Director of Paid Media

Director of Paid Media

Location: Austin, TX (Hybrid. In office Monday, Wednesday, Friday) 

Reports To: Chief Digital Officer 

Team: Paid Media

The Opportunity

Paid media is not a support function at Intellibright. It is a revenue engine.

As Director of Paid Ads, you own the performance of our entire paid media practice — Paid Search and Paid Social — across a portfolio of mid-market and enterprise clients. Google Ads is the primary revenue driver for most of our clients, and this role demands a powerhouse in the platform. Not someone who knows their way around it, but someone who commands it. You are the skilled operator and mentor this team needs to execute at a high level and raise the bar across the board. Paid Search and Paid Social are both in scope, and you are accountable for how millions in annual media spend gets deployed, optimized, and defended. You set the standards, build the systems, lead the team, and own the outcomes.

This is not a role for someone who just manages campaigns. This is a role for someone who owns the practice. 

You will define what great paid media performance looks like at Intellibright, establish the frameworks that make it repeatable, and ensure that every dollar we manage on behalf of our clients translates into qualified demand, pipeline, and revenue. You will be the final voice on strategy, the standard-bearer for the team, and the person the Chief Digital Officer & CEO trust to protect and grow paid media performance at scale.

As Intellibright continues to grow, this role grows with it, in scope, in team size, and in compensation tied directly to impact.

About Intellibright

Intellibright is a performance-driven digital marketing agency built around accountability and close client partnerships. Our proprietary revenue analytics connect marketing activity directly to pipeline, sales, and revenue.

Recognized by Inc. 5000 and the Financial Times 500 as one of the fastest-growing companies in the Americas five years running, Intellibright is a profitable, self-funded agency headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Paid Media at Intellibright does not operate in isolation. It is tightly integrated with SEO, CRO, Analytics, Web, and Digital Strategy so paid demand converts and scales.

What You Will Own

Department Performance

• Full accountability for Paid Search and Paid Social performance across all client accounts
• KPI definition, ownership, and enforcement across spend efficiency, lead quality, conversion performance, and revenue contribution
• The standard of excellence for how paid media is planned, executed, reported, and improved at Intellibright

Strategy and Decision-Making

• Full-funnel paid media strategy aligned to business outcomes, not platform metrics
• Final authority on budget allocation, pacing, and optimization decisions tied to measured client impact
• Intent, keyword, and query strategy across branded, non-branded, local, and high-value demand
• Integration of paid media strategy with CRO, landing page performance, and website experience
• Cross-channel alignment with SEO to maximize total SERP visibility and demand capture
• Guardrails for platform automation, AI bidding, and recommendation adoption. Platforms do not make decisions here, you do.

Analytics and Intelligence

• Partnership with Analytics to develop AI-powered insights, alerts, and forecasting frameworks that guide faster, smarter decisions
• Performance assessment with the authority and confidence to recommend pivots, budget reallocations, or increased investment based on signals
• Executive-ready performance narratives that move conversations from metrics to direction

Team and Client Leadership

• Hiring, mentorship, and elevation of SEM managers and specialists
• Contribution to client retention, expansion, and long-term account health
• Proactive identification of risk, inefficiency, and growth opportunity across the portfolio

How You Work

• You own outcomes, not tasks. If performance is off, you know why and you have a plan.
• You anchor every decision to clearly defined KPIs
• You know when data calls for action and when patience is the right move
• You balance automation with judgment. You never outsource thinking to platforms.
• You think in intent, quality, and revenue, not clicks and impressions
• You move decisively and explain tradeoffs clearly
• You set the bar for the team and hold it

Culture and Expectations

• Hybrid role with required in-office presence Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
• Fast-moving environment with high expectations and clear ownership
• Collaborative teams that value clarity, accountability, and results
• 16+ years of profitable, self-funded growth

Why This Role Matters

Paid media at Intellibright is one of the primary levers our clients trust us to pull. This role exists because that trust requires a leader, not just an operator, at the helm.

The Director of Paid Ads is accountable for ensuring our clients' paid investment is working, evolving, and defensible. As the company scales, this role is a platform for broader leadership responsibility and expanded ownership.

If you want to run a paid media department, be directly accountable for revenue outcomes, and build something that lasts, this is where you do that.

• 8 to 12 years of hands-on paid search experience, with at least 2 years in a leadership role with direct accountability for team and performance outcomes
• Deep, hands-on expertise in Google Ads. You know the platform at a mechanical level: bidding levers, campaign structure, auction dynamics, audience signals, and how to diagnose and fix performance problems before clients notice them.
• Proactive by nature. You are not waiting for a report to tell you something is wrong. You are scanning performance across your client portfolio consistently, spotting trends early, and acting on them.
• Proven ability to own KPIs tied to revenue and lead quality, not just report on them
• Track record of managing large, complex budgets profitably across multiple clients
• Strong command of AI, automation, and auction dynamics with clear judgment on when and how to apply them
• Experience partnering with analytics teams to surface insights, build forecasting frameworks, and drive optimization
• Ability to assess downstream impact beyond platform-reported conversions
• Confidence presenting performance direction to senior and C-level stakeholders. You bring conviction, not just slides.
• Agency or multi-client experience strongly preferred
• High bar for thinking, clarity, accountability, and ownership

• Base Salary: $102,000 to $144,000 depending on experience
• 5% performance-based bonus opportunity
• 100% company-paid healthcare premiums including medical, dental, vision, and life
• 401(k) with up to 5% company match
• 28 days combined PTO and holidays plus two additional remote work weeks annually

Fraud Warning

Our team will only contact you through official company email addresses or phone numbers and will conduct interviews via live video. We will never ask you to send money, purchase equipment, provide gift cards, or share any financial information.

#LI-Hybrid