Associate Director of Paid Media

The Role Single Grain is looking for an Associate Director of Paid Media to lead the Paid Media department alongside the Senior Director of Paid. Your mission is to drive 25% YoY growth across existing client accounts while maintaining zero churn attributable to Paid Media performance. This is not a maintenance role. You are accountable for turning strong execution into scalable growth. You will raise the strategic bar of the department, enforce performance standards, and ensure Paid Media becomes a consistent expansion engine across the portfolio. About Single Grain Single Grain is a fast moving, award winning, AI driven digital marketing agency. We have been helping top brands like Amazon, Uber, and Salesforce grow since 2009. We specialize in Paid Media, SEO, Content Marketing, CRO, and more, powered by a lean, high performing team focused on smart, impactful work. We do not just use AI, we build it. We have created proprietary AI tools including Karrot.ai, an AI powered performance marketing system that generates ads, landing pages, and campaign assets in seconds, and ClickFlow, an AI driven SEO experimentation platform that helps teams identify content opportunities, optimize pages, and increase organic traffic through systematic testing and workflow automation. These tools are not side projects. They are embedded into how we operate and how we serve clients. We practice what we preach. Our podcast has 150 plus million downloads, and more than 193,000 marketers subscribe to our YouTube channel. We move quickly, push hard, and expect a lot from ourselves and each other. AI is not just a tool we use. It is core to how we operate, from creative to strategy to execution. Our long term vision is to build a small but elite team that stays lean, scrappy, and relentlessly focused on tech enabled innovation and measurable business impact. We do not micromanage. We do not hire people who need their hands held. But we do collaborate deeply, give honest feedback, and leave space for mistakes, growth, and iteration. No egos. No fluff. Just people who care about doing great work and supporting each other. What You'll Do

• Drive 25% YoY growth across current client accounts through structured expansion planning, budget scaling, and performance optimization.
• Maintain client retention at or above 80% annually, with zero churn attributable to Paid Media performance.
• Establish and enforce a structured monthly strategic call cadence for 100% of accounts.
• Lead monthly calls that focus on growth strategy, expansion roadmaps, and performance narratives tied directly to business impact, not tactical status updates.
• Build and document account level expansion roadmaps with clear revenue projections and timelines.
• Implement weekly KPI scorecard reviews across all accounts and enforce corrective action when targets are missed.
• Deploy standardized performance dashboards across the portfolio to ensure visibility into growth levers and bottlenecks.
• Diagnose performance constraints across Google, Meta, and other major platforms, and unlock scaling opportunities.
• Ensure all accounts are leveraging platform native AI features including bidding automation, creative automation, and audience expansion, with documented testing cadences.
• Implement a minimum of 2 new AI driven optimization or reporting processes per quarter, with full team adoption and documented efficiency or performance lift.
• Document AI usage and measurable performance impact in monthly performance reviews.
• Train and enable the team to consistently identify and articulate cross sell opportunities tied to Paid Media insights.
• Launch and operationalize a cross sell training framework adopted department wide.
• Elevate mid to senior level team members into strategic growth partners capable of owning client strategy conversations.
• Correct underperformance within 60 to 90 days through coaching, clear expectations, and measurable improvement plans, or escalate appropriately.

Non Negotiable Requirements

• Put “AI is cool” as the first line of your cover letter or subject line, or your application will not be reviewed.
• Proven track record of driving at least 20% to 30% YoY growth across a portfolio of paid media accounts.
• Demonstrated success maintaining client retention at or above 80% in an agency environment.
• Advanced expertise across major paid media platforms including Google Ads and Meta Ads.
• Clear experience leading monthly strategic client calls focused on growth and expansion.
• Strong understanding of portfolio growth mechanics and expansion strategy.
• Experience implementing AI driven optimization processes and enforcing adoption across a team.
• History of managing mid to senior level operators and holding high performance standards.
• Comfortable addressing underperformance directly and making tough people decisions when necessary.

Ideal Profile

• Beacon for talent who raises the standard of everyone around them.
• Exceptional critical thinker who can diagnose root causes and design scalable solutions.
• Strong bias to action with a track record of turning strategy into execution quickly.
• High EQ and self awareness with the ability to influence clients and internal stakeholders.
• Structured, disciplined operator who builds systems, scorecards, and playbooks that drive consistency.
• Confident communicator who can move conversations from performance reporting to revenue strategy.
• Growth oriented leader who sees Paid Media as a lever for expansion, not just execution.

Compensation & Structure Reports to: Hiring Manager Team Size: ~30 FTE Location: Remote Base Salary: TBD Benefits

• Medical, dental and vision insurance after your first month of employment
• 401k with 100 percent match up to 4 percent of your salary
• $50K life insurance policy, paid 100 percent by the company
• 12 weeks of paid family leave, effective after the first year of employment
• Flexible Unlimited Paid Time Off
• $100 utilities stipend paid out as an extra $50 per paycheck
• $60 UberEats credit each month
• A Macbook, keyboard plus mouse
• $500 WFH Office Reimbursement