Associate Director - Performance Marketing

Indian School of Business; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Indian School of Business is seeking an Associate Director - Performance Marketing to lead acquisition and portfolio performance across Executive Education and Digital Learning. You will translate growth strategy into predictable outcomes, manage a team of Managers and Assistant Managers, and ensure disciplined execution with forecasting and governance.

This leadership role focuses on building a structured portfolio organization, driving lead quality, paid CAC optimization, and revenue outcomes

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, engineering or related disciplines.
• MBA preferred.
• Strong working expertise in Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads and analytics tooling.
• Experience leading performance marketing teams and managing portfolios.

Responsibilities

• Own acquisition performance across assigned portfolios.
• Drive lead, MQL, CAC and enrolment targets.
• Oversee portfolio-level optimization and governance.
• Lead and develop Managers and Assistant Managers.
• Partner with Sales and Admissions for funnel improvements.
• Establish measurement frameworks and runway for pilots.

Skills

Team leadership

Forecasting & pacing

Portfolio governance

Strategic thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in marketing/ related field

MBA (preferable)

Tools

Google Ads

Meta Ads

LinkedIn Ads

GA4 & Analytics

Google Tag Manager

Excel

Power BI

Job description

Job Title: Associate Director - Performance Marketing

Reports to position: Sr Associate Director

Reportees to Position: 3-4

Job Purpose

The Associate Director - Acquisition & Portfolio Performance will lead the acquisition and performance marketing function across the Executive Education & Digital Learning portfolio.

The role will be responsible for translating the growth strategy, operating systems, and governance frameworks defined by the Senior Associate Director into predictable business outcomes across the portfolio.

The incumbent will lead a team of Managers and Assistant Managers, each responsible for a portfolio of programs, and ensure disciplined execution, forecasting, optimization, sales alignment and portfolio governance across the acquisition funnel.

The role is accountable for achieving lead, MQL, profile relevance, Paid CAC, and paid enrolment objectives through structured planning, proactive performance management, and strong team leadership.

This is not a campaign execution role. The primary responsibility of the Associate Director is to build, govern and lead a portfolio management organization through Managers and Assistant Managers, ensuring that business outcomes are delivered through processes, systems and proactive decision-making.

Job Outline

• Own acquisition performance across assigned portfolios.
• Drive achievement of lead, MQL, profile relevance, Paid CAC and paid enrolment targets.
• Ensure portfolio performance is aligned with business objectives and intake goals.
• Review portfolio-level performance and identify opportunities for growth and efficiency improvement.
• Drive corrective actions across underperforming programs and channels.
• Create performance visibility, business insights, and recommendations for leadership.
• Oversee campaign execution and performance across all paid acquisition channels.
• Lead portfolio-level optimization and performance review cadence.
• Govern campaign quality, execution discipline and optimization standards across teams.
• Review budget pacing, channel performance, lead delivery and quality trends.
• Drive media mix optimization and budget reallocation decisions within approved investment frameworks.
• Ensure proactive identification and resolution of performance risks.
• Conduct weekly business reviews with Managers and ensure accountability against portfolio targets.
• Build structured recovery plans where performance deviates from planned outcomes.
• Partner with the Senior Associate Director to develop annual, quarterly and Cohort wise media plans.
• Build lead, MQL, SQL and paid enrolment forecasts across portfolios.
• Establish portfolio pacing plans and monitor delivery against plan.
• Recommend channel allocation, budget deployment and resource prioritization based on expected business outcomes.
• Monitor forecast accuracy and proactively identify future delivery risks.
• Ensure teams operate proactively against plans rather than reactively against outcomes.

3. Team Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead and manage a team of Managers and Assistant Managers.
• Build strong ownership and accountability across the team.
• Conduct regular business reviews, performance reviews and coaching sessions.
• Strengthen analytical and business management capabilities across the function.
• Create development plans for team members and future leaders.
• Improve execution quality, decision-making maturity and operational discipline.

4. Funnel Performance & Sales Alignment

• Partner closely with the Sales team to improve overall funnel quality.
• Review lead quality, contactability, profile relevance, MQL performance, and SQL movement.
• Identify funnel bottlenecks impacting paid enrolment outcomes.
• Ensure insights from Sales and Admissions are incorporated into optimization plans.
• Drive structured reviews focused on conversion improvement and business outcomes.
• Lead execution of approved growth initiatives and pilot programs.
• Manage testing of new channels, media approaches, and audience strategies.
• Establish measurement frameworks and success criteria for pilots.
• Coordinate execution across internal teams and stakeholders.
• Recommend scale, optimize, or discontinue decisions based on performance outcomes.
• Document and institutionalize learnings from experiments.

6. Process Adoption & Operational Excellence

• Partner with the Senior Associate Director to institutionalize operating systems and processes.
• Drive adoption of SOPs, governance frameworks, and reporting standards.
• Ensure compliance with campaign launch, optimization and review processes.
• Improve execution consistency and reduce dependency on individual contributors.
• Maintain operational discipline across teams and portfolios.

Job Specification

Education: Bachelor's degree in marketing, Business, Engineering or related disciplines (MBA preferrable)

• Strong working expertise across:
• Google Ads (Search, Performance Max, YouTube, Display, Demand Gen)
• Meta Ads (Campaign Architecture, Audience Strategy, Creative Testing Frameworks, Budget & Scale Management)
• LinkedIn Ads (Lead Generation Campaigns, Audience Strategy, B2C Acquisition)
• Strong proficiency in Google Analytics (GA4), Marketing Funnel Analysis & Attribution, Google Tag Manager – Tagging and Tracking Architecture, Lead Quality Analysis, Cohort Analysis, Forecasting & Pacing Models, Advanced Microsoft Excel – Must Have; Power BI Preferable, Data Analysis & Reporting

Desired Experience

• 9-12+ years of experience in Performance Marketing, Growth Marketing, Digital Acquisition or related functions.
• Proven experience managing large acquisition budgets and multiple program or business portfolios.
• Experience leading Managers and high-performing performance marketing teams.
• Strong track record of delivering lead, MQL, Paid CAC and revenue/enrolment outcomes.
• Experience developing media plans, forecasting frameworks, and portfolio governance mechanisms.
• Prior experience in EdTech, D2C Ecommerce, B2C Fintech preferred.