[Hiring] Senior Strategist - Paid Media @Smartbug Media

Role Description

The Senior Strategist, Paid Media is a seasoned digital strategist responsible for independently managing a portfolio of high-value or complex paid media accounts. This role requires advanced campaign strategy, sophisticated client relationship skills, and the ability to connect paid media performance to business outcomes. The Senior Strategist acts as the lead on all client communication and owns strategic planning, performance reporting, and optimization for their accounts. Sr. Strategists work with moderate oversight from their Lead and may supervise one or more junior team members.

This position is ideal for a paid media professional with strong leadership instincts, an analytical mindset, and experience managing multi-platform campaigns for clients with advanced needs such as:

• Multiple funnel stages
• High-touch sales cycles
• Significant integration with CRM systems like HubSpot

Responsibilities include:

• Develop, implement, and optimize advanced paid media strategies across platforms like Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, and Microsoft Ads.
• Customize strategies for clients with long sales cycles, niche targeting, multi-location structures, or multiple funnel stages.
• Translate business objectives into campaign strategy, creative briefs, budget plans, and KPIs.
• Analyze and interpret performance data to identify trends, generate insights, and drive continuous improvement.
• Build and manage reporting dashboards (NinjaCat, Databox, HubSpot) to communicate ROI clearly.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for all client communication on assigned accounts.
• Lead strategic client calls, providing both technical and high-level business recommendations.
• Maintain proactive client communication, anticipating needs and positioning the agency as a strategic growth partner.
• Deliver performance updates, QBRs, and optimization plans to ensure retention and growth.
• Present upsell opportunities and work with Group Leads or Directors on contract expansions.
• Partner with Account Specialists or junior team members to delegate tactical tasks and mentor execution quality.
• Collaborate with creative, dev, and strategy teams to ensure campaign assets meet performance goals.
• Train less experienced team members on advanced strategies, campaign troubleshooting, or reporting approaches.
• Contribute to internal education by sharing case studies, best practices, or new platform updates.

Qualifications

• 5–6+ years of experience managing paid media campaigns with measurable ROI.
• Proven success managing large or complex accounts independently.
• Extensive hands-on experience with Google Ads, Meta Ads, and at least one additional platform (LinkedIn Ads, Microsoft Ads, TikTok, etc.).
• Advanced proficiency with HubSpot, especially in aligning paid media with lifecycle stages, lead scoring, workflows, and revenue attribution.
• Familiarity with reporting and analytics tools such as Google Analytics 4, Databox, and HubSpot dashboards.
• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, or a related field preferred.

Preferred Skills and Attributes

• Confident strategist and communicator, capable of leading conversations with senior client stakeholders.
• Analytical and detail-oriented, with strong problem-solving capabilities.
• Skilled at balancing strategic planning and hands-on campaign execution.
• Organized and efficient with strong prioritization and time management.
• Passionate about digital marketing, client results, and continuous improvement.
• Comfortable mentoring others and contributing to team-wide knowledge sharing.

Performance Evaluation

• Client retention and satisfaction
• Achievement of campaign goals (e.g., CPL, ROAS, lead quality)
• Revenue growth or upsell activity on managed accounts
• Accuracy and insightfulness of performance reporting
• Internal leadership and contribution to team development

Salary

$65,000 - $80,000 a year

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.