Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Digital Campaign Manager

🎯 Role Definition

As a Digital Campaign Manager you will plan, execute, measure and optimize multi-channel paid marketing campaigns across search, social, display, video and programmatic channels to meet customer acquisition, revenue and ROI goals. You will collaborate with creative, analytics, product and media-buying teams to translate business objectives into measurable campaign strategies, apply data-driven optimization techniques, manage budgets and vendors, and produce clear reporting for stakeholders. This role demands expertise in PPC, paid social, DSPs, analytics (GA4, Adobe), conversion rate optimization, and hands-on experience with bidding and attribution models.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Marketing Coordinator with paid media exposure
PPC / SEM Specialist or Paid Social Specialist
Digital Marketing Analyst or Junior Performance Marketer

Advancement To:

Senior Digital Campaign Manager / Performance Marketing Manager
Paid Media Lead / Programmatic Lead
Head of Digital Marketing / Director of Performance Marketing

Lateral Moves:

Content Marketing Manager (with paid/organic integration)
Marketing Analytics Manager / Growth Analytics
Product Marketing Manager (customer acquisition focus)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop, implement and manage end-to-end paid media campaigns across Google Ads (Search, Display, Video), Microsoft Advertising, Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram), TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube and programmatic DSPs to drive conversions, leads, installs or revenue in line with business KPIs.
Create campaign strategies and media plans that align with quarterly goals and customer acquisition costs (CAC), lifetime value (LTV) targets, and ROI objectives; justify channel mix and budget allocation with data-backed rationale.
Set up and maintain campaign architecture including account structure, ad groups, keywords, audiences, placements, creative variants and bidding strategies to maximize scale and efficiency.
Execute keyword research, audience segmentation, and competitor analysis to identify high-value opportunities and seasonal adjustments for search and social campaigns.
Implement conversion tracking and event tagging across websites and apps (GA4, Google Tag Manager, server-side tracking, App events) to ensure accurate measurement of conversions and funnel performance.
Optimize campaigns daily/weekly using bid adjustments, budget reallocation, negative keyword lists, audience exclusions, creative A/B tests, and landing page tests to improve CPA/ROAS and conversion rates.
Build and manage audience targeting strategies including remarketing, lookalike modeling, in-market, custom intent and CRM-based audience activation for cross-channel performance.
Design, launch and iterate creative tests—ad copy, headlines, images, videos and CTAs—and translate learnings into scalable creative playbooks for paid media.
Drive programmatic buys through DSPs: setup deals, define floor bids, configure targeting signals, and optimize deal types (PMP, open exchange) to improve reach and CPM/CPV efficiency.
Oversee daily bid management and automated bidding strategies (target CPA/ROAS, maximize conversions), and tune algorithmic campaigns to business needs while monitoring for performance drift.
Analyze attribution models (last-click, data-driven, multi-touch) and partner with analytics to recommend and implement the appropriate attribution approach for performance reporting and decision-making.
Monitor and reconcile campaign budgets, pacing and forecast spend to avoid under/overspend and ensure full utilization of monthly and quarterly budgets.
Produce recurring performance reports and executive dashboards (Looker, Data Studio / Looker Studio, Tableau) that communicate channel-level results, learnings and recommended actions for stakeholders.
Lead cross-functional stand-ups and stakeholder communication—present weekly and monthly performance reviews, test hypotheses, and outline next-step optimization plans to product, sales and leadership teams.
Manage external agency and vendor relationships, set SLAs, review deliverables, and coordinate third-party integrations (tagging, attribution partners, data providers).
Implement and maintain privacy-compliant tracking solutions and processes (consent management, cookieless strategies, server-side tracking) to minimize measurement loss and adapt to evolving regulations.
Maintain strong quality assurance processes to check ad copy, tracking, landing pages, and creative variants before and after launch to ensure campaigns meet compliance, brand and technical requirements.
Lead experimentation (A/B and multivariate tests) across ad creative, landing pages, audience segments and bid strategies to continuously improve campaign performance with statistically valid results.
Translate business goals into testable hypotheses, define test designs, sample sizes and success metrics, and work with analytics to declare winners and roll out learnings.
Monitor competitor activity, market trends and channel changes (platform policy updates, new ad formats) and proactively update channel strategies to capitalize on new opportunities.
Manage and mentor junior paid media team members—provide feedback, set goals, review campaign deliverables and grow internal capability in performance best practices.
Coordinate with creative, product and web teams to improve landing page relevance, load speed and conversion funnels, including CRO recommendations and implementation oversight.
Maintain detailed documentation of campaign processes, naming conventions, bidding rules, creative templates and workflow best practices to enable scale and consistency.
Provide regular training and enablement sessions for internal teams on paid channel capabilities, reporting interpretation and how paid and organic efforts can be coordinated to maximize impact.
Troubleshoot technical issues with ad accounts, conversion tracking, API integrations and tagging—own escalation to platform support and engineering partners when needed.
Drive cost-saving and efficiency initiatives such as campaign automation, rule-based bidding, and creative template libraries to reduce manual workload and increase ROI.
Work closely with finance to ensure accurate invoicing, campaign spend tracking, and reconciliation with platform billing and agency invoices.

Secondary Functions

Help define and execute channel-specific playbooks and templates (creative briefs, audience heuristics, pacing charts) to accelerate launch velocity and repeatability.
Support ad-hoc performance deep dives and exploratory data analysis requests from product, sales and leadership teams to answer conversion and acquisition questions.
Assist in the development of the organization's paid media strategy and roadmap, advising on new channel pilots and scaling opportunities.
Collaborate with analytics and data engineering to translate measurement needs into tagging and data collection requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies where relevant to align paid work with product launches and cross-functional deliverables.
Manage vendor evaluations for attribution, creative platforms, and DSP partners; run pilot tests and vendor scorecards.
Ensure campaigns comply with legal, brand and platform policies and support privacy and consent governance initiatives.
Support retention and lifecycle marketing by coordinating paid campaigns with email, CRM and in-app messaging strategies.
Contribute to the budgeting cycle by providing channel forecasts, historical performance analyses and spend optimization recommendations.
Provide onboarding and documentation for new team members and cross-functional partners on paid media processes and reporting standards.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Paid Search (Google Ads) campaign setup, optimization, search keyword strategies and shopping/PLA management.
Paid Social expertise across Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram), TikTok Ads, LinkedIn Ads and Snapchat—audience targeting and creative testing.
Programmatic buying and DSP experience (The Trade Desk, DV360, MediaMath) including PMP deals, targeting signals and bid strategy optimization.
Web and app conversion tracking implementation (GA4, Google Tag Manager, server-side tracking, Firebase, app install measurement).
Analytics and reporting: proficiency with Looker Studio, Tableau, Excel/Sheets (advanced functions), SQL for ad-hoc queries and data validation.
Attribution modeling and measurement: evaluate last-click, multi-touch, and data-driven attribution approaches; work with MMPs (AppsFlyer, Adjust) where applicable.
Bid management and automation: experience using automated bidding strategies, scripts, rules, and bid management platforms.
A/B and multivariate testing: design, analyze and implement tests for creative, audience and landing page experiments.
Creative production workflow: craft creative briefs, manage A/B creative tests, and coordinate video and display creative production.
CRM and audience activation: use first-party data for audience creation, lifecycle targeting and CRM syncs with ad platforms.
Budgeting and media pacing: forecasting, daily budget management, and spend reconciliation with finance and agencies.
Familiarity with privacy-first solutions: consent management, cookieless measurement strategies, and server-side tagging.
Basic knowledge of HTML/CSS and web performance metrics to support landing page troubleshooting and CRO recommendations.
Platform APIs and automation tools for scaling campaigns and integrating ad platforms with reporting stacks.

Soft Skills

Strong analytical thinker with attention to detail and the ability to translate data into actionable optimizations and business recommendations.
Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills: present complex performance results in a clear, non-technical way to leadership and cross-functional teams.
Project management and organizational skills: juggle multiple campaigns, timelines and vendor relationships concurrently.
Problem-solving mindset: diagnose underperforming campaigns, identify root causes and propose practical remediation plans quickly.
Collaboration and teamwork: work effectively with creative, product, analytics, sales and external agencies to deliver integrated campaigns.
Time management and prioritization: balance tactical optimization with strategic planning and experimentation roadmaps.
Adaptability and continuous learning: stay current with platform updates, industry trends and changes in privacy/regulatory environments.
Coaching and mentoring: develop junior team members and provide constructive feedback to raise campaign quality.
Results-oriented and data-driven: focus on delivering measurable business outcomes while maintaining quality and brand standards.
Strategic thinking: map channel tactics to business goals and long-term growth objectives.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Advertising, Business, Communications, Statistics, Computer Science or related field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Marketing, Business Administration (MBA) or a quantitative discipline; or equivalent professional certifications and demonstrable results.
Certifications such as Google Ads Certification, Meta Blueprint, Microsoft Advertising Certification, The Trade Desk Edge Academy, or GA4/Analytics certifications are strongly preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Marketing, Advertising or Communications
Business Administration or Management
Data Analytics, Statistics or Applied Mathematics
Computer Science or Information Systems
Economics or Behavioral Science

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3 to 7 years of hands-on digital campaign management experience (mix of search, social, programmatic and analytics).

Preferred:

5+ years leading paid media campaigns with proven track record of improving CPA/ROAS, scaling acquisition channels, and running statistically valid experimentation.
Experience in agency and/or client-side environments with end-to-end ownership of campaign planning, execution, measurement and vendor management.
Demonstrable experience with analytics tools (GA4, Looker Studio, Tableau), SQL-based analysis, and managing cross-functional stakeholders.
Prior experience with privacy and measurement changes (cookieless strategies, server-side tagging) and modern attribution approaches.
Proven experience mentoring junior team members and contributing to hiring, process design and team scalability.