Setting sail in 2009, Cruise Nation has helped hundreds of thousands of travellers swap traditional land-based holidays for epic adventures at sea. With expert, impartial advice and unbeatable value, we make it easy for customers to build their dream cruise holiday.

With over 200 destinations worldwide, Cruise Nation was the pioneer of the now-popular cruise & stay holiday concept through its Smart Packages, where flights, stays and cruises are packaged together at exclusive prices you won’t find anywhere else. With flexible, great-value deals, the brand is on a mission to become the UK’s most trusted and affordable cruise tour operator for travellers of all ages.

As we continue to invest in our growth, we’re looking for an experienced Paid Media Manager to join our team and help us take our performance marketing activity to the next level!

As our Paid Media Manager, you’ll play a key role in driving customer acquisition, revenue and growth across our paid media channels. You’ll take ownership of campaign planning, activation, optimisation and performance, using data and insight to make smarter decisions about where and how we invest our media budget.

Working across platforms including Google Ads, Meta and other relevant digital channels, you’ll manage paid search, paid social, display, programmatic and retargeting activity, with a clear focus on delivering measurable commercial outcomes. You’ll work closely with our creative, content and wider digital teams to develop campaigns that reach the right audiences with the right message at the right stage of the customer journey.

You’ll be highly analytical and commercially minded, using metrics such as CTR, CPC, CPA, conversion rate and ROAS to understand what’s working, identify opportunities and continually improve performance. You’ll also develop testing strategies across creative, audiences, landing pages, messaging and ad formats, turning performance data into clear recommendations for the wider business.

This is a great opportunity to make your mark in a fast-growing travel business where paid media is a key driver of growth. We’re looking for someone who is proactive, curious and excited by new ideas, from emerging platforms and AI-driven approaches to smarter audience strategies, attribution and measurement.

In return, you’ll be fully supported by an ambitious business that welcomes creativity and innovation, with the opportunity to help shape and grow our complete paid media function.

About You

Significant experience in digital media and performance marketing, ideally within travel or another B2C environment.
Strong understanding of digital media, content and online performance.
Experience across paid search, paid social and other digital channels, with knowledge of platforms such as Google Ads and Meta Ads Manager.
Strong digital media planning, buying, activation and optimisation capabilities.
Understanding of audience segmentation, targeting, attribution and ROI measurement.
Experience using data and analytics to drive campaign performance and commercial outcomes.
Understanding of the relationship between paid, owned and organic activity.
Awareness of emerging approaches to AI, media buying, creative strategy, measurement and attribution.

Personal Attributes

Highly analytical, commercially minded and solutions-focused.
Proactive, curious and willing to experiment with new platforms and approaches.
Confident communicating complex media and performance concepts to stakeholders.
Comfortable managing multiple campaigns, competing priorities and tight deadlines.
Collaborative and able to work effectively across creative, content, digital and paid media teams.
Comfortable working at pace while maintaining accuracy and attention to detail.
Motivated by the opportunity to help build and shape a fast-growing company.

Key Responsibilities

Campaign Strategy & Execution

Develop, execute and optimise performance marketing campaigns across platforms including Google Ads, Meta, and other relevant digital channels. Plan and manage paid search, paid social, display, programmatic and retargeting activity designed to drive traffic, leads, conversions and measurable commercial outcomes.
Take an integrated view of the media mix, identifying opportunities to improve performance across channels and throughout the customer journey.

Analytics, Reporting & Optimisation

Monitor and analyse key performance metrics including CTR, CPC, CPA, conversion rates and ROAS, using insights to continually improve campaign effectiveness.
Develop appropriate testing strategies across creative, audiences, landing pages, messaging and ad formats.
Produce clear campaign reporting and translate data into meaningful, actionable recommendations for the business.

Budget Management

Plan, allocate and optimise media budgets to maximise ROI and achieve company KPIs.
Forecast and track spend across channels, identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Creative & Strategic Collaboration

Work closely with creative, content and client teams to develop integrated campaigns tailored to specific audiences and objectives.
Provide media expertise throughout the creative and strategic process, ensuring campaigns and content are designed with channel performance and activation in mind.
Advise on audience journeys, customer experience, campaign structure and content activation best practice.

Audience Targeting & Segmentation

Develop sophisticated audience strategies and segmentation approaches for different customer and prospect groups.
Use platform, analytics and legacy data to improve targeting, personalisation and campaign performance.
Apply insights from tools including Google Analytics/GA4, Meta audience tools, Cruise Nation API.
Stay informed about changes in digital media, social platforms, AI, measurement, privacy and advertising technology.
Identify and test emerging channels, tools and approaches that could improve performance

Key Skills & Experience

Essential

Significant experience in digital media and performance marketing, travel industry experience a bonus.
Strong understanding of the social media landscape and both paid and organic content strategy.
Demonstrable experience delivering growth, leads, conversions and ROI through performance marketing.
Expertise across platforms such as Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, with exposure to programmatic advertising.
Strong digital media planning, buying, activation and optimisation capabilities.
Experience with analytics and reporting tools such as GA4 and Excel.
Understanding of attribution, measurement and performance reporting.
Good understanding of SEO principles and how organic and paid strategies work together.
Experience developing audience segmentation and targeting strategies.

Additional Experience

Experience with some of the following would be advantageous:

Marketing automation and remarketing strategies.

What’s in it for you?

The opportunity to join a rapidly growing business in the travel industry, with the scope to have a meaningful influence on the capabilities of our wider paid media function.
A friendly and ambitious culture with plenty of room to grow.
Hybrid working and a collaborative, close-knit team (remote-first, with travel to Swansea every six weeks. You’ll be required to spend Monday–Friday in Swansea that week, with travel and food expenses paid for by the company).
Access to Perkbox, offering a range of employee perks, discounts and wellbeing tools.
Pension scheme and private medical insurance to support your financial and physical wellbeing following a successful probationary period.
Bonus scheme following a successful probationary period.
Discounted holidays and travel perks following a successful probationary period.
20 days’ annual leave plus 8 bank holidays, with annual leave entitlement increasing after two years’ service.

Salary £40,000 - £45,000 DOE.

Pay: From £40,000.00 per year

Benefits:

Company pension
Employee discount
Private medical insurance
Work from home

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Swansea

Cruise Nation

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Paid Media Manager