Digital Marketing Lead - PPC in London

This is a hands-on, high ownership performance marketing role responsible for rebuilding, growing, and scaling paid search activity for Occasions by Sainsbury's - a distinct and evolving proposition within the wider Sainsbury's ecosystem. The role currently focuses on Paid Search and Shopping, with scope to expand into Affiliate and broader performance marketing channels as the proposition matures. You will own the end-to-end Google and Microsoft accounts - from strategy and forecasting to execution, optimisation, and stakeholder communication.

Responsibilities

• Rebuild and develop the Occasions by Sainsbury's paid search account, setting clear structure, standards, and performance foundations.
• Manage budgets, pacing, and optimisation to deliver against agreed commercial and performance targets.
• Lead test and learn initiatives across bidding, keywords, audiences, formats, and creative.
• Ensure best in class account hygiene, structure, and execution.

Strategy, Measurement & Activation

• Act as the primary owner of the Occasions by Sainsbury's performance roadmap, working closely with your manager to align priorities and long-term plans.
• Own performance forecasting, budget planning, and scenario modelling.
• Lead performance analysis and insight generation, supported by analytics teams.
• Ensure technical accuracy across tracking, tagging, attribution, and UTM structures.
• Translate data into clear, actionable recommendations for stakeholders.

Stakeholder Delivery Management

• There will be 1 direct executive team member who will be hired into this management line.
• Act as the key performance contact for Occasions by Sainsbury's within Sainsbury's Digital Marketing, Analytics & Data Science, Marketing Technology, Finance & Commercial teams.
• Work closely with platform partners (e.g. Google, Microsoft) to identify innovation and growth opportunities.
• Communicate performance clearly and confidently, providing proactive updates rather than reactive reporting.

Ways of Working

• Operate with a high degree of autonomy and accountability - this role is designed for self-management.
• Proactively identify opportunities, risks, and improvements - this role is designed for close day-to-day management of the account.
• Be comfortable making decisions, setting direction, and moving work forward independently.
• Help shape how performance marketing is delivered for a growing proposition.

Qualifications

• A few years' hands-on experience in digital performance marketing, ideally within ecommerce or retail.
• Strong practical experience across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and SA360.
• Experience managing significant budgets and delivering against performance KPIs.
• Good grasp of digital tracking and basic marketing tech concepts (tagging, UTMs, cookies, attribution).
• Confident working cross-functionally in a large organisation.
• Strong communication, prioritisation, and problem-solving skills.
• A proactive, self-starting mindset with commercial awareness.

Desirable

• Experience working on new propositions or rebuilding accounts.
• Exposure to broader performance channels.
• Familiarity with automation, feed management, or large scale account tooling.
• Understanding of retail calendars, policy compliance, or multi-brand environments.
• High visibility ownership of a growing proposition.
• Real influence over strategy, structure, and future channel expansion.
• Opportunity to shape how performance marketing scales beyond paid search.
• Clear pathway to increased scope and leadership as the account grows.