Associate Director, Paid Search (Feeds & Shopping)
Monks · New York, United States
- On site
- New York, United States
About the role
Please note that we will never request payment or bank account information at any stage of the recruitment process. As we continue to grow our teams, we urge you to be cautious of fraudulent job postings or recruitment activities that misuse our company name and information. Please protect your personal information during any recruitment process. While Monks may contact potential candidates via LinkedIn, all applications must be submitted through our official website (monks.com/careers).
About the Role
We're looking for an Associate Director of Paid Search who lives and breathes the commerce side of search — someone who sees a product feed not as plumbing but as the single highest-leverage asset in a retail or DTC media program.
This is a hands-on leadership role. You'll own the strategy and execution of large Shopping and Performance Max programs, obsess over feed quality and structure, and connect paid search to the broader buying experience — from query to PDP to conversion. You'll lead a small group of search/shopping specialists while staying close enough to the platforms to spot what others miss.
Responsibilities:
- Own paid search strategy across Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising for a portfolio of commerce-driven clients, with Shopping, Performance Max, and standard search working as one system.
- Treat feed optimization as a core discipline: audit, restructure, and continuously improve product feeds (titles, attributes, GTINs, custom labels, supplemental feeds) to maximize coverage, relevance, and ROAS.
- Participate in new business pitches.
- Architect campaign and feed segmentation strategies that give buyers control inside increasingly automated, AI-driven products.
- Partner with clients and internal teams on the full shopping experience — landing pages, PDP quality, merchant feed health, promotions, and conversion tracking — so media spend lands on a page that converts.
- Set the measurement frame: ROAS, new-customer acquisition, margin-aware bidding, incrementality, and feed-level performance diagnostics.
- Lead, mentor, and grow a team of search and feed specialists; raise the bar on QA, hygiene, and documentation.
- Stay ahead of platform changes — Performance Max evolution, AI Max, retail media adjacencies, and the shift toward signal- and feed-driven buying — and translate it into client roadmaps.
- Act as a senior point of contact for clients: present strategy, defend recommendations with data, and build trust.
About You
The essentials:
- 7+ years in paid search / performance media, with deep, demonstrable experience in Shopping and feed-driven campaigns at meaningful spend.
- Genuine feed fluency — you've worked directly with Merchant Center, feed management tools (e.g., Feedonomics, Versafeed, Productsup, or similar), and know how feed structure drives auction outcomes.
- Strong command of Google Ads (Shopping, Performance Max, search) and ideally Microsoft Advertising and retail media platforms.
- A commerce mindset: comfort with margin, AOV, LTV, and the mechanics of how a feed connects to a storefront.
- Experience leading people and owning client relationships at a senior level, ideally in an agency or managed-service environment.
- Excellent communication and the ability to make complex feed/search strategy legible to non-specialist stakeholders.
Not a must, but a plus:
- Experience with large catalogs (retail, marketplace, multi-region) and supplemental feed strategies.
- Familiarity with retail media networks (Amazon, Walmart Connect, Instacart) as part of an integrated commerce program.
- Scripting/automation exposure (Google Ads scripts) to scale feed and account management.
- Analytical rigor — comfortable in GA4, BigQuery, Looker Studio, or similar, and able to turn data into a clear point of view.
At Monks, we believe in fostering an environment where a diversity of perspectives can thrive. We proactively work to design hiring processes that promote equity and inclusion while mitigating bias. We celebrate diversity and are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve. We welcome and encourage qualified applicants, from all backgrounds, who are excited to contribute to our mission.
#LI-OG1 #LI-Hybrid
What We Offer
Benefits
- Excellent, full coverage medical, dental, and vision insurance - more about our coverage here!
- Generous PTO and 15 company-wide holidays
- 401k with company contribution
- Paid parental leave
- Work-life balance with an emphasis on personal well-being
- Career growth in a disruptor space & entrepreneurial opportunities within the Monks network
- A globally diverse & inclusive culture with employee resource groups such as S4 Melanin, Pride.Monks, Cultura.Monks, and more!
- Authentic commitment to DEI efforts and sustainable growth. (Why Sir Martin Sorrell signed The Climate Pledge here!)
This role is subject to our Return to Office (RTO) policy. If you reside within a commutable distance of one of our office locations, you will be expected to work from the office a set number of days per week. The specific details, including the number of required office days, will be in accordance with the company’s then-current RTO policy, which is subject to change from time to time.
Monks has provided a compensation range that represents its good faith estimate of what Monks may pay for the position at the time of posting. Monks may ultimately pay more or less than the posted compensation range. The salary offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on job-related factors, but not based on a candidate’s sex or any other protected status.
About Monks
Monks is the global, digital-first, data-driven, unitary operating brand of S4 Capital plc. With a legacy of innovation and specialized expertise, Monks combines an extraordinary range of global Marketing and Technology Services to redefine how brands interact with the world. Through Monks.Flow, its flagship AI ecosystem for marketing orchestration, Monks transforms marketing into a growth engine, collapsing timelines and connecting brands to culture in real time. By deploying bespoke intelligent agents across disciplines and delivering culturally relevant, high-impact creative and digital solutions, Monks solves key critical business challenges across the entire brand enterprise to help brands sustain long-term impact.
Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave™: Global Marketing Services, ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-25) and remains the only partner featured in AdExchanger’s Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). Named Adweek’s first AI Agency of the Year (2023) and The One Show’s inaugural AI Pioneer Organization, Monks was also awarded Business Intelligence Group’s 2025 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Award in both the Organizational and AI Product categories. As a trusted partner to cutting-edge innovators in tech, Monks earned titles such as Optimizely Experimentation Partner of the Year (2025), runner-up for the Adobe Firefly Partner Award (2024), and Workato’s AI Visionary Customer Impact Award (2024). Additionally, Monks achieved a record-breaking number of FWAs and continues to hold the most of any partner.
We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a respectful and empowering work environment for all people to freely express themselves amongst colleagues who embrace diversity in all respects. Including fresh voices and unique points of view in all aspects of our business not only creates an environment where we can all grow and thrive but also increases our potential to produce work that better represents—and resonates with—the world around us.