Head of Paid Media

A fast-growing, culturally rooted DTC food and wellness brand is seeking a Head of Paid Media to take full ownership of its paid acquisition strategy, analytics, and growth engine. As the company’s first dedicated growth hire, this person will manage a significant monthly media budget and build the systems, measurement capabilities, and channel strategy needed to scale the business from approximately $6M to $30M+ in revenue. Reporting directly to the founders, the Head of Paid Media will work closely with Creative, Influencer Marketing, Operations, and external agency partners to turn acquisition spend into predictable, profitable growth. This is a highly hands‑on role for a performance marketer who combines rigorous analytics with strong creative instincts and is comfortable owning results from strategy through execution. Responsibilities Own the complete paid acquisition budget across Meta, TikTok, Google/YouTube, and emerging channels, with accountability for blended CAC, ROAS, contribution margin, and overall profitability. Develop annual and monthly media plans, manage budget pacing, and continuously reallocate spend across platforms, campaigns, audiences, and funnel stages based on performance. Serve as the primary point of accountability for external media and creative agencies, establishing KPIs, leading weekly performance reviews, evaluating recommendations, and ensuring partners consistently deliver against expectations. Build and manage the company’s growth analytics and measurement infrastructure to provide a reliable view of channel and campaign performance. Go beyond last‑click attribution by incorporating incrementality testing, media mix modeling, post‑purchase surveys, and comparisons between platform‑reported and actual business performance. Develop trusted dashboards and reporting that surface opportunities, identify performance issues early, and support smarter investment decisions across the organization. Create a structured testing roadmap for new acquisition channels, including TikTok Ads, Google Performance Max, YouTube, connected TV, podcasts, affiliate marketing, retail media, and other emerging opportunities. Establish clear hypotheses, budgets, success metrics, and kill criteria for channel tests, scaling opportunities that demonstrate potential and quickly eliminating those that do not. Own conversion performance from ad click through purchase, including landing page strategy and funnel optimization within the Shopify ecosystem. Design and execute A/B tests across landing pages, messaging, and purchase flows to improve conversion rates and ensure consistency between advertising creative and the post‑click customer experience. Partner closely with the Creative Lead to translate media performance insights into actionable creative direction and strengthen the ongoing creative pipeline. Collaborate with the influencer marketing team to identify and amplify high‑performing organic and creator content through paid media. Work with Operations to translate media plans and expected acquisition performance into demand forecasts. Act as the cross‑functional connection between paid acquisition and the broader organization, ensuring growth decisions support both customer experience and company economics. Qualifications 5–8 years of experience in performance marketing, paid media, or growth, ideally within DTC or CPG; agency experience is a plus. At least 2 years of experience directly managing $200K+ in monthly paid media spend , with the capability and experience necessary to scale toward approximately $2M in monthly spend . Demonstrated success scaling paid acquisition profitably, with the ability to speak specifically to CAC, ROAS, revenue growth, and other measurable business outcomes. Deep, hands‑on expertise with Meta Ads Manager, including campaign architecture, bidding strategies, audience structure, and Conversions API. Working knowledge of TikTok Ads and Google Ads, with an interest in expanding into additional acquisition channels. Experience managing and evaluating external media agencies, including selecting partners, holding them accountable, improving performance, and making changes when necessary. Strong analytical capabilities and advanced comfort working with spreadsheets, dashboards, and growth measurement platforms such as Northbeam, Triple Whale, GA4, or comparable tools. Ability to develop or oversee media mix modeling and incrementality testing rather than relying exclusively on platform attribution. Familiarity with Shopify, subscription‑based business models, and core DTC unit economics, including LTV, CAC payback, and contribution margin. Experience with or strong interest in emerging channels such as connected TV, podcasts, affiliate marketing, and retail media, paired with a disciplined approach to experimentation. Strong understanding of the relationship between creative performance and media efficiency, with the ability to use data to inform creative strategy. Highly accountable and action‑oriented working style, with the ability to identify gaps, develop solutions, and execute without waiting for extensive direction. Comfortable building a growth function from the ground up in a small, fast‑moving organization rather than inheriting an established playbook. Able to balance aggressive growth goals with disciplined unit economics and understand why platform‑level ROAS does not always translate into profitable growth. Genuine interest in women’s wellness, postpartum nutrition, functional food, and culturally rooted consumer products. New York City area preferred, with an expectation of approximately two in‑person days per week. Candidates in other locations may be considered. #J-18808-Ljbffr