Director Paid Social

Hansen Recruiting; United States; On-site; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Hansen Recruiting is assisting a fast-growing performance marketing shop focused on direct-to-consumer brands. They seek a senior operator who can run key paid social accounts while uplifting the rest of the team with judgment, standards, and problem-solving.

You’ll split time between strategy and hands-on execution across Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, and paid search oversight; coach managers, align with creative and influencer teams, and back new business efforts with audits and forecasts.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in paid social with leadership experience
• Deep, current expertise in DTC/eCommerce performance
• Strong platform fluency across Meta and TikTok
• Experience owning senior client relationships
• Experience building or enforcing team standards
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and creating structure

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end strategy and execution for your account book
• Lead and develop paid social managers, coaching and training
• Set pacing, testing plans, and reporting standards for the team
• Collaborate with creative and influencer teams to stay aligned
• Support new business with audits, forecasts, and pitches
• Be the first call when an account hits trouble, before leadership

Skills

Paid social

Team leadership

DTC/eCommerce

Agency experience

Client relations

Strategic thinking

Coaching

Tools

Google Ads

Meta Ads

TikTok Ads

Pinterest Ads

Job description

Must live in the United States - no Visa sponsorship offered

Type: Full-time/Perm

Compensation: $130,000 - $170,000

Only candidates with hands-on experience running paid social for DTC/eCommerce brands will be considered

Our client is a fast-growing, creative-led performance marketing shop built specifically for direct-to-consumer brands. They don't chase every vertical — DTC and eCommerce is the whole business, and it shows in how the team thinks about media, creative, and growth as one connected system rather than separate departments.

They're at a stage where the paid media team is scaling, and they need a senior operator who can both run accounts and raise the level of everyone around them.

Why This Role, Why Now

Past the start-up phase - it's a growing, well-run shop with real momentum behind it:

• Real growth, not just growth on paper. The agency grew top-line revenue nearly 90% year-over-year, and that growth has been fueled by expanding relationships with existing clients as much as new logos
• A book of business that keeps expanding. The client roster has grown to 35+ premium eCommerce brands, concentrated in health & wellness, apparel, and beauty/cosmetics — categories where the team has built real depth
• A creative function that’s scaled with it. The in-house creative team has more than doubled in size to keep pace with client growth, so paid social isn’t fighting for creative resources the way it does at leaner shops
• People stay. Average tenure runs over 2 years, and voluntary turnover is genuinely rare
• Mature, not chaotic. At around 40 people, the agency is past the "figuring it out" stage — there are real processes and structure in place — while still small enough that senior hires get visibility and influence rather than getting buried

The Opportunity

This is a player-coach role, not a pure management seat and not a pure execution seat. You’ll keep a hands-on book of your own strategic accounts while also becoming the person the rest of the paid media team leans on for judgment, standards, and problem-solving.

Expect to split your time between:

• Running strategy and platform work for a curated set of high-value DTC accounts
• Coaching managers and strategists on execution quality, testing rigor, and client communication
• Being the first call when an account hits trouble, before it ever reaches leadership

What You’ll Own

• End-to-end strategy, planning, and in-platform execution for your own account book across Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, and emerging paid social channels
• Oversight of the team’s Google Ads/paid search work — setting strategy and quality standards even where you’re directing the work rather than executing it yourself
• Setting the team’s standards for pacing, testing plans, reporting, and account hygiene
• Onboarding quality for new clients — first 30/60/90-day plans, access setup, and early wins
• Coaching and developing paid social managers, including spotting skill gaps and building training plans
• Tight collaboration with creative and influencer teams so paid strategy and content stay connected
• Supporting new business work — audits, forecasts, and pitch strategy when needed

What Success Looks Like

• Your accounts perform, and the team around you gets measurably stronger
• Escalations drop because standards and staffing are clear before problems start
• Clients trust you directly, not just as an account manager but as a strategic partner

Requirements

• 7+ years in paid social, agency-side preferred, with real experience leading people and multiple accounts at once
• Deep, current expertise in DTC/eCommerce performance — this is non-negotiable, not a nice-to-have
• Strong platform fluency across Meta and TikTok at minimum; comfort overseeing Google Ads/paid search strategy and quality is expected, even if it’s not where you personally execute day‑to‑day
• A track record of owning senior client relationships, not just executing media plans handed to you
• Experience building or enforcing team standards: onboarding, testing frameworks, reporting practices
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and creating structure for others rather than waiting for it