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Senior Paid Search Strategist

Chicago

As the Senior Paid Search Strategist, you will own the creation, execution, and optimization of paid search campaigns, acting as a strategic SEM lead and advisor for enterprise-level brands. This role works as part of an integrated SEO/SEM team to develop holistic search strategy. You’ll provide leadership and expertise in account structure and setup, ongoing budget and bid management, and continuous performance optimization. You’ll collaborate across multiple teams and disciplines, present data-driven insights, and deliver actionable performance reporting to clients. You’ll be responsible for defining and communicating SEM goals, maintaining client satisfaction, and educating both internal and external teams on the evolving SEM landscape and its opportunities. 

You Will:

  • Drive the ongoing development, implementation, and optimization of SEM strategy for national brands with $1M+ budgets 
  • Work as part of an integrated SEO/SEM team, aligning paid and organic search strategies to reduce costs while maximizing holistic search performance
  • Translate business goals to SEM platform activation strategies/tactics 
  • Own the hands-on execution and management of day-to-day performance for multiple campaigns, including budget pacing, campaign setup, account structure, targeting strategy, bid strategy, platforms, data usage, performance optimizations, testing strategy, troubleshooting, and downstream client funnel optimization
  • Be the SEM point of contact and trusted advisor for clients
  • Clearly communicate paid search best practices and strategies, both internally and externally
  • Create and share search POVs and case studies across the agency
  • Develop consistent account processes and procedures
  • Craft compelling ad copy and guide CRO strategies to drive high-quality traffic and conversions 
  • Deliver actionable insights to clients through insightful, visually compelling reports (including analysis and strategic recommendations)
  • Identify market and consumer trends, telling a story with search data
  • Run iterative testing strategies to drive incremental performance lifts
  • Map out search tactics and strategies on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis
  • Conduct regular SEM audits and competitive analyses to identify net-new opportunities
  • Provide data-driven insights and recommendations to refine our strategy and improve campaign performance
  • Stay on top of the latest trends in the SEM landscape, keeping clients educated and adapting our search strategies as needed in response

You Have:

  • 5+ years of hands-on experience managing and optimizing paid search campaigns with large spends
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly and persuasively articulate paid search strategies 
  • Strong presentation and storytelling skills, with an emphasis on data visualization 
  • High attention to detail
  • Proven success in optimizing SEM campaigns and achieving substantial improvements in performance over time
  • High proficiency in industry-standard SEM tools (e.g. SA360, Google/Microsoft Ads, GA4, Google Tag Manager, and Google Ads Editor)
  • Ability to react quickly, assess, and implement solutions
  • Excellent data analysis and problem-solving skills
  • A passion for testing and learning and a proactive approach 
  • Ability to mine search data for campaign performance insights, uncovering opportunities to drive ROI
  • Passion for staying current in a rapidly evolving digital environment, leveraging new AI tools and techniques to gain a competitive edge
  • Experience with other Google campaign types (e.g. Discover, Video, Display, Shopping/Merchant Center, etc.) and social campaigns a plus 
  • Experience with local or state-level paid search campaigns

 What We Offer: 

  • Global maternity and parental leave 
  • Competitive benefits packages 
  • Vacation, compassionate leave, wellness days, and flex days 
  • Summer Fridays (off at 3:00 PM local time every Friday)
  • Diversity and Inclusion Board with 13 affinity groups
  • Enterprise-wide employee discounts  

The Talent Team at Critical Mass is focused on ensuring we provide the best training, onboarding, and employee experience possible!  Our new hires & employees are the future of our organization, and we want to set you up for long-term success. In an effort to do so, we expect our team to work from our Chicago office 3 days a week.

We continually review ranges to address skills, experience and markets. Base salaries are determined during our interview process, by assessing a number of factors that include, but aren’t limited to, a candidate’s experience and skills relative to the scope and responsibilities of the position. For current CM employees, tenure will also be a consideration.

Salary Range

$90,000 - $100,000 USD

Critical Mass is an equal opportunity employer. 

The Critical Mass Talent Acquisition team will only communicate from email addresses that use the URLs criticalmass.com, omc.com and us.greenhouse-mail.io. We will not use apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Google Hangouts for communicating with you. We will never ask you to send us money, technology, or anything else to work for our company. If you believe you are the victim of a scam, please review your local government consumer protections guidance and reach out to them directly.

If U.S. based: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams#avoid
If Canada based: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance/consumer-affairs.html
If U.K. based: https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights
If Costa Rica based: https://www.consumo.go.cr/educacion_consumidor/consejos_practicos.aspx 

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