Digital Marketing Paid Media Strategist

LMG Staffing Solutions • Chicago, IL

5d • Remote

About The Position

The Paid Media Strategist serves as the subject matter expert and strategic owner of paid media performance across a portfolio of clients. This role is primarily focused on Paid Search and Paid Social Advertising and may also involve Programmatic Display and other third-party platforms. The Strategist is responsible for translating client business objectives into paid media strategy, independently diagnosing performance, developing and optimizing campaigns, establishing testing roadmaps, and identifying opportunities for growth both within and across channels. Successful candidates will combine deep hands-on platform expertise with broader strategic thinking. We are looking for someone who can determine what the strategy should be, not simply execute a strategy developed by someone else.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• 3+ years of hands-on paid media experience at a digital marketing agency or similarly complex multi-client environment.
• Demonstrated experience independently owning paid media strategy, not solely executing campaigns or recommendations developed by others.
• Deep working knowledge of Google Ads, including Search, Shopping, and Performance Max.
• Hands-on experience with at least one major Paid Social platform, preferably Meta.
• Experience managing meaningful paid media budgets and making independent budget-allocation decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to diagnose account performance and explain the underlying causes of performance changes.
• Strong understanding of conversion tracking, attribution, and digital measurement.
• Experience developing structured campaign, creative, or audience testing programs.
• Ability to translate platform data into clear business recommendations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and comfort presenting strategic recommendations to clients.
• Ability to independently manage multiple clients, priorities, and deadlines.

Nice To Haves

• Programmatic Display and other third-party platforms.
• Competency in at least one major Paid Social platform, preferably Meta.
• Experience with Demand Gen campaign types.
• Cross-channel media plans involving Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, and other relevant platforms.
• Understanding of the customer journey.
• Experience with GA4, Google Tag Manager, attribution, and offline conversion measurement.
• Experience with ROAS, CAC/CPA, LTV, conversion rate, revenue, qualified leads, and pipeline metrics.
• Experience developing structured testing roadmaps based on clear hypotheses and business objectives.
• Experience partnering with creative teams to translate campaign performance into actionable creative recommendations.
• Experience establishing appropriate KPIs, budgets, and evaluation criteria for campaign, audience, messaging, and creative tests.
• Experience using test results to generate actionable learnings and determine subsequent iterations.
• Understanding the role creative plays across different platforms and stages of the customer journey.
• Collaboration with specialists across SEO, Creative, Analytics/Measurement, CRM, and other disciplines.
• Sharing platform knowledge, emerging best practices, and successful testing approaches with other members of the Paid Media team.
• Contributing to agency-wide paid media methodologies, standards, and SOPs.
• Establishing repeatable frameworks for turning account audits and campaign data into comprehensive client strategies.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the paid media subject matter expert and strategic owner for an assigned portfolio of clients.
• Develop a deep understanding of each client's business model, goals, customers, competitive environment, and economics.
• Translate business objectives into clear paid media strategies, KPIs, channel roles, budgets, and testing priorities.
• Independently audit new and existing accounts, diagnose performance issues, and develop prioritized recommendations.
• Clearly articulate what is happening, why it is happening, and what we should do next.
• Identify growth opportunities beyond individual platforms, including opportunities involving creative, landing pages, measurement, SEO, CRM, and other marketing channels.
• Effectively present strategy, performance, and recommendations to clients and internal teams.
• Create clear documentation and reporting that connects campaign performance to client business objectives.
• Proactively identify risks and opportunities rather than waiting for client or account-management direction.
• Develop, implement, and continuously optimize Paid Search and Paid Social strategies across a variety of client types and business models.
• Demonstrate deep hands-on expertise in Google Ads and competency in at least one major Paid Social platform, preferably Meta.
• Build appropriate campaign and account structures across Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and other relevant campaign types.
• Understand when automated campaign types, bidding strategies, and audience expansion should or should not be used.
• Develop cross-channel media plans that define the specific role of Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, and other relevant platforms within the customer journey.
• Recommend and continuously manage budget allocation based on business objectives, marginal performance, customer acquisition economics, and channel opportunity.
• Evaluate platform-reported performance critically and understand the relationship between attribution, incrementality, and actual business outcomes.
• Stay current on changes to advertising platforms, automation, and AI, and translate those developments into actionable recommendations for clients.
• Extract insights from campaign and business data, identify meaningful trends, diagnose performance changes, and develop proactive recommendations.
• Understand the fundamentals of conversion tracking, GA4, Google Tag Manager, attribution, and offline conversion measurement.
• Evaluate performance using appropriate business metrics such as ROAS, CAC/CPA, LTV, conversion rate, revenue, qualified leads, and pipeline.
• Distinguish between platform performance and overall business performance when evaluating campaign success.
• Develop structured optimization plans rather than relying solely on individual platform recommendations.
• Collaborate with analytics and measurement specialists when deeper technical implementation or analysis is required.
• Develop structured testing roadmaps based on clear hypotheses and business objectives.
• Partner with creative teams to translate campaign performance into actionable creative recommendations.
• Establish appropriate KPIs, budgets, and evaluation criteria for campaign, audience, messaging, and creative tests.
• Use test results to generate actionable learnings and determine subsequent iterations.
• Understand the role creative plays across different platforms and stages of the customer journey.
• Collaborate with specialists across SEO, Creative, Analytics/Measurement, CRM, and other disciplines to improve overall client outcomes.
• Recognize when a paid media performance issue originates outside the advertising platform and proactively engage the appropriate specialists.
• Share platform knowledge, emerging best practices, and successful testing approaches with other members of the Paid Media team.
• Contribute to agency-wide paid media methodologies, standards, and SOPs.
• Help establish repeatable frameworks for turning account audits and campaign data into comprehensive client strategies.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, Vision, Short-Term Disability, and Life insurance
• 401(k) plus match, to help plan for your future
• Paid time off (starting at 15 days), plus paid holidays, paid sick days, and paid personal days.
• Flexible Fridays
• Option to work completely remote
• Access to senior management and mentoring opportunities
• Optional COVID safe company gatherings

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Associate degree