SVP, Media (SEM)

SVP, Paid Search (SEM)

ABOUT VAYNERMEDIA 

VaynerMedia is a contemporary global creative and media agency with an expertise in driving relevance for clients and delivering impactful business results. The independently-owned agency was founded in 2009 and has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, APAC and LATAM. VaynerMedia has been recognized for its work at Cannes Lions, the Clio Awards and The Webby Awards. It is part of the VaynerX family of companies.

In A Nutshell:

The Senior Vice President, Paid Search job is a senior leadership role responsible for setting the vision, driving the strategy, and owning the financial health of VaynerMedia's entire SEM practice. This leader will engineer and refine our best-in-class search offerings, serving as the agency's foremost thought leader while championing a culture of innovation and testing. Reporting to the EVP of Media, you will inspire excellence, drive new business growth, and serve as the executive sponsor for our most critical client relationships and be the face of our search expertise for prospective and new clients. We are looking for a visionary leader who will not only build a world-class team but will also help shape the future of our SEM business within the context of the significant disruption that is underway as AI Search and LLMs change the very nature of how we think about the role of search engines and traditional search strategies.

What You’d Do:

• Discipline Leadership & Vision: Drive innovation and productization of SEM offerings, and architect the agency’s overarching SEM philosophy and strategic approach, particularly within the context of AI & LLM disruption to traditional search strategies.
• Executive Client & Partner Leadership: Serve as the executive sponsor for our most strategic client relationships, acting as the ultimate point of escalation. Develop and steward powerful relationships with key technology partners and senior client stakeholders that will drive our reputation and capabilities in the marketplace.
• Business Growth: own the P&L for the Paid Search (SEM) practice. Lead the SEM component of high-stakes new business engagements, from RFP completion and strategy development through to the final pitch and client transition.
• Team & Culture: Lead, build, and inspire a multi-layered team of SEM professionals. Champion recruiting and retention efforts, foster a robust and inclusive team culture, and focus on strategic talent development and succession planning. 
• Thought Leadership: Be the external face of VaynerMedia’s SEM practice through publications and speaking engagements. Define and evangelize the agency's POV on the future of search, AI, and other emerging trends.
• Operational Excellence: Engineer and refine best-in-class SEM operations, ensuring technical expertise, executional excellence, and seamless collaboration with other agency disciplines and individual client teams. Build & maintain ways of working to bring search excellence and expertise to life in the context of their objectives and client needs.

What You’ve Got:

• A minimum 12+ years’ experience directly related to Search Engine Marketing, with a deep focus on performance-driven campaigns (CPA, CPL, ROI, ROAS).
• Agency experience preferred but not required. A proven track record of leading sophisticated, large-scale SEM practices or departments, including P&L management experience.
• Direct experience managing $100MM+ annual search investment, with strong preference for different types of customers (Fortune 100, high-growth DTC, lead generation, etc.)
• Strong interpersonal and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex strategies clearly and effectively to C-suite executives.
• Ability to navigate a portfolio of brands within a larger conglomerate or business group, gain an understanding of their unique company architectures, to build and strengthen relationships with essential stakeholders
• Excellent organizational skills and the ability to juggle multiple high-stakes responsibilities.
• Strong command and expertise in managing enterprise-level bid optimization and automation platforms (e.g., Search Ads 360, Skai, Marin).
• Fluency with analytics, attribution and measurement and data systems. Including but not limited to:
• Google Analytics / GA4
• Google Tag Manager / Floodlight Events
• MOAT/IAS/Double Verify
• Nielsen/Millward Brown/Oracle Measurement
• Enhanced Conversions & Direct Server Integrations
• Ability to lead by example in terms of attention to detail, general work ethic, empathy and internal/external professionalism
• You live for today’s digital & mobile consumer and are pa