Performance Marketing Manager, Paid Social Multiple Verticals

Job description

At NerdWallet, we’re on a mission to bring clarity to all of life’s financial decisions and every great mission needs a team of exceptional Nerds. We’ve built an inclusive, flexible, and candid culture where you’re empowered to grow, take smart risks, and be unapologetically yourself (cape optional). Whether remote or in-office, we support how you thrive best. We invest in your well-being, development, and ability to make an impact because when one Nerd levels up, we all do. We're looking for a paid media strategist with deep paid social lead-gen experience to scale multiple financial services verticals including: auto insurance, personal loans, mortgage/home equity, banking, investing, credit cards, and other emerging verticals. This is a hands-on, strategic role: you'll build the paid social testing roadmap, launch and optimize campaigns in-platform, partner with data and analytics teams on measurement, and turn performance trends into clear recommendations for stakeholders including vertical managers. Success here requires strong measurement fundamentals, high-quality creative, clear funnel strategy, platform expertise, and constant iteration — not just launching ads. This role reports to the Managing Director. WHERE YOU CAN MAKE AN IMPACT: Strategy & Campaign Ownership - Own paid social strategy, execution, and performance across multiple verticals, aligning campaigns to each vertical's growth targets, funnel dynamics, and audience needs - Build campaign structures across Meta, TikTok, and other platforms as needed - Set objectives, bidding strategy, audience approach, budget allocation, and conversion events per campaign - Manage campaigns end-to-end: setup, QA, pacing, troubleshooting, optimization - Build testing plans for new verticals, bidding strategies, conversion events, creative angles, and funnel experiences Optimization & Performance - Monitor performance and diagnose whether issues stem from creative fatigue, tracking gaps, funnel friction, audience limits, delivery, or data quality - Make budget and pacing calls based on performance trends and business priorities - Stay current on platform, algorithm, privacy, and ad product changes Reporting & Stakeholder Communication - Own recurring performance reporting — results, trends, learnings, risks, next steps - Translate platform performance into business impact for vertical leads and leadership - Communicate tracking issues, data discrepancies, and testing results clearly and proactively Data, Tracking & Measurement - Partner with data, analytics, and engineering teams to define measurement needs and map new conversion events - Troubleshoot discrepancies between platform and backend data (attribution, event firing, duplicates, timing) - Help build measurement frameworks that optimize toward lead quality and business outcomes, not just volume Creative Strategy - Lead creative strategy across verticals: messaging angles, hooks, scripts, static/video/UGC concepts - Write creative briefs covering business goal, audience, value prop, and key claims - Review assets for clarity and platform fit; give feedback through concept, script, and production stages - Build creative testing roadmaps and turn results into next-round recommendations Landing Page & Funnel Strategy - Evaluate landing pages and funnels for message match, conversion flow, and drop-off - Recommend and support tests across landing pages, advertorials, lead forms, quizzes, and prequalification flows - Ensure creative, landing pages, and tracking are aligned before launch Platform Partnerships & Competitive Research - Manage relationships with platform reps; evaluate their recommendations against NerdWallet's goals and data quality - Track competitor creative, offers, and funnel approaches; feed insights back into strategy YOUR EXPERIENCE: - 5+ years of paid social experience, ideally in financial lead generation - Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience - Direct, hands-on experience running campaigns on both Meta Ads Manager and TikTok Ads Manager is required - Proven track record scaling paid social budgets (six figures+ in monthly spend preferred) while maintaining or improving CPA/CAC and ROAS - Experience managing toward lead gen, revenue, ROAS, CPA/CAC, or funnel-based goals - Ability to build paid media strategy from the ground up — structure, testing, measurement, creative, optimization - Strong analytical skills, comfortable with both platform and backend business data - Experience troubleshooting tracking, attribution, or reporting discrepancies - Experience writing creative briefs and giving feedback to creative teams or external partners - Strong project management skills across multiple concurrent verticals and workstreams - Clear, confident communicator who can translate data into recommendations for non-technical audiences Preferred qualifications: - Experience advertising on LinkedIn, Reddit, Quora, or X - Experience in financial services (insurance, lending, wealth, banking, investing, mortgage, home equity, or other regulated categories) - Experience with lead gen funnels, prequalification/quiz flows, marketplace models, or affiliate/partner revenue models - Experience optimizing toward backend events — funded loans, booked appointments, matched leads - Experience with CAPI/server-side tracking and conversion signal quality - Experience with UGC creative, creator partnerships, or video production workflows - Comfort working with legal, compliance, or brand review processes in regulated industries WHERE: - This role will be remote (based in the U.S.). - We believe great work can be done anywhere. No matter where you are based, NerdWallet offers benefits and perks to support the physical, financial, and emotional well being of you and your family. WHAT WE OFFER: Work Hard, Stay Balanced (Life’s a series of balancing acts, eh?) - Industry-leading medical, dental, and vision health care plans for employees and their dependents - Rejuvenation Policy – Flexible Vacation Time Off + 11 holidays + holiday company shutdown - New Parent Leave for employees with a newborn child or a child placed with them for adoption or foster care - Mental health support - Paid sabbatical after 5 years for Nerds to recharge, gain knowledge, and pursue their interests - Health and Dependent Care FSA and HSA Plan with monthly NerdWallet contribution - Monthly Wellness Stipend, Cell Phone Stipend, and Wifi Stipend (Only remote Nerds are eligible for the Wifi Stipend) - Work from home equipment stipend and co-working space subsidy (Only remote Nerds are eligible for these stipends) Have Some Fun! (Nerds are fun, too) - Nerd-led group initiatives – Employee Resource Groups for Parents, Diversity, and Inclusion, Women, LGBTQIA, and other communities - Hackathons and team events across all teams and departments - Company-wide events like NerdLove (employee appreciation) and our annual Charity Auction - Our Nerds love to make an impact by paying it forward – Take 8 hours of volunteer time off per quarter and donate to your favorite causes with a company match Plan for your future (And when you retire on your island, remember the little people) - 401K with 4% company match - Be the first to test and benefit from our new financial products and tools - Financial wellness, guidance, and unlimited access to a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) through Northstar - Disability and Life Insurance with employer-paid premiums If you are based in California, we encourage you to read this important information for California residents linked here https://www.nerdwallet.com/privacy-policy. NerdWallet is committed to pursuing and hiring a diverse workforce and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law, so all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment. NerdWallet will consider qualified applicants with a criminal history pursuant to the California Fair Chance Act and the San Francisco Fair Chance Act, which requires this notice https://www.sf.gov/sites/default/files/2022-12/FCO%20poster2020_0.pdf, as well as the Los Angeles Fair Chance Act, which requires this notice https://dcba.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/FCOE-Official-Notice-Eng-Final-8.30.2024.pdf. NerdWallet participates in the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services E-Verify program for all US locations. For more information, please see: - E-Verify Participation Poster (English+Spanish/Español https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/EVerifyParticipationPoster.pdf) - Right to Work Poster (English) https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Verification/E-Verify/E-Verify_Native_Documents/OSC_Right_to_Work_Poster.pdf / (Spanish/Español) https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Verification/E-Verify/E-Verify_Native_Documents/OSC_Right_to_Work_Poster_ES.pdf #LI-Remote #LI-4