Senior Manager, Paid Search

Grainger Businesses • Lake Forest, IL

7d • $134,100 - $223,500 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Manager, Paid Search is accountable for the leadership, governance, and performance of Grainger's paid search marketing channels (e.g., Google, Microsoft, emerging search platforms). This role ensures paid search investments are executed with discipline and deliver against approved demand generation, commercial, and customer acquisition objectives. Operating within established strategies, budgets, and enterprise policies, this position is accountable for end-to-end governance and execution of paid search programs. The role has responsibility for paid search investment strategy and financial stewardship, including budget allocation, forecasting, pacing, bidding strategy, and optimization decisions to maximize profitable growth while maintaining cost discipline.

This is a hybrid position that is based onsite in Lake Forest or Chicago 3 days a week.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience
• 7+ years of experience in paid search
• Experience managing paid search budgets, including forecasting, pacing, accruals, financial reporting, and investment optimization, and executing paid search programs using automated bidding strategies, audience segmentation, feed management, and search automation tools.
• Knowledge of search measurement, attribution, incrementality testing, conversion tracking, and analytics platforms used to evaluate campaign performance and inform paid search decisions.
• Experience using first-party data, customer insights, audience strategies, and paid search performance data to inform acquisition, retention, customer lifetime value, and campaign optimization decisions.
• Experience partnering with Marketing, Merchandising, Pricing, Sales, Analytics, Technology, and Product teams and applying search platform innovations, AI-driven optimization capabilities, privacy changes, and digital advertising practices to paid search programs.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end governance and execution of paid search programs, including strategy, campaign architecture, operating standards, and performance priorities to ensure consistency, compliance, and quality delivery.
• Lead and develop managers and senior professionals through formal goal setting, coaching, and performance management processes to maintain delivery standards and maintain delivery standards while building organizational depth in paid search expertise.
• Lead paid search investment strategy and financial stewardship, including budget allocation, forecasting, pacing, bidding strategy, and optimization decisions to maximize profitable growth while maintaining cost discipline.
• Oversee partner relationships through structured operating forums, scope management, and performance reviews to ensure contractual compliance, value realization, and operational excellence. Serve as a senior business partner to Google, Microsoft, and other search technology and platform partners, setting channel objectives, resolving escalated issues, evaluating new capabilities, and ensuring platform roadmaps support Grainger’s paid search strategy.
• Partner closely with Grainger Analytics, Sales, Pricing, Merchandising, Category Management, and Marketing teams to align paid search investments with customer strategies and business priorities, identifying opportunities to drive incremental revenue, demand generation, and customer lifetime value.
• Drive continuous optimization across campaign structure, keyword strategy, audience targeting, bidding automation, ad copy, landing page performance, and testing methodologies to improve business outcomes.
• Establish and enforce standardized measurement, reporting, attribution, incrementality, and channel health monitoring frameworks in partnership with Analytics teams to evaluate campaign performance, customer acquisition efficiency, and return on advertising spend (ROAS).
• Provide leadership with regular assessments of paid search performance, investment opportunities, and emerging capabilities, translating insights into actionable recommendations and resource priorities
• Lead the paid search operating and experimentation roadmap, establishing scalable processes, controls, resource and capability requirements, performance reviews, and escalation paths while prioritizing tests across campaign, feed, platform, automation, measurement, and customer experience capabilities to advance business objectives.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans with coverage starting on day one of employment
• 6 free sessions each year with a licensed therapist to support your emotional wellbeing
• 18 paid time off (PTO) days annually for full-time employees
• 6 company holidays per year
• 6% company contribution to a 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan each pay period, no employee contribution required.
• Employee discounts
• Tuition reimbursement
• Student loan refinancing
• Free access to financial counseling, education, and tools.
• Maternity support programs
• Nursing benefits
• up to 14 weeks paid leave for birth parents
• up to 4 weeks paid leave for non-birth parents.

What This Job Offers

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