Search Manager - 12 month FTC in London

Established in 2004, OLIVER is the world’s first and only specialist in designing, building, and running bespoke in-house agencies and marketing ecosystems for brands. We partner with over 300 clients in 40+ countries and counting. Our unique model drives creativity and efficiency, allowing us to deliver tailored solutions that resonate deeply with audiences. As a part of The Brandtech Group, we're at the forefront of leveraging cutting-edge AI technology to revolutionise how we create and deliver work. Our AI solutions enhance efficiency, spark creativity, and drive insightful decision-making, empowering our teams to produce innovative and impactful results.

About the role:

This is a 12 month FTC opportunity to shape and scale pan-European search and lead generation for a leading global brand at a pivotal moment of transformation. You’ll play a central role in building a high-impact performance engine across markets, helping move the programme from stable BAU to measurable commercial growth.

This role will lead the delivery of the PPC / Lead Gen proposal across markets, owning the end-to-end design, implementation, scaling and optimisation of search activity (paid search, shopping, Performance Max, branded + non-branded search, and channel experimentation). Translate the strategy into operational plans, campaign architectures, measurement and governance, ensuring successful market launches, smooth transition, reliable performance reporting and continuous scale.

Build and lead a high-performing search capability working with the accounts team, commercial stakeholders and creative partners to deliver measurable growth and efficient ROI across large, multi-market businesses.

This role is right for you if...

• You are a search specialist with proven experience scaling paid search at enterprise scale (multi-market, multi-product, complex stakeholder environments).
• You combine hands-on technical expertise (campaign build, bidding automation, feeds, measurement) with strong commercial judgement and the ability to present and win stakeholder buy-in.
• You enjoy translating strategy into repeatable operating models and leading teams to deliver consistent, accountable results.

You will be the single point of ownership for delivering the partner proposal. This includes campaign structure and multi-market roll-out plans working with localisation/transcreation team, transition plans, data/measurement design and operational governance. Day to day, you’ll run the search strategy, set prioritisation across markets/business units, allocate budget and resource, define experiments and scale winners. You’ll be supported by an Account Director, Analytics Director and Performance Marketing Director, and you will line-manage a Performance Marketing Executive who will report into you and help run execution and campaign optimisation. You’ll work closely with creative, analytics, tech and commercial stakeholders to ensure campaign creatives, funnels and data capture are optimised for measurement and scale.

What you will be doing:

• Lead the implementation and operationalisation of the strategy: campaign architecture, market prioritisation and launch sequencing.
• Define and own KPIs and dashboards (performance, budget pacing, lift, incremental ROI) and ensure timely, accurate MI to inform decisions.
• Scale campaigns across markets: localisation/transcreation, audience strategies, feed and landing page requirements, and creative testing programmes.
• Set governance and access controls for ad accounts and platforms; define security and safe automation guardrails and change control processes.
• Design and run test & learn frameworks to identify scalable growth levers and feed insights back into channel & creative teams.
• Line-manage the Performance Marketing Executive: set priorities, coach and develop capability.
• Collaborate with the accounts team to manage commercial scope, SLAs, and client communications to ensure alignment and transparency.

What you need to be great in this role:

• Proven track record (typically 5+ years) delivering and scaling paid search in large businesses or via agency partnerships for enterprise clients.
• Deep expertise across Google Ads (Search, Shopping, Performance Max), Microsoft Ads, feed/merchant centre management, and experience with large account structures and cross-market roll outs.
• Strong experience of automated bidding strategies, campaign experimentation, and applying automation safely at scale.
• Clear commercial focus - ability to build forecasts, financial plans, ROAS/CPA targets, and to manage pacing against multi-million (or higher) budgets.
• Excellent leadership and stakeholder management skills - capable of motivating a direct team, coordinating with an accounts team and presenting to senior client stakeholders.
• Experience working across international markets, with sensitivity to localisation, language and transcreation needs.
• Demonstrable experience scaling search campaigns with significant monthly spend and multi-market complexity.
• Experience owning end-to-end delivery of paid search programmes (planning → launch → optimisation → scaling → governance).
• Experience managing a team and working closely with client-side account teams.

Required Skills:

• Technical: GA4, Google Tag Manager (or server-side tagging), familiarity with programmatic/paid social integration, and marketing APIs.
• Platform experience: Google Ads certifications, Shopping/MC, Performance Max, Microsoft Ads, and Search Ads (or similar).
• Analytical: comfortable with attribution concepts, incrementality testing and translating data into actionable optimisation plans.
• Process and programme management: able to build transition plans, operating models and run cross-functional rollouts at pace.
• Communication and presentation: able to explain technical approaches in client-friendly language and to present performance and roadmaps to senior stakeholders.
• B2B lead generation and/or large e-commerce experience.
• Experience with enterprise-level ad account governance, agency transitions, and platform migrations.
• Familiarity with privacy-led measurement approaches and consented data architectures.

Our values shape everything we do: Be Ambitious to succeed, Be Imaginative to push the boundaries of what’s possible, Be Inspirational to do groundbreaking work, Be always learning and listening to understand, Be Results-focused to exceed expectations, Be actively pro-inclusive and anti-racist across our community, clients and creations.

OLIVER, a part of the Brandtech Group, is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating an inclusive working environment where all employees are encouraged to reach their full potential, and individual differences are valued and respected. All applicants shall be considered for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, neurodivergence, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by local laws.

OLIVER has set ambitious environmental goals around sustainability, with science-based emissions reduction targets. Collectively, we work towards our mission, embedding sustainability into every department and through every stage of the project lifecycle.