[Hiring] Lead Specialist, Digital Marketing (Paid Media / Performance) @Pearson

Role Description

• Define and deliver performance marketing strategies across paid search, paid social, and demand generation campaigns, aligned to agreed commercial objectives.
• Translate business and portfolio goals into channel-level strategies, budgets, and KPIs.
• Ensure activity is audience-led, insight-driven, and optimised to deliver measurable ROI and revenue contribution.
• Own performance marketing execution across multiple campaigns, products, and qualification portfolios.

Channel & Platform Ownership

• Oversee paid media strategy, implementation, optimisation, and reporting across platforms including Google Ads and Microsoft Ads, including Search, Display, YouTube, and Performance Max; Meta, LinkedIn, Reddit, Spotify, Quora and emerging channels, ensuring best-practice application.
• Build out testing frameworks, and lead on creative experimentation, audience strategies, and bidding approaches.
• Maintain platform health, governance standards, naming conventions, account structures, and documentation.

Agency & Partner Management

• Own day-to-day and strategic relationships with paid media agencies and external partners.
• Manage priorities, testing roadmaps, optimisation requirements, and performance expectations with agencies and partners.
• Quality-assure agency output, challenge recommendations where required, and ensure best-value delivery.
• Resolve performance or delivery issues, coordinating with agencies, platforms, and internal stakeholders as needed.

Data, Analytics & Measurement

• Own performance measurement across paid media channels, ensuring robust tracking, attribution, and reporting.
• Maintain GA4, GTM, Consent Mode v2, enhanced conversions, and cross-domain measurement approaches.
• Provide actionable insights through reporting, dashboards, and executive summaries for senior stakeholders.
• Support forecasting, budget pacing, and performance modelling in collaboration with finance and senior marketing leadership.

Operational Excellence

• Lead on day-to-day paid media operations, driving consistency, quality, and efficiency.
• Partner with portfolio leads, subject marketers, CRM, and senior marketing stakeholders to shape campaign approach and priorities.
• Translate complex performance data into clear, non-technical insights suitable for leadership audiences.
• Advise on channel performance, investment decisions, and optimisation opportunities.
• Establish and maintain best-practice processes, BAU optimisation routines, and campaign governance standards.
• Maintain central trackers, documentation, credit card expenses, and request processes for paid media activity.
• Contribute to knowledge sharing and capability uplift across the wider marketing team.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Identify and action opportunities for improvement across automation, tooling, attribution, and workflow efficiency, and help drive adoption where appropriate.
• Support adoption of new technologies, platforms, and AI-driven optimisation approaches where appropriate.

Qualifications

• Extensive hands-on experience in performance marketing, with deep expertise in paid search and paid media strategy.
• Proven track record of delivering ROI-positive campaigns aligned to commercial objectives.
• Strong analytical capability, with confidence working directly with data, platforms, and performance metrics.
• Advanced knowledge of GA4, GTM, Consent Mode v2, enhanced conversions, and attribution modelling.
• Experience reporting to senior, non-technical stakeholders and producing executive-ready insights.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence without direct authority.
• Experience managing agencies and external partners.
• Highly organised, detail-oriented, and comfortable operating across multiple portfolios and timelines.

Desirable

• Experience within education, qualifications, or regulated sectors.
• Exposure to BigQuery, Looker, or data warehousing environments.
• Experience contributing to capability building, documentation, or training initiatives.
• Understanding of advanced statistical analysis techniques such as marketing mix modelling and correlation modelling.
• Google Ads and/or platform certifications.