Senior Paid Media Specialist

Liberty Marketing; Cardiff; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

36 days off a year

Cardiff office presence

Job summary

Liberty Marketing is seeking a hands‑on Paid Media Lead to drive strategy and delivery across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta and LinkedIn for complex client accounts. You’ll manage budgets, pacing and bidding, while interpreting performance data to optimize results and justify actions in regular client calls.

You’ll mentor Specialists and Executives, help build repeatable templates, and share insights through blogs and webinars.

Qualifications

• Experience leading paid media in an agency with client outcomes
• Experience working with a mix of ecommerce, beauty, B2B and financial services clients

Responsibilities

• Lead paid media strategy and delivery across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta and LinkedIn
• Manage budgets, pacing and bidding to hit client targets
• Read performance data and decide what to change, reporting back on outcomes
• Mentor and review Specialists and Executives to improve templates and processes
• Share knowledge internally and externally through blogs, webinars and presentations
• Collaborate with Client Services, SEO, Content, Digital PR and Social to integrate paid media into client plans

Skills

Paid media strategy

Client management

Mentoring

Performance analysis

Google Ads

Microsoft Ads

Meta Ads

LinkedIn Ads

Job description

You’d lead paid media strategy and delivery on some of our more complex, higher-value client accounts, reporting to our Head of Paid Media. You’d work largely independently, with regular client contact, and mentor the Specialists and Executives in the team.

Our clients are a mix of ecommerce, beauty, B2B and financial services brands, and our paid media team works alongside specialists in SEO, Content, Digital PR and Social. Your job is to make sure the paid search and paid social on your accounts is well built, tightly managed and clearly tied to what each client needs from it (revenue, leads and a strong return on their spend).

What you’d be doing

You’d lead the paid media strategy and delivery on your accounts. That means planning, building and optimising campaigns across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta and LinkedIn, managing budgets, pacing and bidding to hit each client’s targets, and reading the performance data to decide what to change. You’d report back on what changed, why, and what we’re doing next, and with support, take a growing lead in weekly client calls and QSRs.

You’d also:

• Run regular audits and structured A/B tests across your accounts, and turn what you learn into recommendations for your own clients and the wider team.
• Keep on top of how the ad platforms are changing (new campaign types, automation, tracking and attribution) and spot what matters for our clients early.
• Mentor, coach and peer review our Specialists and Executives, and help build the templates, processes and quality checks that make good work repeatable.
• Share what you know inside and outside Liberty (lunch and learns, blogs, webinars) and build a reputation for your expertise.
• Bring channel insight and evidence to pitches, renewals and proposals, and spot where a client would benefit from more of what we do.
• Work with Client Services, SEO, Content, Digital PR and Social so paid media is part of each client’s wider plan.

Who we think this is

• You’ve worked as part of a paid media team in an agency and been judged on client outcomes (KPIs, account performance and business impact).
• You’ve probably been at an agency of 20 to 100+ people with SEO, content, digital PR, paid media and social on the services list, or a specialist paid media agency of a similar size.
• You’ve led the strategy and delivery on multiple paid search and paid social accounts at once, and grown the return they deliver.
• You’re hands‑on in the platforms (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta, LinkedIn) and confident managing budgets, pacing and bidding.
• You hold Google Ads certifications, or you’re ready to gain three within your first six months.
• You’re comfortable talking to clients regularly, explaining your results and recommendations and answering questions on your approach.
• You can talk about paid media performance in commercial terms (revenue, ROAS, cost per acquisition) as well as clicks and impressions.
• You’ve worked in at least one of ecommerce, B2B lead generation, beauty and wellbeing, or financial services, either client side or agency.

Where it could lead

There’s a development path towards Paid Media Strategist as your experience grows, with a focus on owning strategy, leading client relationships and working across channels.

About Liberty

We’ve been in Cardiff since 2008 and we’re one of the largest independent digital agencies in Wales. We were chosen this year by Visit Wales for the biggest marketing account in the country. Our CEO, Gareth, is a true digital marketer who built an agency, and sits on the board of the CIM. Doing good marketing is at the core of what we stand for. Our people speak at Hero Conf, Brighton SEO and Women in Tech.

You’d be joining a paid media team known for doing some exciting work, including growing Benefit’s paid search ROI to 525%.

Our values are Accountable, Brave and Curious. In practice this means that you own the outcome, say when something isn’t working, and keep looking for a better way to do it.

• 36 days off a year (25 holiday, bank holidays and Christmas closure)
• One day a week in the Cardiff office if you’re commutable, quarterly visits if you’re remotely based

Please note we are unable to provide Visa sponsorship for this role or accept applicants from outside of the United Kingdom.