Paid Media Director

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.