Associate Director, Paid Search

LERMA/ is seeking a solutions-oriented Associate Director, Paid Search to own a portfolio of enterprise search accounts and lead the associates and supervisors who run them day-to-day. This role sits between supervisor and Director of Integrated Investment as the senior strategic lead for a pod of accounts, and the person who develops the supervisors executing within them.

Responsibilities

Own portfolio-level paid search strategy across a pod of accounts, with supervisors executing day-to-day; Manage, mentor, and develop a team of associates and supervisors — set priorities, QA their strategic decisions, and own their career pathing; Serve as senior client contact on enterprise-scale accounts, including ownership of QBR content and presentation; Own budget rollups across the full pod portfolio and approve incremental investment and testing proposals ahead of director sign-off; Partner with the director of integrated investment on RFP creation, partner negotiations, and platform-partner stewardship; Maintain oversight of managed-service and platform-vendor partnerships run day-to-day by supervisors (e.g., YouTube trafficking/optimization partners) — confirm active vendors, ensure they deliver strategic value rather than status updates, and step in for contract-level decisions; Own YouTube’s role within the broader paid search portfolio, guiding format mix, audience and creative strategy, as well as how YouTube investment is positioned alongside search in client-facing planning; Track the evolution of AI and LLMs on search and translate emerging behavior into portfolio insights; Contribute to agency POV development and stay current on the paid search vendor landscape; Support hiring, onboarding, and staffing plans for the Integrated Investment team; Partner cross-functionally with the paid social associate director and programmatic leads on integrated account strategy

Requirements

6–8+ years of experience in a digital media agency environment, including 2+ years directly managing people; Proven ownership of enterprise search budgets and enterprise search and YouTube programs; Strong senior-client and stakeholder presentation skills; Advanced understanding of Google Ads (Search, YouTube, Performance Max) and Microsoft Ads; High proficiency in Excel and Google Sheets, with comfort translating data into strategic recommendations

Nice to have

Familiarity with Google Partner Program tiers and requirements; Real depth in YouTube with buying experience through Google Ads or DV360; Thinking about how AI and LLM powered search is reshaping discovery beyond traditional SERP

Benefits

Competitive salary based on experience; Paid company holidays, vacation earned per year; Paid sick leave; Benefits — medical, dental, and vision; life/AD&D; and short-/long-term insurance; Annual bonuses; 401(k) and annual profit-sharing retirement plans