Hydrogen is the Communications division of The PA. We create high-quality content for the PR and marketing industry, backed by the distribution power of the PA newswire.
Our creative and social teams combine editorial expertise, insight and deep platform knowledge to help organisations connect with their audiences and make an impact.
As part of The PA, we share a wider ambition: to be a beacon of trust for news, content and data. We believe trusted, effective communication can build greater understanding, connection and influence.
About the opportunity
As Performance Lead, you are responsible for defining and leading performance-driven strategies that increase brand visibility, reach and measurable business outcomes across a range of clients and sectors.
You oversee the integration of paid, owned and earned channels, with a particular focus on paid search, paid social and content discoverability. You ensure all activity is insight-led, performance-focused and aligned to client objectives.
You act as the senior strategic lead across accounts, providing direction on how brands show up across search, social and wider digital ecosystems. Working closely with content, strategy, design and insights teams, you will ensure a cohesive approach to performance marketing and content distribution.
You are accountable for driving continuous optimisation across channels, improving efficiency, effectiveness and return on investment. You will also play a key role in shaping agency capability, processes and go-to-market propositions in performance and discoverability.
You will support new business activity, contributing strategic thinking and channel expertise to pitches and proposals.
What you’ll be doing
- Lead the development and delivery of integrated performance and discoverability strategies across key client accounts
- Act as the senior strategic lead for performance marketing, providing direction and counsel to clients and internal teams
- Oversee paid media activity across paid search and paid social, ensuring campaigns are insight-led, optimised and aligned to wider communications strategies
- Define and evolve approaches to content discoverability across search, social and emerging digital channels
- Drive a test-and-learn culture, using data, experimentation and insight to continuously improve performance
- Collaborate closely with content and creative teams to ensure campaigns are optimised for visibility, engagement and conversion
- Analyse channel and campaign performance, translating complex data into clear, commercially valuable recommendations
- Lead client reporting and performance reviews, providing strategic insight and forward planning
- Establish scalable processes, tools and ways of working that improve efficiency and delivery quality
- Support new business activity through audits, strategic thinking and pitch contributions
- Identify opportunities for growth across existing accounts through performance marketing and discoverability improvements
- Contribute to agency thought leadership in paid media, search, social and digital discoverability
- Explore opportunities to integrate AI and automation into workflows and campaign optimisation
What we’re looking for
We’re looking for someone who thrives in a fast-moving, commercially focused environment and enjoys combining strategic thinking with hands-on performance expertise.
You’ll bring:
- Strong experience in performance marketing, digital strategy or discoverability within an agency, consultancy or similar environment
- Deep expertise across paid search and paid social channels
- Strong understanding of discoverability, content optimisation and how brands build visibility across digital ecosystems
- Proven ability to develop integrated, performance-led strategies aligned to business and client objectives
- Excellent analytical skills, with confidence interpreting data and turning insight into action
- Experience working with performance and analytics tools such as Google Analytics 4, Looker Studio, Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, SEMrush, Ahrefs or similar platforms
- Strong commercial awareness, with the ability to identify growth opportunities and improve return on investment
- Confidence presenting to clients and senior stakeholders, with strong communication and influencing skills
- Experience managing multiple client accounts and complex workstreams
- A proactive, curious mindset with an interest in innovation, AI and emerging digital trends
This is a rare opportunity to shape and lead the future of performance and discoverability within a growing, ambitious agency environment, with genuine influence across strategy, campaigns and commercial growth.
You can expect:
- Hybrid, flexible working – typically 3 days in the Glasgow office
- 25 days’ holiday plus options to buy more, alongside enhanced family leave
- Life assurance 4x salary
- Wellbeing and volunteering days to support you inside and outside of work
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