Associate Director, Paid Search

Associate Director, Paid Search

The Associate Director, Paid Search leads strategic direction, client relationships, and team performance across paid search accounts. This role is responsible for developing long-term, data-driven strategies that drive client growth, while ensuring seamless execution, financial oversight, and integration across the broader media ecosystem. Acting as a trusted advisor to clients and internal stakeholders, the Associate Director balances strategic leadership with operational oversight and team development and is viewed as a key driver of business outcomes and agency growth.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior client contact, leading strategic discussions and presenting recommendations that align to business objectives
• Develop and lead long-term paid search strategies that reflect client goals, market dynamics, and growth opportunities
• Build trusted client relationships, acting as a strategic partner and advisor
• Translate complex performance data into clear, actionable insights that inform optimization and long-term planning
• Ensure paid search strategies drive measurable outcomes across key performance metrics
• Identify and present growth opportunities including beta tests, platform innovations, and emerging trends
• Oversee day-to-day account operations across multiple workstreams, ensuring flawless campaign execution, performance tracking, and budget management
• Lead forecasting, pacing, and financial planning across assigned accounts
• Ensure quality control across all deliverables, including reporting, campaign execution, and outputs
• Partner with analytics, media, and strategy teams to develop integrated communication, measurement, and media plans
• Ensure paid search strategies are fully integrated within the broader media ecosystem
• Collaborate with cross-channel leads to align strategies and execution
• Manage and mentor Supervisors and their teams, fostering a high-performing, engaged team environment
• Support career development and promote operational excellence across the SEM team
• Develop managers by providing coaching, feedback, and leadership guidance
• Drive workflow efficiency by refining processes, tools, and team operations
• Maintain strong relationships with vendors and platform partners to enhance innovation and service levels
• Champion testing, automation, scripts, and new platform capabilities
• Support business development efforts, including identifying upsell and cross-sell opportunities
• Contribute to agency thought leadership through POVs, best practice development, and knowledge sharing
• Keep senior leadership informed of account health, risks, and strategic opportunities

Required Skills

• 5–7 years of experience in paid search, performance marketing, or digital media
• Experience managing client relationships and leading teams within a fast-paced, performance-driven environment
• Proven ability to oversee multiple accounts and workstreams
• Advanced expertise in paid search platforms and ecosystem tools including Google Ads, MS Ads, Google Merchant Center, Google Editor, MS Ads Editor
• Strong strategic thinking with the ability to develop long-term, growth-oriented paid search strategies
• Advanced analytical skills, with the ability to translate performance data into business insights
• Ability to forecast, model, and set performance expectations
• Demonstrated ability to develop managers and build high-performing teams
• Strong collaboration skills, with the ability to partner across channel and functional leads
• High level of accountability, owning client results and revenue growth
• Proactive, innovative mindset with a focus on testing and continuous improvement

Benefits

Why Assembly?

• We care about your growth – we offer competitive salaries and annual compensation reviews
• We recognize and celebrate your success…all the time! Whether it's through company meetups, employee recognition programs, or just a regular day, we make sure our people's achievements are known and appreciated
• We're truly a people-first organization. That's why we offer a Flexible Time Off policy that puts you in control of your work-life balance, as well as market-leading primary and secondary caregiver and parental leave policies
• We have a hybrid in-office/remote working policy that focuses on bringing people together in-person when it's needed most, i.e., team strategy brainstorms, learning & development opportunities, and company meetings
• We care about social and environmental Impact – we have dedicated Impact Champions who collaborate globally to make sure we're leaving the world better than we found it
• We have an amazing group of Employee Resource Groups who form close knit communities and are committed to guiding the agency to become more inclusive, diverse, and representative of the world around us
• We're part of Stagwell, the challenger network built to transform marketing. We're nimble and digital-first, and we're quickly growing to take on the biggest legacy hold cos

Equal Opportunities

At Assembly, we believe every career is as unique as the individual and empower employees to reach their full potential in a winning culture motivated by a powerful purpose.

Assembly is an advocate for equal opportunity in the workplace. We are committed to ensuring equal opportunities regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, gender identity, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know. EEO Employer M/F/Vet/Disabled.

Compensation (Text Only)

In order to comply with equal pay and salary transparency laws in various locations, we believe the target range of base compensation in all locations within the United States for this role is $90,000 - $120,000. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and location.