Senior Marketing Manager, Social and Paid Media

Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is a mission-driven organization, with a vision to be the global leader in ensuring every talented person can benefit from the best business education for them. The organization's priority is to heighten its impact in promoting graduate management education and attracting a qualified and diverse candidate pool from around the world.

The Senior Marketing Manager, Social and Paid Media plays a critical role in driving high-quality traffic and engagement across GMAC's digital ecosystem. This role is responsible for strategizing, executing, and optimizing paid digital marketing campaigns across paid search, display, affiliate partnerships, and social advertising. Additionally, this individual will develop and launch innovative social media marketing initiatives to enhance product engagement and customer acquisition on GMAC's social channels.

Success in this role requires a data-driven mindset, a deep understanding of performance marketing, and the ability to leverage web analytics tools to track campaign effectiveness and drive continuous optimization. The ideal candidate stays ahead of industry trends and emerging technologies to ensure GMAC's paid and social media strategies remain cutting-edge and impactful.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own and manage the global paid media budget, ensuring efficient allocation to maximize ROI and growth.
• Develop, execute, and continuously optimize high-impact paid and social media campaigns from strategy to launch.
• Manage and refine paid media campaigns (and agency partnerships) across Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Twitter, and other digital channels to drive high-quality traffic and customer acquisition at scale.
• Optimize budgets, audience targeting, ad creatives, and bidding strategies to maximize ROI and lead generation.
• Continuously monitor and refine paid media strategies to align with business objectives and performance KPIs.
• Create engaging video and static posts for Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms.
• Analyze campaign performance using key metrics such as traffic growth, conversion rates, lead quality, CPL, pipeline growth, and ROI-translating insights into actionable recommendations.
• Deliver data-driven performance reports to leadership, offering insights and strategic recommendations for ongoing optimization.
• Leverage data and analytics tools to enhance audience targeting, messaging, and overall campaign effectiveness.
• Monitor social media conversations, trends, and sentiment through social listening tools to identify opportunities, address concerns, and enhance campaign effectiveness.
• Effectively communicate technical challenges and insights to cross-functional teams to drive alignment and decision-making.
• Develop and execute A/B testing strategies, sharing learnings to enhance campaign performance.
• Partner with internal design teams to create compelling, brand-aligned ad creatives.
• Collaborate with product marketing teams to ensure messaging and targeting align with the latest research, market insights, and business priorities.
• Own channel forecasting and budgeting, ensuring alignment with growth and ROI targets.
• Proactively research and explore emerging media platforms, industry trends, and innovative paid media opportunities.
• Write concise, high-impact ad copy optimized for multiple platforms, including websites and social media.
• Work closely with content marketing, regional marketing teams, product marketing, and media relations to develop and maintain an engaging, cohesive paid and social media calendar.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or a related field; Or equivalent combination of education, skills, and experience.
• 5 years' experience in paid media, social media advertising, or digital marketing with a strong focus on performance marketing and demand generation.
• Proven track record managing and optimizing paid media campaigns across Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Twitter, and other digital channels.
• Hands-on expertise in paid Search, paid social, display, and affiliate marketing; experience in SEO, referral marketing, and other demand-gen channels is a strong plus.
• Strong analytical mindset, with experience using Google Analytics, Meta Business Suite, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, and other performance measurement tools to track and optimize campaign performance.
• Expertise in A/B testing, audience segmentation, bidding strategies, and campaign optimization to improve conversion rates and lower CPL.
• Proficiency in marketing automation and CRM platforms (e.g., HubSpot, Marketo, Salesforce, or similar) to track lead generation and campaign effectiveness.
• Strong copywriting skills, with the ability to create concise, engaging ad copy tailored for multiple platforms.
• Ability to communicate complex marketing strategies and insights to cross-functional teams and leadership.
• Self-starter mindset, with a strong ability to work independently, take ownership, and drive strategic initiatives forward.
• Strong project management skills and understanding how to manage the priorities of multiple stakeholders in a complex environment.
• Exceptional organizational, project planning, and time management skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; Strong attention to detail, with a keen focus on quality.
• Ability to work in-office and remotely according to GMAC's hybrid work environment.

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Desired Skills/Experience:

• Experience working with agency partners to execute and scale paid media campaigns.
• Familiarity with programmatic advertising platforms and demand-side platforms (DSPs) such as The Trade Desk or MiQ.
• Experience managing large media budgets, with a focus on ROI-driven decision-making.
• Experience in forecasting, budgeting, and media planning for paid campaigns.
• Knowledge of emerging media trends and new advertising platforms.
• Experience in a B2C environment with a focus on lead generation and pipeline growth.

GMAC's value proposition offers our talented employees the ideal climate for innovation, and colleagues who are motivated and proactive, with diverse backgrounds and approaches.

As a global organization, we understand and appreciate the benefits of myriad cultural perspectives. GMAC is wholly committed to recruiting, developing, and retaining a diverse group of talented people, and providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

FLSA Status:
Exempt

Report to:
Director, Product Marketing

GMAC's value proposition offers our talented employees the ideal climate for innovation, and colleagues who are motivated and proactive, with diverse backgrounds and approaches.

As a global organization, we understand and appreciate the benefits of myriad cultural perspectives. GMAC is wholly committed to recruiting, developing, and retaining a diverse group of talented people, and providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

Additionally, to ensure a safe office environment, recognizing the tremendous contributions that vaccinations play in ensuring our mutual wellbeing, GMAC has implemented a mandatory vaccination policy. All employees must be fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. GMAC may make accommodations or allow for exemption from this requirement for medical or religious reasons.