Director, Paid Media Practice Lead

About Cro Metrics

Cro Metrics is building a modern Digital Marketing Agency that blends experimentation, behavioral insight, analytics, creative, and AI-enabled delivery. We believe most agencies are too siloed—our advantage is integrating paid media with CRO, creative, and measurement to drive compounding growth.

The opportunity

We’re hiring a Paid Media Practice Lead to run and scale our paid media offering—currently ~$1M in annual revenue—into a predictable, high-performing, high-margin practice. This is a senior leadership role with real ownership: strategy + delivery + team + P&L + growth. In the first phase, expect to be a player/coach (roughly 40–50% hands-on execution) while you build the systems and team that make scale possible.

What you’ll be accountable for

1) Set the standard for media strategy and execution

Establish best-in-class standards for strategy, campaign architecture, pacing, optimization, experimentation, and a clear “definition of done.”
Stay current as platforms evolve; use AI/automation to amplify team output and quality, not as a novelty.
Build playbooks, QA systems, and governance that create consistent outcomes across accounts and channels.

2) Run the Paid Media practice like a P&L owner

Own growth and profitability: scale beyond ~$1M ARR while delivering 60%+ gross margin.
Build and execute an annual plan (objectives, staffing model, cost structure, utilization targets, and service standards).
Run a weekly/monthly operating rhythm with forecasting and metrics that make results predictable (revenue, margin, retention/expansion, delivery quality, utilization).

3) Recruit, grow, and manage a high-performing team

Hire the right roles, set performance expectations, coach and develop leaders, and build career paths.
Create and manage an on-shore/off-shore contractor model that’s efficient without sacrificing quality.
Ensure the right work is done by the right person at the right time at the right price.

4) Be the senior strategic partner to client executives

Build trusted relationships with senior-most stakeholders; lead QBRs and annual planning.
Handle escalations with calm, clarity, and credibility.
Drive retention and expansion by translating business goals into strategic roadmaps and measurable outcomes.

Additional responsibilities (also critical)

Drive growth through pitches, packaging, and disciplined qualification

Lead scoping and pitch strategy; strengthen how paid media is sold via clear packages/pricing and crisp value articulation.
Use (and improve) the client fit scorecard—pursue the right opportunities, not just any opportunities.
Contribute to outbound/inbound pipeline through leadership visibility, partnerships, and repeatable sales enablement (POVs, case studies, pitch assets).

Willing to do the work (player/coach)

In the early stage, personally own a meaningful portion of strategy and execution—building, launching, optimizing, auditing, and troubleshooting.
Model what “excellent” looks like through hands-on work, then codify it into processes and training.

Integrate paid with CRO + creative to create compounding impact

Lead integrated engagements and/or clearly articulate how paid + CRO + creative compound (landing page testing, creative testing, offer/UX improvements, audience learnings, experimentation).
When delivery gets messy and ownership is ambiguous, you run toward the problem and create clarity—rather than protecting turf.

Own measurement and decision-quality rights

Establish reporting standards, attribution approach, tracking governance, and incrementality/testing where feasible so performance is explainable and actionable.
Partner closely with Analytics to ensure measurement aligns to business decisions, not vanity metrics.

Build a repeatable cross-functional delivery system

Create a clean operating rhythm with PM, Analytics, Creative, and Lifecycle: intake → strategy → build → QA → launch → optimize → learnings → reporting/QBR.
Define roles, handoffs, SLAs, and escalation paths so delivery stays fast, high quality, and margin-friendly.

What success looks like (12–18 months)

Paid Media scales beyond ~$1M ARR with 60%+ gross margin and predictable forecasting.
Clear standards: playbooks, QA checklists, reporting templates, measurement plans, and a staffed talent model (including contractors).
Executive client relationships that drive retention and expansion.
A proven integrated motion where paid + CRO + creative produce compounding gains.

Qualifications

Required

8–12+ years in paid media / performance marketing, with significant experience in an agency or consulting environment.
Demonstrated track record owning (or materially influencing) a practice or department: hiring, process design, quality systems, and client leadership.
Strong strategic and hands-on execution ability across major platforms (specific channel mix can vary).
Proven ability to manage profitability through resourcing, scope discipline, and operational rigor.
Excellent executive communication—able to simplify complexity and lead confident recommendations.

Nice to have

Experience running integrated programs (paid + CRO/experimentation + creative testing).
Thought leadership that supports inbound growth (speaking, writing, community).
Experience implementing automation/AI workflows for analysis, reporting, or ops.

Traits that will make you great here

High standards and high velocity: you’re relentless about quality, but you ship.
Commercial judgment: you know what’s winnable, what’s profitable, and when to walk away.
Ownership mindset: you fix messy problems; you don’t avoid them.
Builder energy: you like creating the system and the team, not just running campaigns.

Cro Metrics

Latest Jobs

Paid Media Director