At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and optimise paid media strategies across digital channels to drive business growth.
- Company: Join Cognism, a leading B2B data provider with a dynamic and innovative culture.
- Benefits: Enjoy a hybrid work model, competitive salary, and opportunities for professional development.
- Other info: Collaborate with cross-functional teams and drive significant revenue impact.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in a fast-paced environment while working with top-tier marketing strategies.
- Qualifications: 5-7 years in paid media with strong analytical and agency management skills.
The predicted salary is between 60000 - 75000 £ per year.
Cognism is the leading provider of European B2B data and sales intelligence. Ambitious businesses of every size use our platform to discover, connect, and engage with qualified decision-makers faster and close more deals. Headquartered in London with global offices, Cognism’s contact data and contextual signals are trusted by thousands of revenue teams to eliminate the guesswork from prospecting.
Work Model: This is a hybrid role, requiring you to work from our London office 3 days per week, with flexibility to work remotely on other days.
The Role: We are looking for a Senior Paid Media Manager to lead the strategy, planning, performance management, and optimisation of our paid media activity across core digital channels. The successful candidate will be responsible for managing our paid media agency, owning channel strategy, overseeing budget allocation, improving performance, and ensuring paid media activity is tightly aligned to demand generation, digital, and broader GTM priorities. The role requires someone who can combine strong paid media expertise with commercial judgement, agency management, stakeholder alignment, and a constant focus on optimisation and pipeline impact.
Responsibilities
- Strategy, Budget & Channel Performance: Own and evolve the paid media strategy across LinkedIn, Google, paid social, display, retargeting, and emerging paid channels. Translate GTM, demand generation, regional, and segment priorities into clear paid media plans. Define channel roles, budget allocation, testing priorities, and optimisation plans. Manage paid media budget planning, pacing, and reallocation across channels and campaigns. Improve CPL, CAC, ROAS, pipeline efficiency, conversion rates, and overall return on spend. Identify where to scale, reduce, pause, or test investment based on performance and business priorities. Ensure activity is aligned to ICPs, personas, buying stages, and key segments such as mid-market and enterprise.
- Agency Management: Lead the relationship with our paid media agency, ensuring they are clear on priorities, expectations, budgets, timelines, and success metrics. Brief the agency on objectives, audiences, messaging priorities, campaigns, and commercial goals. Review and challenge agency recommendations to ensure plans are strategically and commercially sound. Hold the agency accountable for delivery, optimisation, reporting quality, testing cadence, and performance improvement. Run regular performance reviews, retrospectives, and optimisation sessions.
- Reporting, Insight & Commercial Impact: Own weekly and monthly paid media reporting. Track performance from click to lead, MQL, SQL, pipeline, and revenue. Turn data into clear insights, recommendations, and decisions. Partner with RevOps to ensure tracking, attribution, UTMs, CRM data, and funnel reporting are accurate. Build a structured testing roadmap across audiences, creative, messaging, channels, landing pages, and offers. Ensure learnings are documented and translated into future improvements.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with Demand Generation to align paid media with campaigns, pipeline goals, regional plans, and audience strategy. Partner with Digital and Web teams to improve landing pages, CRO, tracking, and paid traffic journeys. Collaborate with Brand, Content, and PMM to ensure creative, messaging, and offers are relevant and differentiated. Partner with Sales and RevOps to understand lead quality, pipeline progression, and conversion challenges.
Requirements
- 5–7+ years’ experience in paid media, performance marketing, or digital marketing, preferably in B2B SaaS.
- Proven experience managing paid media strategy, budgets, agencies, and performance across multiple channels.
- Experience managing significant monthly budgets, ideally £250k+.
- Strong understanding of LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads, paid social, display, and retargeting.
- Proven track record of driving qualified pipeline and revenue impact through paid media.
- Experience managing external agencies or agency-side partners.
- Ideally, experience working both in-house and agency-side, or in a role that required close agency management.
- Strong understanding of attribution, tracking, UTMs, funnel reporting, CRM, and marketing automation.
- Comfortable working with Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar platforms.
- Strong knowledge of CPL, CAC, ROAS, MQL to SQL conversion, pipeline, and revenue metrics.
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to turn performance data into practical recommendations.
- Able to challenge agencies, interrogate performance, and identify optimisation opportunities.
- Strong stakeholder management across Marketing, Sales, RevOps, Digital, Web, Content, Brand, and PMM.
- Comfortable communicating performance, risks, and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
- Experience working in fast-paced, scaling environments.
Senior Paid Media Manager employer: Cognism
Cognism is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work environment in the heart of London that fosters innovation and collaboration. With a hybrid work model, employees enjoy the flexibility of remote work while being part of a vibrant office culture that prioritises professional growth and development. The company invests in its team members through continuous learning opportunities and encourages a results-driven approach, making it an ideal place for ambitious professionals looking to make a significant impact in the B2B data and sales intelligence sector.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Paid Media Manager
✨Show Your Creative Side
In marketing communications, standing out is key. Get creative with your application! Consider designing a mini-campaign or pitch that highlights your skills and understanding of the brand. Tailor it for Cognism and show them what you can bring to the table.
✨Engage in Marketing Communities
Get involved in local or online marketing communications groups. Check out platforms like Meetup for events and workshops. Networking here can lead to hidden job openings and valuable insights into the industry trends—this is where we often discover what companies like Cognism are looking for.
✨Leverage Social Media
Use platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter to showcase your passion for marketing communications. Share insights, articles, and your own content that resonates with the industry. Tagging or interacting with Cognism on these platforms can catch the eye of recruiters and show you're genuinely interested in them.
✨Attend Industry Events
Keep an eye out for marketing conferences and workshops. These are great places to meet potential employers face-to-face and make connections that could land you a full-time role at Cognism. Bring your business cards and be prepared to chat about how you can contribute!
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Paid Media Manager
Some tips for your application 🫡
Craft an Impactful Cover Letter:Your cover letter is your chance to shine! Focus on your passion for marketing communications and how your previous experiences can benefit Cognism. Make sure to mention specific campaigns or projects you’ve worked on that showcase your creativity and strategic thinking.
Showcase Your Writing Skills:As you're diving into a marketing communications role, your writing ability is crucial. Include samples of your work, like blog posts, press releases, or social media campaigns in your application. This lets us see your style and how you engage with different audiences.
Tailor Your CV to Marketing:Your CV should highlight relevant marketing skills and experiences! Include specific tools or platforms you’ve used, like Google Analytics or social media management software. Mention any certifications or workshops related to marketing that you've completed – they can give you an edge!
Demonstrate Your Understanding of Cognism:Show us that you’ve done your homework! In your application, briefly mention what you admire about Cognism’s marketing approach or any recent campaigns that caught your attention. This can reveal your enthusiasm for the role and your genuine interest in joining our team!
How to prepare for a job interview at Cognism
✨Showcase Your Creative Campaigns
Get ready to flaunt your portfolio! Include examples of previous marketing campaigns you've worked on, especially those that showcase your creativity and strategy. Recruiters at Cognism will be keen to see how you conceptualise and execute campaigns, so highlight any measurable outcomes to back up your claims.
✨Know Your Digital Tools Inside Out
If you’re heading into a marketing-communications role, make sure you're comfortable discussing key digital marketing tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, or Hootsuite. Expect some technical questions about how you've used these tools in the past, as they'll want to gauge your hands-on experience and how you analyse data to drive marketing decisions.
✨Be Ready for Scenario-Based Questions
At Cognism, they may throw some scenario-based questions your way, aimed at testing your problem-solving skills in real-life marketing situations. Think through potential challenges you’ve faced, how you navigated them, and be prepared to discuss your thought process and outcome.
✨Demonstrate Your Passion for Marketing
As you’re applying for a full-time position, show that you're not just looking for a job, but a career in marketing. Talk about the latest trends in marketing communications, your favourite campaigns, and why they inspire you. Your enthusiasm can really make you stand out and demonstrate that you’re committed to growing within the field.
