Director of Performance Marketing

Empower Brands•Richmond, VA

4d•$150,000 - $175,000

About The Position

Empower Brands is seeking a Director of Performance Marketing to build and lead a centralized franchisee growth capability across its portfolio of brands. The role oversees paid-media strategy, platform and partner management, franchisee performance reporting, and the evolution of services that support local lead generation and conversion. It works across brand teams, digital marketing, finance, operations, and franchisee stakeholders to create a consistent, scalable approach to local marketing execution. The role reports to the Chief Marketing Officer and partners closely with the Senior Director of Digital and Marketing Operations. The initial priority is launching and scaling in-house performance marketing. The planned products and services include paid-media execution across Google Search, Local Services Ads, Display, YouTube, Meta, and other Google advertising capabilities; localized landing pages; franchisee dashboards and reporting; call-tracking integration; speed-to-lead tools and workflows; AI-enabled SMS, voice, and email follow-up; lead-management and CRM integrations; standardized direct mail; and future demand-generation and conversion products. The broader scope will expand as the operating model, technology, and franchisee adoption mature. The Director will translate the strategic vision into an operating model, service offering, implementation roadmap, and franchisee experience; lead initial campaign setup, migration, launch, and optimization; and serve as product owner for the franchisee growth-products and services ecosystem. The role also manages platforms, vendors, and integrations; establishes franchisee onboarding, training, support, and performance-review processes; leads adoption and change management; and monitors commercial and operating performance, including service economics and contribution to franchisee sales and royalty growth. The role begins without immediate direct reports. The Director will recommend the future team structure, develop hiring triggers and role definitions, and hire, train, and lead the team as the capability scales. The ideal candidate has strong performance marketing experience, an agency or multi-location background, and the ability to turn strategy into practical, measurable programs while remaining close to execution in a growing environment.

Requirements

At least 5 years of experience leading paid-media strategy and execution across Google and Meta.
Bachelor’s degree in marketing, advertising, communications, business, or a related discipline.
Deep knowledge of Google Search, Local Services Ads, Display, YouTube, Meta, campaign architecture, attribution, and optimization.
Experience implementing or operating marketing technology, advertising platforms, dashboards, or multi-location marketing systems.
Experience integrating paid-media execution with CRM, call tracking, landing pages, lead routing, and reporting.
Demonstrated experience building a new service, capability, operating model, or internal agency function from the ground up.
Strong change-management experience across complex stakeholder groups.
Experience selecting, negotiating with, and managing agencies, technology vendors, and platform partners.
Ability to personally execute campaigns and platform work during the initial build.
Ability to move between strategy, product design, operations, technology, campaign execution, and stakeholder management.
Experience building business cases and contributing to pricing, packaging, budget, and service-economics decisions.
Strong analytical skills and ability to translate data into actions and business recommendations.
Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in an entrepreneurial, evolving, and highly visible environment.

Nice To Haves

Franchise marketing experience.
Multi-location or distributed marketing experience.
Agency leadership or agency operations experience.
Experience supporting multiple brands through a shared platform or centralized operating model.
Product-management or product-ownership experience.
Experience in home services or another locally driven service category.
Experience in a private-equity-backed organization.
Experience scaling capabilities through rapid growth and organizational change.
Familiarity with franchise agreements, required marketing programs, local advertising requirements, and franchisee advisory structures.
Experience with speed-to-lead, conversational AI, automated follow-up, or lead-conversion platforms.

Responsibilities

Design, implement, and launch Empower’s in-house performance marketing capability.
Translate the strategic vision into a practical operating model, service offering, implementation roadmap, and franchisee experience.
Lead platform implementation, configuration, and ongoing optimization; establish scalable workflows, standards, service levels, governance, and processes.
Partner with Brand Presidents and Marketing, Finance, Legal, IT, Operations, and franchisee leadership groups to prepare for launch and onboard brands and franchisee accounts.
Lead initial campaign architecture, account setup, migration, launch, and optimization across Google Search, Local Services Ads, Display, YouTube, Meta, and other relevant paid channels.
Establish campaign structures, naming conventions, budget-management practices, tracking standards, and quality controls; evaluate performance by franchisee, territory, market, service line, and channel.
Ensure account transitions preserve access, historical data, tracking integrity, and continuity of lead flow where possible.
Develop standards and playbooks that can scale across brands and be used by campaign managers, account managers, platforms, and agency partners.
Own the product roadmap for MaaS, landing pages, dashboards, speed-to-lead, AI follow-up, and related franchisee growth products and services.
Translate franchisee, brand, and business needs into platform requirements and product enhancements; determine whether capabilities should be built internally, delivered by vendors, or managed through hybrid models.
Manage vendor onboarding, service levels, issue resolution, and performance reviews.
Partner with IT and internal stakeholders on CRM, data, tracking, security, and user-access requirements; maintain appropriate ownership and administrative access to advertising accounts, landing pages, tracking assets, and performance data.
Lead integration of media, CRM, call-tracking, dashboard, billing, and reporting workflows.
Define franchisee onboarding, support, training, and engagement throughout the MaaS relationship; establish onboarding, stabilization, monthly review, escalation, and performance-management processes.
Partner with Digital Marketing Managers and brand marketing teams on franchisee communications and recurring performance reviews.
Develop adoption and migration strategies, lead account and agency-transition planning, and create communications, training, documentation, and escalation paths.
Help establish participation, exception, and transition frameworks with the CMO, Brand Presidents, Legal, and Operations.
Monitor platform fees, internal costs, media funding, billing workflows, and account-level economics; establish adoption, revenue, capacity, service-quality, and performance targets.
Evaluate MaaS performance based on service economics and its contribution to franchisee sales and royalty growth; partner with FP&A on forecasting and financial analysis.
Recommend the future team structure, hiring triggers, and role definitions; hire, train, and lead the team as the capability scales.
Create clear accountability among product ownership, account management, campaign execution, brand teams, and external vendors.