Senior Director, Search & Video

Learning Care Group•Novi, CA

About The Position

The Sr. Director, Search & Video owns paid search, Performance Max, Local Service Ads, and YouTube/OLV strategy and investment for the organization's largest acquisition spend category. This role serves as the senior, hands-on-keyboard authority on these channels and the primary internal voice on their performance to the VP and, when needed, executive leadership. This is a senior individual-contributor role with Director-level strategic weight, budget accountability, and executive visibility, without formal supervisory responsibility. The role involves owning the strategy and investment allocation for these channels, driving the testing and innovation agenda, managing the senior executive-level relationship with the agency, and serving as the hands-on-keyboard practitioner in Google Ads, LSAs, Microsoft Ads, and YouTube. The position also involves partnering with Content Strategy and SEO Strategy, and informally guiding platform best practices for other paid-channel owners.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Communications, or related field
10-12+ years of experience in paid search/SEM and video advertising, with deep, hands-on platform expertise
Proven experience owning large-scale paid media budgets and being held accountable for ROI at an executive level
Proven experience managing senior agency relationships, including scope and performance negotiation
Comfortable operating as a senior individual contributor without formal supervisory authority
Deep, expert-level fluency in Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and YouTube, including emerging platform capabilities
Strong executive presence and ability to communicate channel performance directly to senior leadership
Strong analytical mindset with ability to translate platform-level detail into executive-level insight
Ability to informally influence and guide other channel owners without direct authority
Comfortable holding a senior title without a direct-report team — genuinely an individual-contributor/expert-track seat, not a people-management role
Highly organized and adaptable in a fast-paced, performance-driven environment

Responsibilities

Own paid search, Performance Max, Local Service Ads, and YouTube/OLV strategy and investment allocation for the organization's single largest acquisition spend category
Set and drive the testing and innovation agenda for these channels, including emerging platform capabilities (e.g., AI Max, evolving Performance Max features), ahead of broader organizational adoption
Own the senior, executive-level relationship with agency for paid search and video specifically, including scope, performance accountability, and escalation
Serve as the hands-on-keyboard practitioner in Google Ads, LSAs, Microsoft Ads, and YouTube, personally auditing campaign structure, conversion tracking, and keyword/query strategy
Serve as the primary internal voice on search/video performance to the VP and, when required, the CDO and other executive leadership, given their frequent direct engagement with this channel
Partner with Content Strategy on ad and video messaging, and with SEO Strategy on paid/organic query overlap
Informally guide platform best practices for other paid-channel owners across the team, without formal supervisory authority
Report investment recommendations and channel performance directly to the VP, Performance Marketing & Enrollment
Own the day-to-day agency and vendor relationships for paid search and video, specifically