Directs Viral Nation’s performance marketing practice across paid social, paid search, and programmatic media. Leads Associate Directors and broader teams, establishes standards for planning, testing, measurement, QA, and platform strategy, and manages senior client relationships. Drives account retention, organic growth, forecasting, resourcing, and adoption of AI-enabled workflows. Partners with strategy, creative, influencer, business intelligence, and client services teams to deliver integrated campaigns.
At Viral Nation, we specialize in building social-first ecosystems for brands to connect with the modern consumer journey. Our integrated solutions align strategy, talent, media, and technology with culturally relevant creativity to scale the world’s fastest-growing digital brands. Viral Nation offers a fluid, creative, and growth-oriented environment that will support your ambitions to apply your talents in an open, collaborative, and fast-paced culture. Our ability to stay at the forefront of the industry has fuelled our success and will guide us in paving the path forward. We’re driven to push boundaries and think beyond today to deliver strategies, and we’re just getting started.
While we continuously exceed our goals, we need your help – our success is only as great as our people. Strong performance leads to high expectations, and we must keep raising the bar!
The Director, Performance Marketing owns the craft, standards, and delivery quality of Viral Nation's performance marketing practice across paid social, paid search, and programmatic. You lead Associate Directors and their portfolios, set the bar for strategy and measurement, manage senior client relationships, and drive retention and growth across the book.
What You'll Do Here:
- Own the strategy, quality, and performance of the paid media practice across a multi-client book and a significant media investment.
- Lead and develop Associate Directors, and through them, Managers and their teams.
- Set practice-wide standards for media planning, audience strategy, testing, QA, and measurement (attribution, incrementality, MMM / MTA).
- Serve as senior client lead and executive escalation point on the most strategic accounts, safeguarding retention and satisfaction.
- Drive organic growth across the book, partnering with account leadership and the Performance Growth track to expand scopes.
- Own platform strategy and technical application for delivery — turning partner alphas, betas, and product roadmaps into in-account plays, and owning team platform certifications and best-practice standards — in partnership with the Director, Performance Growth, who holds the agency-level partner relationship.
- Guide platform strategy and senior relationships across Meta, Google, TikTok, and DSPs, including access to betas and certifications.
- Champion adoption of new capabilities and AI-enabled workflows across planning, buying, optimization, and reporting.
- Partner cross-functionally with Strategy, Creative, Influencer, Business Intelligence, and Client Services for integrated, full-funnel delivery.
- Contribute to forecasting, resourcing, and utilization for the delivery team in partnership with leadership.
What You Need To Have:
- 8+ years of performance marketing experience across paid social, paid search, and programmatic, including 3+ years in a leadership or management role.
- Strong agency-side track record leading strategy and delivery across a multi-client portfolio with meaningful media investment.
- Proven people leadership: building, coaching, and retaining high-performing teams.
- Deep measurement expertise (attribution, incrementally, MMM / MTA) and command of the evolving privacy and signal-loss landscape.
- Excellent executive communication and client storytelling at the senior stakeholder level.
- Proficiency in the Google / Microsoft Suite and project management platforms (monday.com, Asana, or comparable).
- Comfort operating in a high-growth, fast-paced agency environment.
Compensation Philosophy:
At Viral Nation, compensation is structured, performance-led, and market-aligned. Pay decisions are intentional, based on role requirements, performance, and market alignment by country, and are set to maintain internal pay equity across comparable roles and levels.
Compensation progression is tied to demonstrated performance, expanded scope, and sustained contribution over time, not tenure alone. Employee compensation is reviewed regularly through formal performance reviews and check-ins to ensure alignment with role expectations and impact.
AI in Recruitment:
Viral Nation does not use AI-enabled tools to screen, assess, rank, or select candidates – our hiring teams make all hiring decisions. AI note-taking tools may be used during interviews.
DEI Commitment:
Viral Nation is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in our agency. Viral Nation welcomes applications from people with visible and non-visible disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the recruiting and selection process.
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