Roles we recruit
Seven practices, 27 functions. Start at the practice when you cannot yet name the title; go straight to the function when you can.
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A performance marketing manager runs paid acquisition as a portfolio: channel mix, bidding strategy, creative testing and the reporting that ties spend to pipeline. Platform dashboards flatter everyone, so we screen for budgets they owned, conversions tracked to the CRM and channels they cut.
A new performance marketing manager is judged on whether spend is tracked to pipeline and moving to what works. Each stage below has a signal that predicts it, and we test for that signal before you meet anyone.
The ramp, and the test behind each milestone
Weeks 1 to 3
Every ad account, campaign structure and conversion event reviewed. Spend by channel and cost per qualified lead or opportunity traced from ad click to CRM, with the tracking gaps listed.
On track looks like a written audit of spend, tracking gaps and wasted budget, and a conversion setup that matches what sales counts as qualified.
How we test for it before you meet them
An account audit in our screen: anonymized spend and conversion data. We score what they question about tracking before they touch a bid.
Weeks 4 to 6
A budget split by channel with the logic behind it, a creative and audience testing calendar, and bid strategies set against cost per opportunity, not clicks.
On track looks like an agreed budget and target by channel, a test calendar and weekly reporting that finance and sales have both seen.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask how they set the split between channels and what would make them move it, then check the answer with a former head of marketing.
Weeks 7 to 10
Creative, audience and landing page tests running with budgets large enough to read, losing variants stopped on a written rule, and the learnings logged.
On track looks like two or three tests read and decided, and spend moved from the weakest segments to the strongest.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask for a test that lost and what it changed. A plain account predicts someone who will stop wasting budget.
Weeks 11 to 13
Cost per qualified lead, opportunity and closed deal reported with sales, the limits of attribution stated, and the reporting agreed with finance.
On track looks like a monthly view from spend to pipeline and revenue that sales and finance both accept.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask how they proved a channel produced revenue and not only leads. A reference from sales operations or finance confirms it.
After day 90
Strong performance marketers review channel return weekly, shift budget without waiting for a quarterly meeting and say when a channel has reached its ceiling.
On track looks like budget moving to the strongest channels on evidence, and no channel left running on habit.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask about a channel they cut or capped and the evidence behind the call.
Five responsibilities. If the seat is mostly hands-on account work in one channel, it is a PPC specialist or a paid media manager; if it owns the pipeline target across every channel, it is demand generation.
How spend is split across search, social, display and other paid channels, and when it moves.
Bid strategies, audiences and keywords set against cost per qualified lead or opportunity.
A steady testing calendar for ads and pages, with results read at a sample large enough to trust.
Conversion events, UTM discipline and the match between ad platforms and the CRM.
Spend, cost per opportunity and pipeline in one view, with the limits of attribution stated.
Three neighboring seats absorb work people assume belongs here. Drawing the line wrong is how a performance marketing search ends with an account operator or a channel generalist.
That seat ownsDay-to-day account work in one or two channels: builds, bids, ad copy and reports for a manager.
Hire it instead whenyou need hands on the accounts and someone already sets the strategy.
That seat ownsThe experiment backlog across the funnel: landing pages, offers, onboarding and pricing tests.
Hire it instead whenthe leak is conversion after the click, not the cost of the click.
That seat ownsThe pipeline target across channels: programs, budget, the campaign calendar and the handoff to sales.
Hire it instead whenpaid is one channel among several and one person must own the whole number.
The title stays the same; the budget and the buyer do not. Pick the one that matches how you sell.
Runs paid search, paid social and review sites for a sales-led company, judged on pipeline.
Runs paid acquisition for direct purchases or signups, judged on cost per acquisition and payback.
Manages specialists and agencies, sets the channel strategy and owns the budget.
The questions we ask in our own screen. Use them in yours; the warning signs are as useful as the answers.
Every candidate we put forward is scored on these five, and the scores travel with the shortlist, gaps included. Four out of five with a named weakness beats a clean sweep you cannot verify.
| What we score | Weak evidence | Strong evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Spend managed | A large number with no sign of budget ownership. | Budgets, channels and targets they owned, confirmed by finance or a former manager. |
| Tracking and measurement | Relies on platform dashboards. | Built conversion tracking through to the CRM and can say where it is wrong. |
| Test discipline | Calls winners early. | Written rules for sample size and stopping, and tests that lost, written up. |
| Revenue link | Cost per lead only. | Cost per opportunity and closed deal, agreed with sales. |
| Fit with your motion | A different budget size, price point or sales cycle. | Managed budgets like yours, for a similar buyer and cycle. |
Public US benchmarks, read October 2026. Performance marketing manager pay is mostly base: Salary.com’s employer-reported band is $114,900 to $138,474 with a median of $126,821. Built In has no page for the title, so the digital marketing manager is shown as a related seat. Budget size and whether the seat manages specialists move the number most.
Each bar runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile, the middle half of reported pay.
Base salaryMedian base salaryAverage total pay, base plus variable
Performance Marketing Manager
Salary.com base benchmark
$114,900 to $138,474 base
Paid Media / PPC Manager
Salary.com base benchmark, neighboring seat
$124,616 to $145,490 base
PPC Specialist
Salary.com base benchmark, the seat below
$70,454 to $79,954 base
Digital Marketing Manager
Built In, self-reported, a related seat
$82,000 median base$111,040 average total
Bars: Salary.com base salary, 25th to 75th percentile, United States, as of October 1, 2026. Digital Marketing Manager dot and ring: Built In median base salary and average total compensation (base plus additional cash, self-reported), reviewed October 19 and 20, 2026. Public aggregates, not ZaphyrRecruit placement data.
A performance marketing manager runs paid acquisition as a portfolio: the channel mix, bidding strategy, creative and audience testing, and the reporting that ties spend to pipeline. The measure is cost per qualified opportunity and payback, not clicks or cost per lead, so we ask for budgets they owned, how they tracked conversions to the CRM and the channels they cut.
Salary.com puts a performance marketing manager at $114,900 to $138,474 base, with a median of $126,821 (October 2026). Built In has no page for the title, so there is no self-reported total to compare. Budget size, whether the seat manages specialists and whether the bonus is tied to pipeline move the number. Ask for the full package and what the bonus is measured on.
A performance marketing manager runs paid channels: spend, bids, audiences and creative, judged on cost per opportunity and payback. A growth marketing manager tests the funnel itself: landing pages, offers, onboarding and pricing, judged on conversion and revenue. Performance brings buyers to the site; growth changes what happens when they arrive. Companies with large paid budgets need the first early; companies with steady traffic and flat conversion need the second.
When paid spend has outgrown what an agency or a generalist can manage, or when nobody can say which channels produce pipeline. A performance marketer needs a budget large enough to test, conversion tracking that reaches the CRM and a sales team that will say which leads were good. Without those, they optimize to cost per lead, and the numbers look better than the pipeline.
We run an account audit on anonymized spend and conversion data, ask candidates how they set the split between channels and what would make them move it, and check results with a former head of marketing or sales operations. Every candidate is scored on the five criteria on this page, and the scores travel with the shortlist, gaps included.
Either can work. Agency performance marketers have run many accounts and move fast, but may not have owned a budget, tracked results to the CRM or answered to finance. In-house marketers know one business deeply but may have run fewer channels. Match the background to the gap: agency experience when you need breadth and speed, in-house experience when you need pipeline accountability.
Ten working days from a signed brief to a shortlist of three to five calibrated candidates, each with an account audit scored and past results checked with a former head of marketing or sales operations. Interview speed decides the rest: performance marketers with a record usually have several processes open, so a decision within two weeks of the first interview keeps them.
Tell us the monthly spend, the channels and how pipeline is counted today. We come back within one business day with how we would run the search and what the seat pays.
We build shortlists from people doing this work now, often before a seat is advertised. Set up a job alert for marketing roles, or send your CV and we will come to you, in confidence, when a seat opens.
The performance marketing manager is one of eleven seats in this function. If the gap sits elsewhere, start there.