Director, Paid Search & YouTube

At a glance:

The Director, Paid Search & YouTube role is a senior-level position at Rain, the leading independent full-service advertising agency. The position’s primary focus is leadership, management, and talent development of the Paid Search channel while developing holistic, performance-minded paid search, YouTube, and search-adjacent media strategies and tactical recommendations for clients in partnership with our other client-facing teams.

While this is a remote position, periodic travel and accommodating meetings in different time zones is expected.

What does a Director, Paid Search & YouTube do at Rain?

Strategy & Practice Leadership

• Serve as Rain’s senior subject matter expert on the evolving paid search, YouTube, and search-adjacent media landscape, bringing a clear point of view on automation, AI-powered search experiences, algorithmic bidding, commerce media, product feeds, measurement changes, audience signals, and emerging opportunities.
• Develop paid search strategies rooted in client business objectives, not just keyword coverage or platform tactics; with the ability to connect media investment to growth, efficiency, customer acquisition, revenue, lead quality, brand health, and measurable business impact.
• Define the role paid search and YouTube play within integrated omnichannel media plans, ensuring search is connected to broader channel strategy across social, programmatic, retail media, CTV, affiliate, shopping, and full-funnel media ecosystems.
• Lead, mentor, and inspire a team of paid search specialists, building a culture of curiosity, accountability, continuous learning, QA discipline, and pride in both strategic thinking and executional craft.
• Contribute to Rain’s thought leadership, new business efforts, and paid search product development, including pitches, POVs, playbooks, case studies, vendor relationships, platform partnerships, and articulation of Rain’s differentiated approach to paid search and YouTube.

Client Leadership & Business Impact

• Build trusted relationships with senior marketing leaders and client stakeholders, acting as a strategic advisor who can translate complex search, shopping, and YouTube dynamics into clear, confident recommendations.
• Lead executive-level presentations with clarity, credibility, and conviction, including performance readouts, strategic roadmaps, testing plans, growth opportunities, search landscape POVs, and difficult conversations when performance, investment, or direction needs to change.
• Move the conversation beyond media metrics to business outcomes, helping clients understand how paid search contributes to CAC, LTV, incrementality, revenue growth, lead quality, audience development, demand capture, and long-term brand value.
• Operate effectively across multiple accounts and cross-functional teams, partnering with Client Service, Analytics, Creative, Integrated Planning, Media Investment, AdOps, and Project Management to ensure strong communication, sound recommendations, and disciplined execution.

Player+Coach Mentality

• Actively be in the work and close enough to execution to diagnose, guide, and improve performance, including campaign structure, bidding, budgeting, keyword strategy, query analysis, audience signals, shopping feeds, creative assets, landing page considerations, measurement, and re