Senior Paid Media Manager

Talent Shore; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Talent Shore in Johannesburg is seeking a Senior Paid Media Manager to own paid acquisition and build our internal paid media capability. You will own strategy, performance, testing, and attribution while working with agency partners and shaping future team structure.

You will influence stakeholders across marketing, CRM and sales, driving measurable revenue growth through data-driven decisions and a robust paid media framework.

Qualifications

• Extensive paid media experience across multiple channels.
• Proven ability to drive lead generation and revenue growth.
• Strong testing and optimisation track record.
• Experience building in-house paid media capability and processes.

Responsibilities

• Own performance across Meta, Google and new channels.
• Drive lead generation and revenue growth through paid media.
• Develop testing frameworks to improve campaigns.
• Collaborate with CRM, Automation, Marketing and Sales to optimise journeys.
• Test new channels, technologies and AI-driven initiatives.
• Manage external agencies while increasing internal ownership over time.
• Build reporting, attribution and measurement frameworks.

Skills

Paid media

Meta Ads

Google Ads

Lead generation

A/B testing

Cross-functional

Agency management

In-house buildout

Analytics

English fluency

Tools

HubSpot

Job description

Senior Paid Media Manager

Reporting to: Head of Digital Marketing

About the Role

We are a fast-growing education business generating leads at scale through paid media, webinars, live events, memberships and digital programmes. We're looking for an experienced Senior Paid Media Manager to act as the first hire in building our internal paid media capability, taking ownership of paid acquisition performance while helping reduce reliance on external partners over time. This is a standalone role for someone who wants to make a real impact. You'll work closely with external agency partners whilst progressively increasing ownership of paid media strategy, performance, testing, optimisation, reporting and attribution within the business. We're looking for a commercially-minded self-starter who can challenge thinking, identify opportunities, drive innovation and deliver measurable business results. This is not a role for someone who simply manages campaigns or agencies. We need someone who can take ownership, influence stakeholders and help shape how paid media operates across the organisation, including future team structure and hiring requirements as the function grows.

Key Responsibilities

• Own paid media performance across Meta, Google and emerging acquisition channels.
• Drive lead generation, conversion optimisation and revenue growth through paid acquisition.
• Develop and execute creative testing frameworks that improve campaign performance.
• Work closely with CRM, Automation, Marketing and Sales teams to optimise the customer journey from lead to sale.
• Identify and test new acquisition opportunities, channels, technologies and AI-driven initiatives.
• Manage and challenge external agency partners to maximise performance and return on investment, while progressively reducing dependency on external agencies as internal capability strengthens.
• Act as the organisation's paid media expert, building internal paid media capability, processes and best practices.
• Develop internal reporting, attribution and performance measurement so the business has clearer visibility of campaign performance, lead quality and commercial impact.
• Progressively increase internal ownership alongside agency partners, transferring knowledge, insight and decision-making capability into the business.
• Help shape the future paid media team structure and hiring requirements as the function grows.
• Use data, insights and commercial analysis to influence strategic decision-making.

Skills & Experience

Essential

• Extensive experience in paid media, performance marketing or customer acquisition.
• Advanced expertise in Meta Ads and Google Ads.
• Proven track record of generating leads, improving conversion rates and driving profitable revenue growth.
• Strong experience in creative testing, optimisation and performance improvement.
• Experience working across the full customer acquisition journey.
• Experience influencing stakeholders and working cross-functionally with creative, CRM, automation and sales teams.
• Demonstrable experience strengthening paid media capability, processes and best practices.
• Demonstrable experience building in-house paid media teams, capability and processes, including reporting, attribution and performance measurement.
• Commercially minded, analytical and results driven.
• Self-starter with the ability to work independently and take ownership.
• Fluent English.

Highly Desirable

• Experience within education, coaching, events, memberships or information-product businesses.
• Experience managing webinar-based acquisition funnels.
• HubSpot experience.
• Experience working with conversational marketing, chatbot platforms or AI-driven marketing initiatives.
• Experience managing agency relationships in a high-growth business environment, ideally with experience progressively bringing more expertise and ownership in-house.

What Success Looks Like

Within your first 12 months you will have:

• Increased lead volume whilst improving lead quality.
• Reduced customer acquisition costs and improved return on ad spend.
• Established a robust creative testing framework.
• Identified and launched new acquisition opportunities.
• Improved conversion performance across the customer journey.
• Strengthened the organisation's paid media capability through better processes, testing methodologies, internal reporting, attribution and performance measurement.
• Progressively increased internal ownership of paid media alongside agency partners.
• Helped shape future team structure and hiring requirements as the function grows.
• Reduced dependency on external agencies by building stronger internal expertise, processes and performance insight.
• Demonstrated success not only through lead volume and ROAS, but also through the strength and maturity of the internal paid media capability.
• Become the trusted internal expert for paid media strategy and performance.
• Delivered a measurable contribution to revenue growth.

Why Join Us?

This is an opportunity to be the first hire in building our internal paid media capability within a growing business with ambitious growth plans and significant investment in marketing. You'll have the autonomy to influence strategy, challenge existing approaches, drive innovation and help build a best-in-class internal paid media capability whilst working alongside specialist agency partners and reducing reliance on external agencies over time. If you're an experienced paid media professional who thrives on ownership, growth, experimentation and delivering commercial results, we'd love to hear from you.