Associate Director, Paid Search & SEO

Attention Arc•Irvington, NY

6d•$110,000 - $130,000

About The Position

At Attention Arc, we exist to make media matter. As part of our Activation team — the Operators & Negotiators — you guide how paid search strategies come to life with intention, clarity, and measurable impact. Associate Directors are both strategic architects and people leaders — shaping the roadmap for client success while elevating the craft, thinking, and collaboration of the team. In this role, you’ll lead multi-account portfolios, drive sophisticated search strategies, partner directly with senior clients, and mentor a growing team. You bring depth of expertise, a point of view shaped by curiosity and analysis, and the leadership instincts needed to help people do their best work. You ensure that every decision reflects our values, sharpens performance, and strengthens the story of how we make media matter.

Requirements

6–8 years of hands-on paid search experience, including significant time owning strategy for complex or enterprise accounts.
Strong command of bidding automation, query and audience strategy, measurement frameworks, competitive analysis, and full-funnel search planning.
Demonstrated ability to craft and articulate strategic narratives — in client decks, in meetings, and cross-functionally.
Experience forecasting budgets, managing pacing, and making investment decisions tied to business outcomes.
Expertise in interpreting performance data, diagnosing issues, and translating findings into clear recommendations.
Experience coaching and leading teams; ability to provide clear direction, constructive feedback, and growth-oriented support.
Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple workstreams simultaneously.
Comfort presenting to senior stakeholders and influencing decisions with insight, clarity, and confidence.

Responsibilities

Bring strong strategic perspective and craft mastery that elevates team credibility and strengthens trust with senior clients.
Own paid search strategy across a multi-client or high-complexity portfolio, aligning program direction to broader business, audience, and channel goals.
Design and oversee optimization frameworks, testing agendas, learning agendas, and measurement approaches that improve both performance and understanding.
Synthesize platform signals, market trends, audience insights, and competitive intelligence into clear strategic recommendations.
Communicate with clarity and purpose — translating complex analytical stories into simple, compelling narratives that move clients and teams forward.
Partner closely with Planning, Strategy, Analytics, Creative, and Account teams to build cohesive, audience-driven approaches to media.
Support pacing, forecasting, investment decisions, and budget reallocation strategies with precision and clear rationale.
Oversee executional excellence across tagging, QA, trafficking, reporting, and platform stewardship.
Lead, coach, and develop a team of Analysts, Specialists, and Supervisors — providing direction, elevating craft, and giving honest, empathetic feedback.
Identify and escalate risks proactively, offering solutions that model calm problem-solving and operational leadership.
Champion innovation: evaluate new platform features, automation, betas, and AI-driven tools; recommend how and when to test or scale.
Represent paid search expertise in client meetings, cross-team forums, and larger integrated presentations.
Contribute to new business conversations by shaping thoughtful, insight-led search strategies.