Director, Paid Search

Cars.com•Chicago, IL

About The Position

The Director of Paid Search is the end-to-end owner of Cars.com's consumer SEM program (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and emerging AI search surfaces), responsible for strategy, budget/KPI ownership, execution quality, and team leadership. This role is critical because SEM is an 8+ figure, business-critical acquisition channel that needs a single accountable owner to drive volume and efficiency while navigating the shift to AI-driven search (AI Overviews, agentic search, Performance Max). The role involves owning the consumer SEM program end-to-end, setting strategy, execution standards, and the performance roadmap for an 8+ figure annual SEM budget across Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, and emerging AI-driven search surfaces, with clear accountability for high-intent traffic, leads, revenue, and efficient payback. It also includes defining channel goals, forecasts, budgets, and KPI frameworks — CPL/CPA, ROAS, impression share — in partnership with Marketing leadership, Finance, and Analytics, and owning budget allocation and pacing, making fast, data-driven reallocation decisions to scale volume while improving efficiency. The position requires daily oversight of campaign architecture, bidding strategy, keyword coverage, audiences, feeds, ad copy and creative testing, and landing page optimization, maintaining pristine account hygiene and a relentless testing calendar. A key aspect is driving feed-based automation, API integrations, Smart Bidding, signal-based strategies, scripting, and emerging AI-agent workflows to operate at scale, acting as the strategic owner for embedding AI/ML and generative AI into SEM workflows across bidding, query expansion, ad copy generation, and reporting. The role also involves a product-first approach to the full funnel, partnering with Product, Engineering, Design, and Lifecycle to improve landing pages, conversion rates, and onboarding, not just media efficiency. Staying ahead of AI-driven search, anticipating how AI is reshaping discovery — AI Overviews, agentic search, Performance Max, an evolving SERP — and ensuring strong visibility across traditional and AI-driven search surfaces is crucial. The position requires defining and maintaining the SEM measurement framework — attribution, incrementality testing, media mix modeling (MMM), conversion tracking, and reporting automation — and translating performance into executive-ready narratives that connect search to acquisition, revenue, and payback. Setting quality-assurance standards for ad copy, destination URLs, tracking parameters, and budget controls to protect spend, data integrity, and the brand is also a responsibility. Finally, the role involves owning agency and platform relationships (Google, Microsoft) — strategic roadmaps, quarterly business reviews, troubleshooting, and performance improvement plans, as well as building and leading a team of SEM specialists, setting clear ownership and consistent operating rhythms.

Requirements

10+ years in performance / growth marketing with deep, hands-on paid search expertise and a proven track record managing 8-9 figure annual SEM budgets tied to acquisition, revenue, ROI, and payback goals.
Expert-level command of Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising — advanced campaign types, Smart Bidding, scripts, feeds, and enterprise bid management (Search Ads 360) — plus the full testing and optimization toolkit.
Experience in marketplace, classifieds, e-commerce, or high-volume B2C lead-gen businesses where SEM is a core, large-scale acquisition channel.
A builder-operator who has built scale through automation and AI.
Feed-based automation, API integrations, signal-based and Smart Bidding, scripting, and hands-on experience embedding AI/ML or generative AI into SEM workflows — bidding, ad copy, query expansion, and reporting.
Demonstrated results growing paid search volume while improving CPL/CPA and ROAS through rigorous testing and iteration.
Fluent in attribution, incrementality, MMM, etc; comfortable with large datasets and querying.
You care deeply about account hygiene, testing velocity, QA, and continuous optimization, and hold the account to a high standard every day.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience at a two-sided marketplace or classifieds business (specifically travel, real estate, jobs, ticketing, etc.).
Hands-on experience building SEM automation via the Google Ads API or scripts, feed-based signals for automated bidding, or partnering with product and engineering on internal tooling.
Experience managing SEM through periods of platform change — AI Overviews, Performance Max, and agentic/AI search — and aligning paid search with SEO.
Familiarity with adjacent biddable media (paid social, shopping).

Responsibilities

Own the consumer SEM program end-to-end.
Set strategy, execution standards, and the performance roadmap for an 8+ figure annual SEM budget across Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, and emerging AI-driven search surfaces, with clear accountability for high-intent traffic, leads, revenue, and efficient payback.
Define channel goals, forecasts, budgets, and KPI frameworks — CPL/CPA, ROAS, impression share — in partnership with Marketing leadership, Finance, and Analytics.
Own budget allocation and pacing, and make fast, data-driven reallocation decisions to scale volume while improving efficiency.
Oversee campaign architecture, bidding strategy, keyword coverage, audiences, feeds, ad copy and creative testing, and landing page optimization daily; maintain pristine account hygiene and a relentless testing calendar.
Drive feed-based automation, API integrations, Smart Bidding, signal-based strategies, scripting, and emerging AI-agent workflows to operate at scale — and act as the strategic owner for embedding AI/ML and generative AI into SEM workflows across bidding, query expansion, ad copy generation, and reporting.
Think product-first about the full funnel — partner with Product, Engineering, Design, and Lifecycle to improve landing pages, conversion rates, and onboarding, not just media efficiency.
Anticipate how AI is reshaping discovery — AI Overviews, agentic search, Performance Max, an evolving SERP — and ensure Cars.com maintains strong visibility across traditional and AI-driven search surfaces.
Define and maintain the SEM measurement framework — attribution, incrementality testing, media mix modeling (MMM), conversion tracking, and reporting automation — and translate performance into executive-ready narratives that connect search to acquisition, revenue, and payback.
Set quality-assurance standards for ad copy, destination URLs, tracking parameters, and budget controls that protect spend, data integrity, and the brand.
Own agency and platform relationships (Google, Microsoft) — strategic roadmaps, quarterly business reviews, troubleshooting, and performance improvement plans.
Build and lead the team of SEM specialists, setting clear ownership and consistent operating rhythms.