Delve · 3 weeks ago
Paid Search Strategist
Denver, CO
Full-time
Hybrid
Mid, Senior Level
$95K/yr - $125K/yrDelve Deeper is a Performance Media Agency focused on helping clients grow their customer base through the integration of Tech & Data in Media. The Paid Search Strategist will lead a team of specialists, architect account structures, and ensure ad investments meet or exceed client performance targets.
Product DesignProfessional Services
Responsibilities
Lead a pod of specialists working across several client accounts
Architect account structures and testing roadmaps
Own performance through our Stop / Scale / Start process
Elevate the craft of the team through training and mentorship
Scale: Aggressively increase investment in proven winning tactics, keywords, ads, and placements until they approach diminishing returns
Stop: Confidently reallocate investments away from tactics that dilute marginal ROI , even if they look good in blended or surface‑level metrics
Start: Launch new tactics based on clear hypotheses (e.g., “Will Manual Exact Match outperform PMax for this product cluster at our target CPA?”)
You treat every account like a financial portfolio of ad investments, balancing low‑risk / high‑efficiency “harvest” tactics with higher‑risk “mining” tactics to deliver profitable growth and a low-risk / high-reward portfolio
Your core KPI – our Start / Stop / Scale decisions consistently hit or improve client ROI/ROAS or CPA targets
Pod Lead: Set the strategic agenda for the pod, run working sessions, and ensure everyone is aligned on priorities and testing plans
Manage the individuals in your pod on a day to day basis, providing feedback, training, and operate as the main point of management for these more junior team members
Delegation & QA: Assign work (builds, audits, experiments) and review not just for accuracy, but for the logic behind decisions
Context Switching: Move smoothly between different business models and objectives in a single day, while keeping each client’s targets, constraints, and growth plan straight
Client Stewardship: Ensure each client in your pod has a clear performance narrative, a prioritized test plan, and a path to target
You design hybrid account structures that combine automation with fundamentals:
The Machine (Mining): Use PMax, Smart Bidding, and Broad Match to discover and scale new demand
The Fundamentals (Harvesting): Use Exact / Phrase, tighter structures, and negative strategies to capture high‑intent traffic efficiently
Input Engineering: Shape the machine’s behavior with strong inputs:
Audience signals and customer lists
Product feeds and structured data
Query sculpting and negative lists
Offline and high‑quality conversion signals
Your goal: automation that behaves like a disciplined trader of ad investments
Write and oversee psychology‑driven ad copy that attracts the right audience and filters out low‑value clicks
Treat creative as data: run structured tests to understand •why• certain angles win (e.g., trust/legacy vs discount/speed)
Collaborate on landing page direction to ensure the full path aligns with the investment thesis of each campaign
Move beyond “what happened” to what we caused and what we’ll do next
Explain the difference between platform‑reported conversions and true business outcomes (e.g., policies, qualified leads, LTV)
Translate technical decisions (bids, structures, signals) into clear, financial language that resonates with client stakeholders
Contribute to and refine the Delve Deeper Training Academy, creating SOPs and mini‑modules on:
Directed Automation and hybrid architectures
Advanced Excel analysis for auditing automation
Search term analysis and query governance
Publish one article quarterly about relevant subject matter
Develop Analysts to be Strategists:
Teach them to think in investments, not tasks
Review their work for reasoning and impact, not just formatting
Give structured feedback that improves their judgment
Rough guide to your week:
~70% – Live optimization & analysis
Interrogating performance data
Reallocating investments
Adjusting bids, structures, and signals
Refining tests to answer one question: “How do we get more efficiency from these ad investments?”
~20% – Strategy, planning, and communication
Building Start / Stop / Scale plans
Preparing client‑facing narratives and recommendations
Translating performance into business impact (ROI or CPA)
~10% – Training, systems, and pod leadership
Coaching Analysts
Improving SOPs and training modules
Strengthening our overall approach to Directed Automation
Qualification
Required
Lead a pod of specialists working across several client accounts
Architect account structures and testing roadmaps
Own performance through our Stop / Scale / Start process
Elevate the craft of the team through training and mentorship
The primary decision‑maker for where client ad investments go and how they perform
Aggressively increase investment in proven winning tactics, keywords, ads, and placements until they approach diminishing returns
Confidently reallocate investments away from tactics that dilute marginal ROI
Launch new tactics based on clear hypotheses
Treat every account like a financial portfolio of ad investments
Set the strategic agenda for the pod, run working sessions, and ensure everyone is aligned on priorities and testing plans
Manage the individuals in your pod on a day to day basis, providing feedback, training, and operate as the main point of management for these more junior team members
Assign work and review not just for accuracy, but for the logic behind decisions
Move smoothly between different business models and objectives in a single day
Ensure each client in your pod has a clear performance narrative, a prioritized test plan, and a path to target
Design hybrid account structures that combine automation with fundamentals
Use PMax, Smart Bidding, and Broad Match to discover and scale new demand
Use Exact / Phrase, tighter structures, and negative strategies to capture high‑intent traffic efficiently
Shape the machine's behavior with strong inputs
Write and oversee psychology‑driven ad copy that attracts the right audience and filters out low‑value clicks
Run structured tests to understand why certain angles win
Collaborate on landing page direction to ensure the full path aligns with the investment thesis of each campaign
Explain the difference between platform‑reported conversions and true business outcomes
Translate technical decisions into clear, financial language that resonates with client stakeholders
Contribute to and refine the Delve Deeper Training Academy
Develop Analysts to be Strategists
Teach them to think in investments, not tasks
Review their work for reasoning and impact, not just formatting
Give structured feedback that improves their judgment
Live optimization & analysis
Interrogating performance data
Reallocating investments
Adjusting bids, structures, and signals
Building Start / Stop / Scale plans
Preparing client‑facing narratives and recommendations
Coaching Analysts
Improving SOPs and training modules
Excel / Sheets Power User
Comfortable exporting raw data and building your own truth
Fluent in PivotTables, advanced formulas, and data cleaning
Able to collaborate on pixels, tags, server‑side tracking, and attribution settings
Familiar with using scripts or APIs to uncover hidden data
Deep experience in Google Ads; familiarity with additional search engines or channels is a plus
Investment‑Minded
Results‑Driven
Curious and Analytical
Calm Context Switcher
Teacher‑Leader
Benefits
Comprehensive (100% company-paid) health coverage for employees & their families, including medical, dental, and vision insurance.
FSA and HSA health options with a company contribution.
Life Insurance and Disability Coverage
401(k) plan with a 4% match/company contribution
Generous vacation, sick leave, and paid holidays
Up to 3 months of paid time off for new parents
$1,250 annual reimbursement for health and well-being (gym membership, ski passes, meal plans, fitness equipment, etc.)
Newly built and designed office exclusively for Delve Deeper with local restaurants, shopping, and hiking/biking trails.
Hybrid Working Model: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in-office with the option to work from home on Mondays and Fridays
Company
Delve
Delve is a full-service design and innovation firm that believes a better world is possible through human-centered design.
Founded in 1967
201-500 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageLeadership Team
Patrick Frend
Chief Executive Officer
Dave Franchino
Board member and advisor
Recent News
2024-04-23
2023-11-02
Company data provided by crunchbase