Director of Paid Media

About the Role

Key Responsibilities

• Own and scale all paid acquisition across social, search, programmatic/display and emerging platforms to drive qualified traffic, reduce CAC, and maximize bookings with a relentless focus on ROI and attribution.
• Lead campaign performance across TikTok, Meta, YouTube, Google, Snapchat, Pinterest and other high-performance platforms, constantly testing and optimizing creative, audiences, placements, messaging and bidding strategies.
• Identify and test new acquisition channels using a test-learn-adapt-test-learn framework.
• Manage annual marketing spend with precision across social-first channels, understanding Gen Z attention patterns and platform-specific creative requirements.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with brand, creative, market development and other stakeholders to create integrated, full-funnel media strategies and incorporate influencer and creator content into paid campaigns to optimize for reach, engagement and conversion.
• Build a full-funnel growth engine from awareness to conversion (bookings), shifting spend based on real-time performance data and social listening insights.
• Partner with Analytics team on media attribution, implementing multi-touch attribution and social sentiment analysis to better understand the Gen Z customer journey from discovery to booking.
• Develop rapid creative testing systems—experimenting with UGC, influencer partnerships, viral formats, and landing experiences to accelerate engagement and conversions.
• Lead and scale a team of performance marketers fostering a culture of creativity, experimentation, and results.
• Report performance with compelling storytelling—translating data into insights that drive strategy and secure leadership buy-in.
• Stay ahead of Gen Z trends, platform updates, creator economy shifts, and travel behavior changes to consistently outperform and innovate.

Requirements

• 15+ years of digital marketing experience with a focus on Gen Z/millennial audiences in travel, lifestyle, or experiential industries.
• 5+ years managing high-performing teams of performance specialists.
• Proven track record managing multi-million dollar budgets across social platforms with deep understanding of paid social, creator partnerships and UGC strategies.
• Mastery of media attribution including experience with platform-specific tracking.
• Platform proficiency: TikTok Ads, Meta Business Manager, Snapchat Ads, YouTube Creator tools, Google Ads, plus analytics platforms like GA4, Mixpanel, Amplitude, or similar.
• Strong creative instincts—you understand what resonates with Gen Z and can collaborate on creative strategy while optimizing for performance.
• Hands-on execution skills: you can jump into a campaign, analyze creative performance, and optimize targeting without missing a beat.
• Cultural fluency in Gen Z: you understand their values, communication style, decision-making process, and what drives them to travel.
• Growth hacker mindset: you're scrappy, experimental, and always testing new channels and tactics with a positive, let's-figure-it-out attitude.
• Bonus points: Experience in travel/hospitality.

Nice to Have

• Experience in travel/hospitality.

Benefits & Perks

• Four weeks paid vacation your first year, ten paid holidays, and two floating holidays.
• Exciting business travel opportunities.
• 25% company match on your 401(k) contributions.
• Market-leading medical, dental and vision coverage, along with options for life and disability insurance, legal and pet insurance.
• Dependent care, healthcare and commuter Flex Spending Accounts (FSAs).
• Access to fertility care and family-building support.
• Wellness benefits including a yearly fitness reimbursement.
• Frequent social and learning events, including access to employee-run resource groups.
• Robust Employee Assistance Program.
• Tenure-based sabbatical eligibility.
• EF Product Discounts on travel, language schools, Au Pair programs, and more.
• Discounts at local venues and businesses.
• Modern office environment with flexibility to work from home one day a week.