Sr. Manager, Paid Media

Run paid media for our founding clients at an agency built by founders who have done this before.

Remote, US · Full-time · Reports to Adam Edwards, co-founder

Who we are

Aftergrowth is a growth agency for mid-market brands, running digital media, performance creative and SEO & GEO. Our founders, Ken Baker and Adam Edwards, have done this before. They built Metric Theory from a one-bedroom apartment into one of the largest independent performance agencies in the country, won Ad Age’s #1 Best Place to Work along the way, and sold it to S4 Capital in 2020.

We started Aftergrowth because AI changed the job. Platforms now set the bids, pick the audience and write the fortieth headline, and they’re very good at it. But they’ll chase whatever number you hand them, whether or not it grows the business. The edge is in deciding what they learn from, what they aim at and what counts as a win. That’s the work we’re built around, and we’re hiring the people who do the steering.

How we work

• Own Your Outputs. AI can produce the first draft. You own whether it’s right.

• Live in the Frontier. AI takes on more of the execution every quarter, so you’ll keep retiring parts of your own job and turning what works into tools the whole team uses.

• Irreplaceably Human. The idea, the client relationship, the judgment call no model will make for you.

• Scoreboard. We judge the work by client outcomes, not volume.

Why join now

You’ll be one of our key foundational hires. Our first client starts this month, with more coming soon. Joining this early means the tools you build become how the agency works, the playbooks you write become the ones the team runs on, and you help pick the people who join after you.

Concretely: weekly working sessions with Adam on growth strategy, a seat in new-business pitches with Ken, and a place on the interview panel as we build out the paid media team.

What you’ll own

The day-to-day strategy and execution for our founding paid media clients. You’ll be the person clients call, and the person who knows exactly why the numbers moved.

• Clients. Lead paid media relationships for a set of client accounts, from onboarding through monthly reviews, and support QBRs.

• Strategy and testing. Build each account’s channel strategy and testing roadmap, then turn the results into decisions about where the budget goes.

• Signal. Get the platforms learning from the right data: conversion APIs, offline and value data, and product feeds.

• Execution. Hands-on across paid search, paid social, streaming TV & audio and ChatGPT Ads.

• Agents and skills. Build the AI tools that let one person run work that used to take three, and get the whole team using them.

• Growing the team. Sit on interview panels, review work samples, and help onboard and mentor the people who join after you.

What you bring

• 5+ years in digital performance media, including 3+ years in a client-facing agency role

• Experience as the lead on paid media client relationships: you’ve owned the strategy, the client calls and the results

• Deep hands-on experience on Google Ads and Meta, plus real reps on at least one of: Microsoft, TikTok, LinkedIn, Amazon, programmatic or CTV

• A track record of building testing roadmaps that produced clear takeaways and moved budget

• Working knowledge of signal work: conversion APIs, offline conversion imports, value-based bidding and product feeds

• A point of view on measurement, budget allocation and what makes ad creative perform, and the willingness to defend it

• A track record of using AI to automate audits, reporting or feed work, while you own the strategy and testing calls

• Clear, confident presenting to client directors and VPs

• Bonus: you’ve mentored junior team members or contractors

A week in the life

Three months in.

Monday

• Morning: Weekly performance check. One client’s Meta CPA is flat, but new-customer share has dropped. Advantage+ is harvesting people who were going to buy anyway.

• Afternoon: Rework the conversion signal to pass new vs. returning customer value. Walk Adam through the fix in your weekly growth strategy session.

Tuesday

• Morning: Weekly call with a client’s Director of Marketing: pacing, last week’s test results and the next two tests.

• Afternoon: Build time on our account audit agent. You tighten the prompts that keep flagging noise instead of real problems.

Wednesday

• Morning: Run the improved audit agent on a prospect’s Google and Meta accounts, then cut its findings to the five worth leading with in Thursday’s pitch.

• Afternoon: Sit on the interview panel for a paid social specialist and lead the work-sample review.

Thursday

• Morning: New-business pitch with Ken. You present the audit section and field the prospect’s questions about it.

• Afternoon: Sync with the SEO & GEO lead. The prompts where we’re winning AI recommendations become the next ChatGPT Ads tests.

Friday

• Morning: Turn this month’s test results into a playbook entry the next hire will use on day one.

• Afternoon: Demo the upgraded audit agent at the team show-and-tell.

Location and travel

Remote, US. We have hubs in San Francisco and San Diego. If you’re near one, great. If not, this role stays remote. Expect to get together in person about once a quarter, plus client and pitch travel as needed.

Compensation

$85,000 – $125,000 base salary, plus a performance-based bonus.

Benefits

• Health and dental

• Vision and a 401(k)

• Flexible PTO

• On the roadmap: 401(k) matching, a wellness stipend and more as we grow