PPC Lead (In a fantastic independent agency) in Leeds

PPC Lead (Fantastic progression opportunity)

Location: Leeds (Hybrid, 3 days in office)

Reports to: Head of Paid Media

Level: Senior Manager

Salary: £45k to £50k DOE

Employment Type: Full-time, Permanent

About the Role

Our agency partner is an award-winning independent performance marketing agency that helps ambitious brands accelerate growth through data-driven Paid Media, SEO, CRO and Digital Strategy.

As the agency continues to grow, they're looking for an ambitious PPC Lead to take ownership of their PPC offering. This isn't about finding someone who's already spent years as a Head of PPC—it's about finding an exceptional Senior PPC Manager who's ready to step into their first leadership role.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who wants to move beyond campaign management and begin shaping strategy, mentoring a team, influencing clients and helping evolve one of the agency's most important service lines.

You'll remain close to the work, providing strategic direction, supporting major client accounts and leading a talented PPC team while helping drive the next stage of growth.

Key Responsibilities

PPC Strategy & Leadership

• Take ownership of the agency's PPC proposition across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads and other paid search platforms.
• Audit existing PPC accounts, identifying opportunities to improve performance, efficiency and commercial results.
• Develop strategic recommendations that deliver measurable improvements in lead generation, conversion and ROI.
• Stay ahead of platform developments, AI tools and industry trends to ensure clients remain competitive.

Client Strategy & Growth

• Act as the senior strategic lead across a portfolio of key client accounts.
• Confidently lead client meetings, strategy sessions and quarterly business reviews.
• Present campaign performance, commercial insight and future growth opportunities to senior stakeholders.
• Build trusted client relationships while identifying opportunities to grow accounts and introduce additional services.

Paid Search Performance

• Support the team in delivering best-in-class PPC campaigns across lead generation and performance marketing accounts.
• Provide strategic guidance on campaign structure, bidding, audience targeting, landing page performance and conversion optimisation.
• Work closely with SEO, Paid Social, Analytics and Creative teams to deliver integrated digital strategies.

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach and develop a high-performing PPC team.
• Manage workloads, performance and career development across a team of 5–10 PPC specialists.
• Create a collaborative, high-performance culture built around learning, innovation and continuous improvement.
• Help define future processes, best practice and the long-term direction of the PPC function.

Commercial Growth

• Support new business pitches, audits and proposal development.
• Contribute to agency thought leadership and help strengthen the PPC proposition.
• Identify opportunities to improve internal processes, automation and efficiency.

What We're Looking For

• Extensive experience managing high-performing PPC campaigns within an agency environment.
• You're likely to be an experienced Senior PPC Manager ready to take your first step into leadership.
• Strong strategic thinking with the ability to audit accounts and identify commercial opportunities.
• Excellent client-facing skills, comfortable leading meetings, presenting recommendations and influencing senior stakeholders.
• Proven experience delivering successful lead generation campaigns across multiple sectors.
• Experience working with larger budgets and complex PPC strategies.
• Previous people management experience, ideally leading a team of 5–10 people.
• Strong understanding of reporting, attribution, performance analysis and commercial decision‑making.

Bonus Points

• Experience working with travel brands or travel marketing.
• Experience supporting agency growth through new business pitches and strategic audits.
• Google Ads certifications and strong knowledge of emerging AI features and automation.

About You

• You're ready for your next career step and excited by the opportunity to lead a team.
• You love combining strategic thinking with hands‑on Paid Search expertise.
• You're commercially minded and naturally look for opportunities to improve client performance.
• You're confident challenging ideas, influencing stakeholders and presenting strategic recommendations.
• You're collaborative, ambitious and enjoy developing people as much as campaigns.

What's in it for You?

• A genuine opportunity to step into your first PPC leadership role.
• Shape the future direction of a growing Paid Search team.
• Work directly with senior clients and influence business‑critical digital strategies.
• Lead and develop an established team of junior and mid‑level PPC specialists.
• Play a key role in agency growth, strategic planning and new business.
• Hybrid working with a collaborative, supportive agency culture.
• Competitive salary and excellent long‑term progression opportunities.

Ready to take the next step?

If you're an ambitious Senior PPC Manager looking for the opportunity to step into a leadership role—while remaining close to clients, strategy and campaign performance,we’d love to hear from you.