Demo

Associate Director, Paid Search

Doner
Southfield, MI Full Time
POSTED ON 3/27/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 4/25/2026

We’re looking for an Associate Director, Paid Search who can lead strategy and stay hands-on in-platform. This role is ideal for someone who can own performance end-to-end - from execution to client conversations. Fast-paced environment, high expectations, and strong growth opportunity. Client facing experience is critical for this role along with the ability to manage numerous budgets for multiple clients.


What You’ll Do

  • Own performance across multiple paid search accounts (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads)
  • Stay hands-on: build, optimize, and troubleshoot campaigns across Search, Shopping, and PMax
  • Manage budgets, pacing, and performance against KPIs (ROAS, CPA, revenue)
  • Identify growth opportunities across brand and non-brand (keywords, structure, bidding, feeds)
  • Create and present clear performance updates and strategic recommendations to clients
  • Build and maintain forecasting models for budget and revenue planning
  • Lead testing (bidding, creatives, audiences, landing pages) with clear hypotheses and learnings
  • Partner with SEO, Paid Social, and Analytics teams on full-funnel strategy
  • Mentor junior team members and review work for quality and accuracy
  • Work with engine reps to unlock betas and performance insights



What You Need

  • 6–9 years of hands-on paid search experience across Google Ads and Microsoft Ads
  • Strong in-platform execution across Search, Shopping, and Performance Max (structure, build, optimize)
  • Proven ability to manage and scale large budgets while hitting ROAS/CPA targets
  • Deep understanding of bidding strategies, query mining, and account structure for scale
  • Experience driving incremental growth (especially non-brand), not just maintaining performance
  • Comfortable with forecasting, pacing, and budget allocation decisions
  • Strong grasp of feed optimization and Merchant Center fundamentals
  • Ability to turn data into clear, actionable recommendations for clients
  • Confident presenting to clients and pushing POVs, not just reporting results
  • Experience reviewing work and mentoring junior team members
  • Solid understanding of tracking, attribution, and conversion quality (GA4, GTM, etc.)
  • Highly detail-oriented, organized, and able to manage multiple priorities without dropping execution quality

Salary.com Estimation for Associate Director, Paid Search in Southfield, MI
$173,869 to $214,144
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