Senior Manager, Performance Search & AI Marketing

Walgreens; Deerfield (IL); On-site; USD 125,000 - 219,000; Full time

Job summary

Walgreens in Deerfield, IL is seeking a Senior Manager, Performance Search & AI Marketing to lead enterprise Paid Search and AI-driven discovery, partnering with Marketing Leadership, Retail Media and Digital teams to drive customer acquisition, engagement and revenue.

You will own strategy, investment planning, measurement and optimization across search and emerging channels, shape analytics, forecasting and governance, and collaborate across functions to deliver performance-driven growth.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and at least 4 years of marketing or advertising experience.
• Experience with market research and analytics tools.
• At least 2 years of cross-functional team leadership.
• Experience with project management and delivering marketing programs.
• Experience with Marketing Strategy development.
• Proficiency with MS Office Suite.
• At least 2 years contributing to financial decisions in the workplace.
• Willing to travel up to 15% of the time.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise Paid Search (SEM) strategy, planning, and optimization aligned to business goals.
• Develop and execute performance marketing strategies across search and performance channels.
• Oversee AI-driven search and discovery strategies, including GEO and AI search optimization.
• Collaborate with agencies to develop investment strategies and optimization plans.
• Create annual performance marketing plans, forecasts, and investment strategies.
• Establish measurement frameworks, scorecards, and reporting processes.
• Work with Analytics and Marketing Science to leverage attribution and modeling for optimization.
• Analyze campaigns and data to identify growth opportunities and future investments.
• Coordinate with Brand, Digital, Retail Media, Loyalty to support integrated customer journeys.
• Evaluate new AI tools and technologies to improve efficiency and outcomes.
• Identify opportunities in search, retail media, and AI-enabled discovery to accelerate growth.
• Lead forecasting, scenario planning, and investment optimization.

Skills

SEM expertise

AI-driven discovery

Performance marketing

Strategic planning

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in marketing

Job description

Job Summary

The Senior Manager, Performance Search & AI Marketing partners with Marketing Leadership, Retail Media and Digital leadership, agency partners, and cross-functional stakeholders to develop and execute enterprise performance marketing strategies that drive customer acquisition, engagement, conversion, and business growth. This role serves as the enterprise lead for Paid Search and AI-driven Discovery, overseeing strategy, investment planning, optimization, measurement, and innovation across search and emerging performance channels. The position is responsible for translating business objectives, customer priorities, and full-funnel marketing strategies into measurable performance marketing programs that maximize visibility, traffic, conversion, and return on investment. This role leads performance search strategy, AI-enabled discovery approaches, investment planning, forecasting, optimization, and measurement while helping shape Walgreens' approach to evolving consumer search behaviors across traditional search engines, AI assistants, and emerging discovery platforms. Reporting to the Senior Director, this role serves as a key performance marketing leader and liaison across Marketing, Digital, Loyalty, Analytics, Finance, and agency teams to drive innovation, operational excellence, and business results through performance-driven marketing investments.

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Key Focus

• Lead enterprise Paid Search (SEM) strategy, planning, and optimization efforts, ensuring alignment with business objectives, customer priorities, and full-funnel marketing goals.
• Develop and execute performance marketing strategies that drive customer acquisition, engagement, conversion, retention, and revenue growth across search and performance channels.
• Lead Walgreens' strategy for AI-driven search and discovery, including emerging capabilities such as Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), AI Search Optimization (AISO), conversational search experiences, and AI-powered customer discovery.
• Partner with agency teams to develop channel investment strategies, budget recommendations, campaign priorities, and optimization plans that maximize business performance and marketing ROI.
• Develop annual performance marketing plans, forecasts, and investment strategies aligned to enterprise business priorities and customer growth objectives.
• Establish measurement frameworks, performance scorecards, and reporting processes that provide visibility into campaign effectiveness, channel performance, and business impact.
• Partner with Marketing Science, Analytics, and agency teams to leverage attribution, Marketing Mix Modeling, incrementality testing, customer insights, and performance analytics to optimize investments and drive continuous improvement.
• Analyze campaign, channel, audience, and business performance data to identify growth opportunities, optimization actions, and future investment recommendations.
• Collaborate with Brand, Digital, Retail Media (WAG), Loyalty to ensure performance marketing strategies support integrated customer journeys and enterprise objectives.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, AI tools, automation capabilities, and performance marketing innovations to improve efficiency, effectiveness, personalization, and marketing outcomes.
• Identify and advance new opportunities within search, retail media, commerce media, AI assistants, and performance marketing ecosystems to accelerate customer growth and competitive advantage.
• Lead performance forecasting, scenario planning, and investment optimization efforts to support evolving business priorities and maximize return on media spend.
• Establish best practices, governance frameworks, and strategic recommendations that improve enterprise performance marketing capabilities and execution.
• Monitor industry trends, platform innovations, privacy changes, consumer behavior shifts, and competitive activity to inform future performance marketing strategies and investment decisions.
• Serve as the enterprise subject matter expert for Paid Search, search marketing, AI-enabled discovery, and performance marketing best practices.
• Build strong partnerships across internal stakeholders, technology providers, agencies, and platform partners to ensure strategic alignment, executional excellence, and achievement of business objectives.

Job Responsibilities

• Partners with the Marketing Director in determining and implementing the strategy across the organization.
• Partners with the management team to identify, develop, and implement appropriate approaches, processes, and tools that elevate the marketing group.
• Identifies, evaluates and recommends marketing opportunities consistent with business objectives; provides marketing support to throughout the organization.
• Works to identify and develop marketing strategies and programs in collaboration with business team. Communicates new ideas to director.
• Delivers presentations and provides reports for the business to provide marketing information which may include marketing trends, competition, new products, and pricing.
• Works with external vendors and third parties to develop and maintain positive relationships. Builds and enhances internal and external partnerships.
• Proactively provides Marketing solutions to address key business capabilities.

This role is based in our Deerfield, IL office and is on-site four days a week.

About Walgreens

Founded in 1901, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) proudly serves nearly 9 million customers and patients each day across its approximately 8,500 stores throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Walgreens has approximately 220,000 team members, including nearly 90,000 healthcare service providers, and is committed to being the first choice for pharmacy, retail and health services, building trusted relationships that create healthier futures for customers, patients, team members and communities.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and at least 4 years of marketing or advertising experience; OR, a High School/GED and at least 7 years of marketing or advertising experience.
• Experience using tools, techniques for collecting, collating and analyzing information about existing or potential markets and market needs.
• At least 2 years of experience of cross functional team leadership
• Experience with project management (for example: planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives).
• Experience with Marketing Strategy development.
• Experience with MS Office Suite.
• At least 2 years of experience contributing to financial decisions in the workplace.
• At least 2 years of direct leadership, indirect leadership and/or cross-functional team leadership.
• Willing to travel up to 15% of the time for business purposes (within state and out of state).

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep expertise in Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Paid Search strategy, keyword management, audience targeting, bidding strategies, campaign optimization, and performance measurement.
• Experience leading enterprise-scale performance marketing programs and managing significant media investments.
• Strong knowledge of AI-powered search ecosystems, Generative AI applications, emerging search technologies, and evolving consumer discovery behaviors.
• Experience developing strategies for AI-driven discovery, conversational search, and next-generation performance marketing capabilities.
• Advanced analytical skills with experience in attribution, incrementality testing, Marketing Mix Modeling, forecasting, and performance reporting.
• Experience working closely with agency partners and cross-functional business teams in a large, complex organization.
• Strong communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to translate data and insights into actionable business recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to balance strategic thinking with operational execution and performance accountability.

We will consider employment of qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

The Salary below is being provided to promote pay transparency and equal employment opportunities at Walgreens. The actual hourly salary within this range that you will be offered will depend on a variety of factors including geography, skills and abilities, education, experience and other relevant factors. This role will remain open until filled. To review benefits, please click here jobs.walgreens.com/benefits. If you are applying on a job board or unable to click on the link, please copy and paste this URL into your browser jobs.walgreens.com/benefits.

Salary Range: $125000 - $218,750.00 / Salaried