Paid Media Specialist/Performance Media Buyer

Paid Media Specialist / Performance Media Buyer We've proven product-market fit, our patients renew, and now we're focused on efficiently acquiring new patients at scale. Our current ROAS sits at 1.3x — this role is central to pushing that to 2.0x and beyond. Role Overview We're looking for a performance media buyer with real technical depth — someone who can own paid acquisition from strategy through daily optimization, maintain bulletproof attribution, and report on what's working in a way that drives real decisions. You'll operate as the execution engine behind our paid acquisition strategy, working closely with our Growth Marketing Manager and our Cannabis Marketing Compliance Specialist. You'll own daily bid optimization and budget allocation, maintain GA4 and attribution accuracy, and make sure every dollar spent is tracked correctly and CAC stays low. You will not manage a team — you'll deploy budget, optimize relentlessly, and get results. Role at a Glance Hours: Must be available 9am–3pm Eastern Time (5+ hours overlap daily) Speed and responsiveness are some of our greatest assets, and we need to be able to Slack in real time. Reports To: Growth Marketing Manager & Cannabis Marketing Compliance Specialist Core Stack: Google Ads, Meta Ads, Bing Ads, GA4, Segmetrics, Data Studio, Claude/AI What You'll Own Paid Media Execution & Optimization (60%) -Own Google Ads (Search, Display, Performance Max), Meta Ads, and Bing Ads — CAC and ROAS are your scorecards. -Deploy and manage $50K–$100K+ in monthly ad spend, optimizing toward a 2x+ ROAS target. -Make autonomous bid/budget decisions daily; pause underperformers without needing permission. -Test new audiences, bid strategies, and campaign structures; kill what doesn't work within 7 days. -Run weekly state-by-state performance analysis and propose strategic pivots. -Maintain clean, scalable campaign structure with consistent UTM tagging. GA4 & Attribution Infrastructure (25%) -Own GA4 event tracking and attribution modeling (first-touch, last-touch, data-driven); debug broken tracking immediately. -Manage UTM strategy and enforce consistency across campaigns. -Own CAC calculations by state and channel; resolve attribution gaps (zero unresolved discrepancies over $2K). -Reconcile paid spend vs. booking revenue weekly. -Build and maintain real-time performance dashboards. Reporting & Strategic Insights (10%) -Weekly CAC report (Monday EOD) and a weekly sync on wins, blockers, and budget reallocation. -Monthly deep-dive on ROAS trends, acquisition efficiency, and strategic recommendations. -Ad-hoc scenario modeling and competitive benchmarking as needed. AI-Augmented Execution (5%) -Use Claude, ChatGPT, and similar tools daily for audience research, optimization testing, and anomaly detection. -Automate routine reporting and alerts. AI fluency is required, not optional. What You Won't Do -No team management, no ad copy/creative, no landing pages or SEO, no patient support or backend ops. This is paid media execution — bid strategy, daily optimization, tracking, and reporting. Requirements Non-Negotiable -Google Ads expertise: $200K+ managed across Search, Display, and Performance Max, with a proven CAC improvement track record. -Meta Ads mastery: campaign structure, audience segmentation, lookalike modeling, CBO/ABO optimization. -Bing Ads experience with portfolio strategy. $300K+ total managed spend across all three platforms combined. -GA4 expertise: event tracking, attribution modeling, custom reporting, UTM debugging. -CAC & attribution ownership: understands first-touch vs. last-touch tradeoffs and can resolve attribution gaps. -Real AI/LLM fluency: actual campaign experience using Claude or ChatGPT. -Execution excellence: detail-oriented, reliable, delivers without reminders. Nice-to-Have -Segmetrics or similar attribution platform experience. -Braze or Klaviyo integration. -TikTok, Reddit, LinkedIn, or Pinterest Ads. -Mixpanel, Amplitude, or other CDP/analytics tools. -Basic Python or SQL for automation. Huge Plus: Cannabis or other Regulated Market Experience - Paid campaigns in regulated markets (pharma, alcohol, supplements, CBD, cannabis). - Understanding of state-level cannabis marketing compliance (medical vs. recreational). - Familiarity with platform ad policies for cannabis and state-specific attribution requirements. - Experience with age-gating, consent flows, and regulatory documentation. How to Apply Please submit your proposal with your recent campaign examples (anonymized is fine), and written answers to the five questions below. Applications without answers to all five will not be considered. 1. Walk us through a paid campaign you optimized from ROAS less than 1.5x to greater than 2x. What changed? 2. Describe your GA4 expertise. What's the most complex attribution issue you've debugged? 3. Tell us about a campaign you killed and why. How did you know it was time? 4. How have you used AI (Claude, ChatGPT) in your marketing work? Give a real example. 5. Why this role, and why now? How does our work and this work specifically, align with your expertise?