Paid Search Executive (DTC Ecom) in Chesterfield

We’re partnering with a leading performance marketing agency specialising in Direct-to-Consumer growth to hire a Paid Search Executive / Specialist. The agency works with some of the most recognisable names in modern DTC, helping brands scale from early traction through to Series B, acquisition and beyond. Their team has managed over £200m in direct-response ad spend and has played a key role in taking brands from launch to £100m+ in annual sales. This is not a traditional media buying role. The agency combines paid media, creative strategy, data, CRO, incrementality and platform innovation to help brands grow in a more commercially meaningful way.

The Role

As Paid Search Executive / Specialist, you’ll be responsible for the day-to-day performance of Search, Shopping, Performance Max, YouTube and Demand Gen campaigns across a portfolio of DTC and eCommerce clients. This is a hands-on role. You’ll be actively managing, testing, analysing and optimising accounts, rather than simply pulling reports. You’ll work closely with senior paid search and growth leads, supporting both execution and strategic thinking across client accounts. The right person will bring curiosity, commercial awareness and a genuine desire to understand what is actually driving growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Campaign Management & Optimisation: You’ll own the day-to-day management of Google Ads accounts across Search, Shopping and Performance Max, ensuring campaigns are actively and intentionally optimised around each client’s objectives. You’ll be expected to build and manage campaign structures with clear rationale, including logical bid strategy hierarchy, deliberate segmentation and documented reasoning behind recommendations. You’ll stay close to Google’s evolving product suite, including AI Max, Demand Gen, Smart Bidding changes and Ads in AI Mode, assessing where new features are useful, where they need to be challenged, and how they may affect client performance. You’ll also support the management of YouTube and Demand Gen campaigns, contributing to full-funnel paid search strategy and helping connect media performance with creative strategy.
• Testing & Incrementality: This agency takes testing seriously. The role will suit someone who wants to move beyond “testing for activity” and into structured experimentation that answers real commercial questions. You’ll help build and execute test hypotheses based on account data, performance trends and client priorities. You’ll support senior team members in designing and interpreting incrementality experiments, including geo holdout tests, conversion lift studies and MTA-led analysis, helping clients understand what is genuinely driving new customer growth beyond what the platform reports. You’ll also be responsible for keeping clear documentation of test setups, results and learnings across tools such as Asana and Slack, making sure knowledge compounds across the team.
• Analysis & Insight: You’ll interrogate performance data to identify what is really happening inside an account, including efficiency leaks, cannibalisation, diminishing returns, funnel issues and early performance flags. The expectation is not just to report numbers, but to turn complex data into clear, prioritised actions. You’ll contribute to client reporting with a clear point of view: what’s working, what isn’t, why it matters, and what should happen next. This will include working across Google Ads, Google Sheets dashboards, MTA tools, platform data and weekly reporting processes.
• Collaboration & Growth: You’ll work closely with senior members of the team to pressure-test ideas, challenge assumptions and contribute to internal performance discussions. You’ll proactively flag relevant platform updates, industry shifts, betas and measurement changes, thinking through how they might apply to client strategies. You’ll also collaborate across the wider team, sharing learnings and helping raise the collective standard of paid search execution.

What This Agency Looks For

• Proven Best Practice, Not Blind Platform Adoption: The team does not blindly follow Google recommendations. They apply best practice through the lens of each client’s stage of growth, commercial model and performance reality.
• Mature Testing Hypotheses: Every test should have a reason. The team values people who can build hypotheses from real data and design experiments that answer meaningful performance questions.
• Scrutiny of Incrementality: The team cares about true new customer growth, not just platform-reported ROAS. They use geo tests, MTA tools, lift studies and wider business data to understand what is actually working.

Skills & Experience

The ideal candidate will have:

• Minimum 2 years’ hands-on experience managing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns.
• Strong understanding of how Search, Shopping and PMAX interact within an eCommerce account.
• Experience working with DTC or eCommerce brands.
• Good understanding of both platform metrics and website funnel metrics.
• Confidence using Google Sheets or Excel to pull, manipulate and analyse data.
• Experience with, or a strong appetite to develop in, YouTube and Demand Gen.
• Ability to follow a structured test-and-learn process.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• High attention to detail.
• Strong organisation and comfort working with project management tools such as Asana and Slack.

Mindset

This role will suit someone who is naturally curious, commercially minded and willing to challenge surface-level thinking. You’ll likely be a strong fit if you:

• Don’t accept platform “best practice” at face value.
• Are sceptical of inflated platform-reported ROAS.
• Want to understand what is genuinely driving business growth.
• Take ownership without needing constant direction.
• Enjoy forming and defending a clear point of view.
• Stay close to platform changes and industry developments.
• Like working in a collaborative team where ideas are challenged constructively.

The agency is looking for someone who wants to become a better growth operator, not just a better Google Ads technician.

Why This Role?

This is a strong opportunity for someone who wants exposure to high-growth DTC brands, senior strategic thinking and a more mature approach to paid search. You’ll be joining a small but ambitious agency where your work will be visible, your ideas will matter, and your development will not be boxed into a rigid corporate structure. The environment is flexible, collaborative and built around people who care about doing high-quality work.

Package & Benefits

Salary: £30,000–£35,000, depending on experience. Work from the London office, fully remote, or from a co-working space funded by the company. Opportunity to enrol in the share option scheme, UK only. Regular company socials. Annual company event abroad. Recent trips include Malaga and Lisbon. Rapid and personalised career development. Flexible culture with a genuine focus on work/life balance. Creative and innovation-led environment. Work gear of your choice, Apple or Windows. 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays. 1 additional day off for each year of tenure, up to 5 extra days per year.

Company Values

The agency’s values are:

• Resourcefulness: Digging deep to find answers and going the extra mile where it matters.
• Moving The Needle: Focusing on outcomes, not vanity metrics.
• Facing Challenges: Treating mistakes and unknowns as opportunities to learn.
• Ownership: Taking accountability for client success and acting as a true growth partner.

Who This Role Is Best Suited To

This role is ideal for a Paid Search Executive or Specialist who already has solid hands-on Google Ads experience and now wants to step into a more strategic, commercially mature DTC environment. It would particularly suit someone who wants to move beyond basic campaign management and develop deeper expertise in testing, incrementality, full-funnel growth and eCommerce performance strategy.