the UK. You’ll manage six-figure budgets, driving growth through Google Ads, Meta, and other channels, with strong emphasis on CPA/ROAS optimization and cross-functional alignment.

You’ll work in a hybrid setup with significant collaboration across marketing, events, and ticketing functions, delivering both bursts and always-on campaigns and reporting on commercial

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with PPC and Meta Ads and strong understanding of paid media ROI.
• Experience owning a paid media function, setting strategy, targets and direction.
• Ability to manage six-figure budgets and optimize CPA and ROAS.
• Strong measurement and attribution skills across multiple channels.

Responsibilities

• Developing and delivering the overall paid advertising growth strategy.
• Managing six-figure budgets with planning, pacing and forecasting.
• Driving improvements in CPA and ROAS and reporting on performance.
• Leading campaigns across Google Ads, PPC, Meta and other paid channels.
• Developing audience targeting and segmentation strategies.
• Overseeing campaign journeys from impression to conversion and ticket/sales.
• Developing the creative strategy and briefing partners.
• Testing and scaling additional paid channels based on ROI.
• Ensuring conversion tracking across GA4 and GTM, plus other platforms.
• Leading and developing junior marketers and managing agency relations.

Skills

PPC advertising

Meta Ads

Google Ads

Performance marketing

Campaign management

Tools

GA4

Google Tag Manager

Power BI

CRM/marketing automation

Job description

Location: Birmingham - hybrid 3 days in

Salary: £52-55k per annum

Contract: Fixed-term contract initially, with strong potential to become permanent

This is a seriously exciting paid media opportunity

It’s hard to underestimate what a cool role this is.

You’ll be taking responsibility for the paid advertising strategy for one of the leading leisure businesses in the UK, working across a diverse mix of events, exhibitions and experiences.

This is initially a contract position, but there is a very strong possibility that the role will evolve into a permanent position at the start of the new financial year. Our client is therefore looking for someone who would genuinely be open to making that transition rather than a professional freelancer.

The role

This is a highly commercial role. Yes, you’ll be responsible for the paid advertising strategy, but the real opportunity is understanding how paid media connects with the wider business and using it to drive genuine growth.

You’ll take ownership of the paid media strategy, budget and performance, with responsibility for:

• Developing and delivering the overall paid advertising growth strategy
• Managing six-figure budgets, with responsibility for planning, pacing and forecasting
• Driving improvements in CPA and ROAS
• Leading campaigns across Google Ads, PPC, Meta and other paid channels
• Managing both high-impact, fixed-date campaigns and longer-term always-on activity
• Managing a high volume of concurrent campaigns and prioritising effectively when launches collide
• Developing audience targeting and segmentation strategies
• Owning the campaign journey from initial paid impression through to conversion and ticket/sales performance
• Developing the creative strategy and briefing internal and external creative partners
• Testing and scaling additional paid channels where performance justifies the investment
• Building effective reporting and attribution to demonstrate the commercial contribution of paid media
• Working with digital teams to ensure accurate conversion tracking across GA4, Google Tag Manager and other platforms
• Developing A/B testing programmes across audiences, creative, formats and landing pages
• Managing agency and external partner relationships
• Leading and developing a direct report and helping to build capability across the wider marketing team

What we’re looking for:

We really need someone with incredibly strong PPC and Meta experience. This needs to have been genuinely hands-on — not simply strategic oversight — alongside the ability to operate at a senior level and own the bigger picture.

You’ll ideally have:

• Experience in performance marketing
• Expert-level experience across Google Ads and Meta Ads
• Experience of owning a paid media function outright, setting strategy, targets and direction
• Experience managing six-figure budgets against CPA and ROAS targets
• The commercial judgement to reallocate investment when performance dictates
• Experience managing a high volume of concurrent, fixed-date campaigns
• Experience delivering both burst campaigns and always-on activity
• Strong knowledge of conversion tracking, A/B testing, attribution, reporting and paid media metrics
• Experience using tools such as GA4 and Google Tag Manager
• Experience managing and developing other marketers
• The confidence to challenge performance data and ask questions when the numbers don't stack up
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate complex performance information into clear commercial insight

It would be a real bonus if you have…

Experience within live entertainment, ticketing, venue marketing, attractions, visitor experiences or events would be particularly useful.

Experience with platforms such as Power BI, CRM/marketing automation, Spotify, LinkedIn, YouTube or TikTok would also be advantageous.

And finally…

You’ll need to be calm, organised and decisive, particularly when multiple campaigns and deadlines are competing for attention.

You’ll be naturally curious and evidence-led, comfortable challenging assumptions and digging into the detail, while still being able to see the bigger commercial picture.

Most importantly, you’ll be someone who gets excited by the opportunity to own paid media, influence strategy and see a direct connection between your work and business growth.

If you’re a senior performance marketer who wants genuine ownership, substantial budgets and the opportunity to make a visible commercial impact, this could be a very interesting next move.