Performance Marketing and Media Manager

We show kids they can do anything by unlocking their full potential in the water. We encourage full-time swim instructors, who love working with kids and want to grow with us. Competitive Pay Industry-leading, full-time pay packages, including health benefits, paid-time off, and more. Love What You Do Work with an awesome team in a fun environment, while making a difference in the lives of children. Position: Performance Marketing and Media Manager Location: Chicago, IL Job Id: 1289 # of Openings: 1 Performance Marketing and Media Manager Chicago - Hybrid Must be located in the Greater Chicago Area Must have Multi-location experience Big Blue Swim School is a fast-growing franchise system that aims to show kids they can do anything by unlocking their full potential in the water. With 60 open locations providing children’s swim lessons across the US, plus more than 250 additional franchise locations sold, The Performance Marketing and Media Manager will work closely with agencies to develop and optimize media strategies and connect campaign performance with the full journey from inquiry to trial, enrollment and long-term customer value. Key Responsibilities Business Alignment and media strategy Partner with cross-functional leaders in Finance, Operations, Franchise Support, Brand and Technology to understand growth objectives , school economics, capacity and operational constraints; translate these into actionable agency briefs and media priorities. Help define when campaigns should optimize for leads, trial bookings, attended trials or new enrollments Work with Finance and Operations to establish realistic CAC and acquisition-efficiency targets grounded in business economics Develop strategic recommendations and collaborate closely with agency partners on media mix, audience, budget, targeting, creative and landing-page tests Paid media and agency performance Own day-to-day agency relationships, briefing cadence, performance expectations, accountability and follow-through; ensure agencies understand evolving business needs and meet agreed standards. Work closely with agencies to develop, execute, test and optimize paid programs across Google Ads, Meta, YouTube, TikTok and emerging channels. Partner with the Senior Brand Manager to align paid creative with brand standards, campaign priorities and performance learning. Marketing intelligence and reporting Monitor performance by channel, campaign, market and school. Translate reporting into executive-ready insights, hypotheses, recommended actions and measurable follow-through for leadership, franchisees and Marketing. Work with reporting and analytics systems such as Evidence Studio, BigQuery , GA4 and Google Tag Manager to validate measurement and articulate business requirements; underlying data engineering remains with Technology. Lifecycle and cross-channel coordination Partner with the HubSpot/CRM Specialist, who owns email, SMS and lifecycle journey execution, to align paid-media messaging, audience strategy, timing and measurement. Integrate email and SMS performance insights with paid-media analysis to identify cross-channel gaps, overlap, opportunities and downstream enrollment outcomes. Support coordinated testing and conversion improvements without assuming ownership of CRM administration, automation builds or lifecycle campaigns. Technology, creative and local collaboration Understand key handoffs among technology platforms and reporting tools; surface friction and partner with Technology and system owners on improvements. Coordinate with Brand on social reporting insights and Sprout Social learnings; organic social strategy, publishing and Sprout administration remain with their existing owners. Collaborate with Franchise Support and local marketing owners to tailor paid-media recommendations to new, mature and underperforming schools; this role does not own grassroots or local marketing program execution. Use approved AI tools responsibly for analysis, research, workflow efficiency and test planning, with appropriate checks for accuracy, privacy and brand voice. Communicate clearly in leadership and franchise discussions and work across teams without duplicating others’ responsibilities. Qualifications 5+ years in digital, performance, growth or media marketing, with demonstrated ability to evaluate paid-media outcomes and guide agency partners. Strong knowledge of Google Ads and Meta performance fundamentals, media measurement, testing, optimization and conversion economics; familiarity with YouTube and other channels. Proven agency management, briefing, stakeholder alignment and accountability skills; ability to translate business needs into media objectives and recommendations. Strong analytical skills across funnel KPIs, CAC, ROAS, LTV, attribution, reporting and data-informed decision-making. Ability to partner with Finance, Operations, CRM, Brand and Technology and present recommendations clearly to executive and franchise audiences. Sound judgment, initiative and comfort managing competing priorities in a multi-location environment. Multi-location experience required Preferred Qualifications Hands-on Google Ads or Meta campaign setup and optimization experience; valuable for troubleshooting and agency challenge, but not required for routine campaign ownership Franchise, membership, family services, education, fitness or wellness experience Experience with HubSpot, GA4, Google Tag Manager, Looker Studio, BigQuery , Evidence Studio, Sprout Social or conversion-rate optimization. Experience with local-market paid media, privacy-conscious measurement, multi-system reporting and responsible AI applications. We Offer Hybrid/WFH flexibility with a collaborative home base in the Chicago area Comprehensive health benefits with a substantial employer premium contribution Competitive time off program 401k with company match Competitive total compensation package including 15% performance bonus eligibility. The expected base salary range for this position is $85,000 – $95,000 annually. Final compensation will be determined based on experience, qualifications, and business needs. Big Blue Swim School follows an equal opportunity employment policy to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, age, physical or mental ability, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, and genetic information. If you require reasonable accommodation during the application or hiring process due to a disability, please contact us at View email address on click.appcast.io . This email is unable to respond to questions regarding application status. #J-18808-Ljbffr Big Blue Swim School