Head of Paid SearchAbout usWe manage paid media for clients spending $100,000 to $500,000+ per month. We are boutique on purpose, not as a stage we are trying to grow out of. We scale with our clients rather than by adding clients — fewer accounts, bigger accounts, and the depth that comes from knowing a business properly. Only senior practitioners work on accounts. No juniors learning on a client's budget, no account manager relaying messages between the client and whoever is actually doing the work. The person in the meeting is the person in the account. Holding that standard as the book grows comes down to how we have built the work. Our data pipeline, warehouse, and AI analysis layer handle the mechanical half of the job — the pulls, the formatting, the first pass at the numbers. That is the leverage that lets a small senior team cover accounts that would normally need a pyramid of people underneath them.
The role:
We are hiring our first Head of Paid Search. It is the most senior channel role in the company, reporting to our Chief Client Officer and sitting above our senior analyst team. The practice has outgrown a single senior leader. Our accounts are substantially larger and more complex than they were two years ago, the book keeps growing, and we are hiring analysts behind this role. We need a second senior voice — someone with the judgment to own our hardest accounts outright and the standing to define how paid search gets done here. Directing the AI layer is part of that, and we would treat it as core to the job rather than a side initiative. The tooling produces analysis; it does not produce judgment. Someone senior has to decide what good output looks like, catch it when it is wrong, and make sure the team works with it well rather than around it. That is what keeps quality senior-level while the account count grows. What you will own Accounts — about half your time Full strategic and tactical ownership of 3-4 of our largest and most complex engagements Campaign architecture, bidding strategy, budget allocation, audience strategy, and testing roadmaps Direct counsel to client decision-makers. You are the senior paid search voice in the room, not support for someone else's. Accountability against documented KPI targets — ROAS, CPA, conversion volume The practice — about a quarter Set and hold paid search standards across the book: account architecture, naming, QA, testing methodology, reporting Review and approve analyst strategic recommendations, closely during their first 90 days Develop the analyst team, and help us hire it as we grow Own escalation on underperforming accounts and diagnose root causes Stay ahead of platform shifts — Performance Max, AI-driven campaign management, attribution changes — and translate them into how we work The AI layer — about a quarter Act as the quality authority on AI-generated analysis. You accept or reject recommendations and articulate why, and your judgment becomes the signal the system learns from. This is consequential work, not a rubber stamp. Define what good looks like: the benchmarks, thresholds, and classification rules the analysis applies, and the standard automated reporting must meet before a client sees itIdentify where additional automation creates real leverage and specify what it needs to produce Drive adoption properly — model the workflow, coach the team through it, and surface where the tooling falls short instead of letting people quietly route around itPartner with our technical team on what to build and fix. You define the output; they build it.
What we are looking for:- Required 7+ years in paid search, agency or in-house, including meaningful time at a senior or lead level
- Direct ownership of accounts at $100,000+/month; comfort at $500,000+ strongly preferred
- Deep Google Ads expertise across search, shopping, and Performance Max — bidding strategy, audience layering, attribution
- Demonstrated ability to diagnose a struggling account and build a recovery plan that works
- Credibility with VP Marketing, CMO, and founder-level stakeholders without needing backup in the room
- Track record of developing analysts and setting standards that outlasted your direct involvement
- Real enthusiasm for AI-assisted workflows, paired with the judgment to know when the output is wrong
- Strongly preferred
- Experience with mid-market companies with complex multi-product or multi-geography structures
- Working knowledge of GA4, attribution modeling, and the practical limits of platform-reported conversions
- Hands-on use of AI tools in paid media work — analysis, reporting, creative evaluation, workflow automation
- Comfort querying data directly to check what automated analysis is telling you
- What makes someone successful here
You are hands-on and want to stay that way. You want the hardest accounts, not an org chart.
You have opinions about how paid search should be done and can defend them with data.
You are comfortable where the process does not exist yet and you build it.
You see AI as leverage without being credulous about it. The right person can look at a machine-generated recommendation and say precisely why it is wrong.
You can tell a client something they do not want to hear and keep the relationship.
What we offer:- The most senior channel role in the company, with real ownership of where the practice goes
- Our largest and most interesting accounts
- Genuine influence over how a modern agency uses AI. We are further along than most at our size and you would shape what comes next.
- A small, senior team where your judgment carries weight$130,000 - $165,000 base plus a performance component tied to client results and retention
- Hybrid working model
- ApplicationsPlease submit your resume to hello@uprightgrowthcompany.com. Include "Head of Paid Search" in the subject line of your email so we don't miss it.
