Director of SEM

About the Company

Our client is the leading supplement brand focused on absorption and bioavailability. Most standard supplements are not designed for the human body to effectively absorb, resulting in up to 84% of active nutrients being wasted. The client solves this problem by leveraging proprietary technology and clinical-grade ingredients in their most bioavailable states, increasing nutrient absorption rates by up to 500%.

Role Overview

This is a remote Director of SEM role. This person will take full ownership of the client's search engine marketing strategy, execution, and scaling roadmap, replacing the existing agency model with in-house precision. Reporting directly to a senior leader, they will manage and scale the primary paid search channels, Google Ads, YouTube, and Bing, scaling annual spend from $100K to $1M+ efficiently. The Director title reflects senior-level strategic mastery and analytical execution rather than people management: this is an agile, hands-on operator who builds high-performing account structures from scratch, lives in the keyword weeds, and drives incremental customer acquisition. Over time, as channel profitability and revenue expand, there will be an opportunity to build and lead an internal search team.

Responsibilities

- Account Architecture: Build, structure, and scale full-funnel search campaigns across Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising (Bing), and YouTube from the ground up, establishing clean separation across branded search, high-intent non-branded terms, Shopping feeds, and targeted Performance Max setups without relying on PMax as a crutch.

- Bidding & Optimization: Actively manage day-to-day keyword bidding, match-type strategies, negative keyword harvesting, site extensions, and device-level bid adjustments across mobile and desktop to maximize return on ad spend and drive down blended acquisition costs.

- Channel Expansion: Scale current ad spend from roughly $100K annually to $500K-$1M+ while maintaining disciplined customer acquisition cost thresholds, testing new search surfaces, YouTube direct response formats, and emerging AI search channels.

- Funnel Alignment: Partner with performance creative and conversion rate optimization teams to align ad copy, headlines, and search hooks directly with dedicated landing pages, ensuring high quality scores and cohesive post-click experiences tailored to specific supplement benefits and ingredients.

- Search Analytics: Monitor, analyze, and report on key search metrics across Triple Whale, Google Analytics, and ad platforms, isolating branded vs. non-branded search incrementality to guide strategic budget allocation decisions.

- Testing & Innovation: Continuously design and run controlled search experiments covering ad extensions, bidding scripts, creative headlines, product feed attributes, and competitive conquesting tactics.

Who They're Looking For

- 3+ years of hands-on paid search experience in consumer packaged goods and direct-to-consumer e-commerce, with 5+ years strongly preferred.

- Track record of having directly managed a paid search account with at least $5M in annual media spend.

- True keyboard operator who prefers building and optimizing campaigns directly rather than managing external agencies or delegating tactical execution.

- Deep technical command of Google Ads mechanics, including negative keyword pruning, sitelink optimization, feed management in Google Merchant Center, smart vs. manual bidding strategies, and device segmentation.

- Proven ability to scale non-branded search profitably, with an understanding of how to navigate health, wellness, ingredient-led, and benefit-focused terminology.

- Experience utilizing third-party SEM management, competitive research, and bid optimization platforms, alongside curiosity and testing instincts for modern AI-driven search behaviors.

- Strong analytical mindset focused on performance metrics, contribution margin, and true incremental customer acquisition rather than vanity platform ROAS.

- Comfort working in a high-velocity, high-growth startup environment where fast iteration and decisive execution drive measurable business outcomes.