Associate Manager (Paid Media)

Job description

**Design Cafe is Hiring: Associate Manager / Manager, Paid Media** **Location:** Bengaluru **Team:** Digital Marketing **Reports To:** Senior Manager, Paid Media **Experience:** 5-7 years (level will be based on experience and demonstrated ownership) **About the Role** DesignCafe is hiring for a Paid Media role that goes beyond running campaigns. We're a fast-growing retail business expanding into new cities, and we need someone who can own paid media as a real growth lever, not just a set of channels to optimise. You'll manage a large media budget across Google and Meta, but the bigger part of the job is thinking like a growth owner: where should we be spending as we enter new markets, how do targeting and messaging need to change across cities and audiences, and what's actually moving the business, not just the campaign dashboard. India is a diverse market, and what works in Bengaluru won't automatically work in Pune or Jaipur. We need someone who gets that and builds for it. This is also a role for someone who works the AI-first way paid media is run today, using automation and AI tools to execute faster so more time goes into strategy and judgement calls, not manual grind. **Key Responsibilities** - **Own the Number:** Take ownership of paid media budgets and be accountable for business outcomes, not just channel metrics: leads, cost, conversion, and how that ties back to revenue and growth targets. - **Drive Growth & Expansion:** Build and scale campaigns for new city and market launches, adapting targeting, budgets, and creative strategy to local demand and competitive dynamics. - **Full-Funnel Thinking:** Look beyond top-of-funnel metrics to understand how paid media performance connects to lead quality, sales conversion, and business impact. - **Local Market Understanding:** Factor in regional and city-level nuances, language, buying behaviour, seasonality, when planning and optimising campaigns across a diverse country like India. - **Campaign Execution:** Plan, launch, and manage campaigns across Google Ads (Search, Display, YouTube, Performance Max) and Meta Ads (Facebook, Instagram, Advantage+), largely independently. - **AI-First Execution:** Use AI tools for creative generation, copy and audience testing, and reporting to move faster and free up time for strategic work. - **Daily Optimisation:** Manage bids, budgets, targeting, creatives, and landing pages to keep improving performance and scale campaigns efficiently. - **New Opportunities:** Identify and test new channels, formats, and targeting approaches to unlock growth and bring down acquisition costs. - **Team & Stakeholder Alignment:** Align with the Senior Manager on strategy, guide the Senior Paid Media Analyst on execution, and work with sales, content, design, and tech teams to move the funnel forward. - **Reporting in Business Terms:** Report performance in a way that connects to business goals, not just platform metrics, and use that to influence budget and strategy decisions. **Skills & Experience** - Bachelor's or Master's degree in Marketing, Business, or a related field. - 5-7 years of hands-on experience in performance marketing or paid media, with strong expertise running Google Ads and Meta Ads campaigns. - Experience managing paid media budgets of ₹10 Cr+ (cumulative or annualised), with the ownership to run them independently. - A track record of thinking beyond channel metrics: comfortable talking about CAC and business growth, not just CTR and CPC. - Experience or strong interest in multi-city or multi-market campaigns, and an understanding of how targeting and messaging need to adapt across regions. - Hands-on experience with Performance Max, Advantage+, audience segmentation, and campaign automation. - Comfortable using AI tools for creative generation, copywriting, testing, and reporting as part of everyday execution. - Proficiency in Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Excel. - Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with good business judgement, not just platform know-how. - High ownership and a strong bias for action; comfortable making decisions and moving fast in a high-growth environment. - Good communication and stakeholder management skills. **Kindly reach out to radhika.an@designcafe.com**