Director of Paid Media

hybrid
Toronto, Ontario, Canada .
full-time . September 22, 2026

Description

Director of Paid Media

Confidential Search

Ad Culture is conducting a confidential search on behalf of an established digital marketing agency for an experienced Director of Paid Media.

This is a senior departmental leadership opportunity for someone who has built their career in performance marketing and is ready to take ownership of a growing paid media function.

The Director will be responsible for the overall performance, development and evolution of the Paid Media department, including team leadership, client performance oversight, operational excellence, strategic direction and the continued development of the agency's paid media capabilities.

This is primarily a leadership and strategic oversight position rather than a hands-on media buying role.

The successful candidate will combine deep paid media expertise with strong people leadership and an operational mindset. They should understand today's major advertising platforms while also staying closely connected to emerging developments in automation, AI, measurement, privacy and advertising technology.

The Opportunity

The Director of Paid Media will have significant ownership over how the department operates and evolves.

You will lead and develop a team of paid media professionals, maintain visibility across a diverse portfolio of client accounts, establish strong operating standards and ensure that clients receive proactive, commercially minded paid media strategy.

You will also play an important role in identifying new capabilities, technologies and service opportunities that strengthen the agency's paid media offering.

Key Responsibilities

Department Leadership

Lead, coach and develop a team of paid media professionals.
Establish clear performance expectations and accountability across the department.
Support team members in developing stronger strategic, analytical and client-facing capabilities.
Provide guidance and escalation support on complex accounts.
Create an environment that encourages ownership, continuous improvement and high-quality work.
Identify opportunities to improve team structure, capabilities and ways of working.

Client Performance & Budget Oversight

Maintain senior-level visibility across paid media client performance.
Ensure client budgets are managed responsibly and paced appropriately.
Review account performance and identify potential risks before they become significant issues.
Work with team members to develop corrective strategies for accounts that are not meeting performance expectations.
Identify opportunities to responsibly scale successful campaigns and client investments.
Ensure performance reporting leads to clear insights, recommendations and next steps.

Operations & Quality

Establish effective departmental processes, documentation and quality-control standards.
Create a consistent operating cadence for reviewing account health, priorities and departmental performance.
Maintain strong standards around campaign planning, forecasting, budgeting and reporting.
Improve workflows and processes to increase quality, consistency and team efficiency.
Ensure appropriate oversight is maintained across a growing and varied client portfolio.

Strategy & Innovation

Stay current on developments across paid media platforms, advertising technology, AI, automation, privacy and measurement.
Evaluate emerging tools, platforms and strategies and determine where they can create meaningful value.
Translate new capabilities into practical strategies and repeatable processes.
Encourage structured testing and experimentation across audiences, creative, bidding strategies, campaign structures, landing pages and media mix.
Help evolve the agency's paid media products, capabilities and service offerings.
Challenge the team to continuously improve rather than rely on established approaches.

Client Growth & Retention

Maintain visibility into the overall health of key paid media client relationships.
Support senior-level client conversations where strategic leadership is required.
Ensure clients receive proactive strategic recommendations rather than purely campaign maintenance.
Identify opportunities to expand successful programs through additional investment, platforms or strategies.
Collaborate with account leadership and other digital disciplines to identify broader client opportunities.
Support strong client retention through consistent performance, communication and strategic direction.

Skills & Capabilities

The ideal candidate will bring:

Deep knowledge of paid media strategy across major platforms including Google Ads, Meta Ads, Microsoft Advertising, LinkedIn Ads and emerging social advertising platforms.
Experience with programmatic advertising and advanced media platforms is an asset.
Strong understanding of full-funnel paid media strategy across lead generation, e-commerce, customer acquisition and brand objectives.
Experience overseeing significant advertising budgets across multiple clients.
Advanced knowledge of performance metrics including ROAS, CPA, CPL, CPM, CPC, CTR and conversion rate.
Strong understanding of media planning, forecasting, budget allocation and pacing.
Strong knowledge of attribution, measurement and analytics, including GA4 and related advertising measurement platforms.
Experience developing structured testing methodologies.
Strong people-management, coaching and leadership skills.
Excellent communication and presentation capabilities.
Ability to translate complex performance data into clear business recommendations.
A strong operational mindset with experience developing processes, documentation and standards.
Curiosity about how AI and automation can improve media operations, analysis and team efficiency.

Experience

We are looking for someone with approximately:

6+ years of progressive paid media or performance marketing experience.
Meaningful experience leading paid media strategy.
Previous experience in a Director, Associate Director, Paid Media Lead or comparable leadership role.
Experience managing and developing paid media professionals.
Experience overseeing complex advertising budgets across multiple accounts and platforms.
A track record of developing paid media strategies tied to measurable business outcomes.
Experience across a combination of lead generation, e-commerce and awareness-focused campaigns.
Experience establishing processes, standards and performance expectations for a team.

Agency experience is strongly preferred.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first year, the Director of Paid Media will have established themselves as the clear operational and strategic leader of the department.

The team should have well-defined standards and processes, strong visibility into client performance and budgets, proactive account strategy and a consistent approach to identifying and addressing risks.

The Director will also be expected to build a culture of continuous improvement, helping the department adopt new capabilities and evolve its approach as the paid media landscape changes.

Success will ultimately be reflected through:

Strong client performance and retention.
Responsible management of client media investment.
Early identification and resolution of account risks.
Consistent proactive strategic recommendations.
Strong development and performance of the paid media team.
Improved departmental processes and operating standards.
Continued adoption of emerging platforms, technologies and strategies.
Identification of opportunities to grow successful client programs.

About the Employer

Our client is an established Canadian digital marketing agency working with a diverse portfolio of brands across multiple industries.

The organization combines strategic thinking, creative problem solving and performance-focused execution and is looking for a leader who can bring both structure and innovation to an important area of its business.

The environment is collaborative and fast-moving, with significant autonomy given to senior leaders. This opportunity will suit someone who enjoys building strong teams, improving how departments operate and helping shape the future direction of a performance marketing practice.

Compensation & Working Environment

A competitive compensation package will be offered based on experience and role alignment, including base salary and eligibility for performance-based compensation. The expected base salary range is $100,000-$130,000, plus bonus.

The organization offers a hybrid working environment, comprehensive health benefits, professional development support and a generous vacation and time-off program.

Further details regarding the employer, compensation and benefits will be shared with candidates progressing through the confidential search.

Confidentiality

This search is being managed exclusively by Ad Culture.

Due to the confidential nature of the mandate, the identity of the hiring organization will be disclosed to selected candidates at the appropriate stage of the recruitment process.

All candidate applications and conversations will be handled confidentially.

Know someone who would be a perfect fit? Let them know!