Lead Technical SEM Manager - Scribd.com

Scribd•San Francisco, CA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

At Scribd Inc. (pronounced “scribbed”), our mission is to spark human curiosity. Join our team as we create a world of stories and knowledge, democratize the exchange of ideas and information, and empower collective expertise through our four products: Everand, Scribd, Slideshare, and Fable. This posting reflects an approved, open position within the organization. We support a culture where our employees can be real and be bold; where we debate and commit as we embrace plot twists; and where every employee is empowered to take action as we prioritize the customer. When it comes to workplace structure, we believe in balancing individual flexibility and community connections. It’s through our flexible work benefit, Scribd Flex, that employees – in partnership with their manager – can choose the daily work-style that best suits their individual needs. A key tenet of Scribd Flex is our prioritization of intentional in-person moments to build collaboration, culture, and connection. For this reason, occasional in-person attendance is required for all Scribd Inc. employees, regardless of their location. So what are we looking for in new team members? Well, we hire for “GRIT”. The textbook definition of GRIT is demonstrating the intersection of passion and perseverance towards long term goals. At Scribd Inc., we are inspired by the potential that this can unlock, and ask each of our employees to pursue a GRIT-ty approach to their work. In a tactical sense, GRIT is also a handy acronym that outlines the standards we hold ourselves and each other to. Here’s what that means for you: we’re looking for someone who showcases the ability to set and achieve G oals, achieve R esults within their job responsibilities, contribute I nnovative ideas and solutions, and positively influence the broader T eam through collaboration and attitude. About the team and role: This role is on the Performance Marketing team and focuses on Scribd.com , our brand offering access to 200M+ documents on virtually any topic. Sitting at the intersection of product, data, and paid media, you’ll own the technical foundation that allows us to build scalable, automated performance marketing systems for our ad platforms. This role will focus on SEM initially but can expand to other channels as the program matures. About you: You have experience building in-house performance marketing systems where scale, automation, and data quality were central to success. You’re excited about designing and experimenting around systems, not just running campaigns, and are comfortable partnering closely with product, data, and engineering teams to build technical solutions that drive business goals.

Requirements

7+ years (with 3+ years in-house) of experience in performance marketing, growth, or marketing ops/engineering with strong track record of owning and scaling paid acquisition programs
Demonstrated success managing complex, feed-based SEM campaigns at scale, including campaign architecture, expansion, and query to content or landing page coverage strategy
Fluency in feed-based or catalog driven ads systems with the ability to grow program through content coverage, feed inputs, and automation best practices
Proven ability building out structures that replace manual campaign management and scales across large content sets
Experience enabling and managing automated campaign types (such as DSA, Performance Max, AIMax, dynamic social ads) with performance-first approach
Strong cross functional collaboration skills, with track record of partnering with product and engineering teams to translate marketing needs into technical requirements
Comfort working closely with data engineers, contributing to ETL pipeline development and diagnosing data quality issues as they relate to campaign performance
Experience designing and executing experiments at the feed and system level, including feed changes, expansion or restriction logic, and content grouping and prioritization strategies
Strong communication skills, with ability to communicate priorities, learnings, tradeoffs to both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Nice To Haves

Experience with marketing subscription products or digital content services
Familiarity with mobile app marketing and app store optimization
Exposure to paid social catalog or dynamic ad formats (ex: Meta ad feeds, TikTok catalog ads)

Responsibilities

Own paid media content feed infrastructure, designing, experimenting, and maintaining pipelines that translate Scribd.com ’s content catalog into ad platform inputs
Ensure accuracy, safety, and quality of eligible content across DSA, PMax and other feed-based campaigns
Organize content for ad platform ingestion, including grouping documents and categories to improve efficiency, budget management, and bidding strategies
Define and maintain automation guardrails, including inclusion and exclusion logic of our 300M+ documents, balancing scale and risk
Run SEM campaigns hands on initially to validate feed logic, evaluate infrastructure, and long term partner with the SEM channel manager on strategy and roadmap
Be the primary liaison between product/content teams and channel managers, translating product priorities into performance/campaign implications and relaying performance back to cross functional teams
Build systems for monitoring feed health and coverage as content library grows and evolves
Design and lead experimentation at the feed/system level

Benefits

Healthcare Insurance Coverage (Medical/Dental/Vision): 100% paid for employees
12 weeks paid parental leave
Short-term/long-term disability plans
401k/RSP matching
Onboarding stipend for home office peripherals + accessories
Learning & Development allowance
Learning & Development programs
Quarterly stipend for Wellness, WiFi, etc.
Mental Health support & resources
Free subscription to the Scribd Inc. suite of products
Referral Bonuses
Book Benefit
Sabbaticals
Company-wide events
Team engagement budgets
Vacation & Personal Days
Paid Holidays (+ winter break)
Flexible Sick Time
Volunteer Day
Company-wide Employee Resource Groups and programs that foster an inclusive and diverse workplace.
Access to AI Tools: We provide free access to best-in-class AI tools, empowering you to boost productivity, streamline workflows, and accelerate bold innovation.