ROLE OVERVIEW

Croud is a global, full service digital marketing agency with a unique business model that helps businesses drive sustainable growth in the new world of marketing. Croud was recently named a Sunday Times Best Place to Work for the second year in a row, and was named Performance Marketing Employer of the Year by PMW.

At Croud, we unlock potential by elevating our people, clients, and communities within a rapidly advancing and complex economy. We operate as a unique scaled network of Intelligent, Creative Specialists, enabling us to deliver superior brand outcomes and unlock potential for our people, our clients and our communities.

Our culture is strategically driven and inspired by a shared long-term vision. It is collaborative and connected, with a focus on continuous learning and mutual support. We are energised by future thinking, driving innovation to achieve better outcomes. We are instinctively generous, actively including and empowering our people. Above all, we are purpose-driven, committed to positively impacting our people, the planet, and our global communities.

We are seeking a dynamic Strategy Director (SD) to lead PPC strategy for some of Croud’s most high-profile clients. In this client-facing role, you will bring innovative PPC thinking and market insights to drive performance. Your primary focus will be managing a multi-million-pound account for a well-known household brand while also overseeing a portfolio of smaller clients.

Reporting directly to the Head of PPC, you will play a key leadership role, inspiring and guiding the PPC activation team. As a strong communicator and strategic thinker, you will lead with resilience, positivity, and passion—acting as a role model not only within the PPC team but across the wider agency.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Acting as the lead senior strategic contact on one of Croud’s largest, technically complex financial services PPC clients.
• Accountable for the creation and delivery of the PPC strategy and surpassing performance targets.
• Progressing client maturity through the incorporation of technology, data and innovative solutions.
• Leading the collaboration with Google, Microsoft and other partners, casting a critical eye on recommendations to ensure they are fit and tailored for clients' needs.
• Understanding the impact of PPC on real business data (commercially) and using that to navigate PPC strategy & recommendations. Understanding the role of PPC as a lever to our client’s business, and presenting to C-Suite on performance impacts/projects/experimentation.
• Partnering with the client leadership team, ensuring client satisfaction is high and rectifying where it may fall short.
• Accountable for ensuring best-in-class activation, delivering strong performance and continuous improvement in terms of implementation and innovation.
• Ensuring that your portfolio of PPC clients has an up-to-date ADP and that ADs and SAMs deliver them. This includes oversight of multiple roadmaps.
• Continuously gathering information from multiple sources within the industry and adopt a client-centric perspective to evaluate findings subjectively, enabling you to shape Croud’s point of view and provide a well-informed recommendation to our clients.
• Fostering strong relationships with your client stakeholders, ensuring trust, alignment, and open communication. They should see you as the go-to expert who delivers strategic solutions that contribute to long-term success.

Business Development & Marketing

• Acts as the ‘strategic pitch lead’ on new business responses. Reviewing briefs and designing and articulating a winning PPC strategy and approach.
• Leading on the production of case studies that have the potential to win awards.
• Driving growth from the teams’ client base, proactively getting involved in cross-sell and upsell opportunities.
• Working with the product team to evolve Croud’s PPC proposition, driving testing and innovation. Working closely with marketing on POVs to amplify and elevate Croud’s reputation in the market. Playing an active role in how Croud builds proprietary technology and its uses.
• Clearly define and drive best practice adoption across the PPC team. Ensure comprehensive account health checks are completed for all accounts in your portfolio.

• Accountable for managing team workload and effectiveness and working with the Head of Channel on resourcing requirements.
• Identify and address pain points within the team and create processes to address them. Overall accountable for team QA and performance of your team.
• Ensuring your team delivers against revenue and margin targets including team utilisation & Croudie usage goals. (Croudies are our freelance network of talent).
• Accurate forecasting through effective, timely management of revenue tracker and growth pipeline. Ensuring effective month-end billing.
• Control and oversee all key processes that limit financial or reputational risk to Croud. I.e. budget management.
• Delivery and presentation of high-quality MI as required
• Working closely with the PPC leadership team to ensure ongoing career development for the team including ensuring all staff have clear objectives and personal development plans.

Client Specific

• We have a preference for someone with experience of working on a lead gen account in a highly regulated industry– in this case financial services with a cross channel way of working.
• Foster collaboration between our clients teams and our internal team, Croud, analytics, data scientists on a cohesive technical roadmap and consulting partners.
• Understanding of end-to-end measurement which is underpinned by robust testing and collaboration with data scientists. Confidence with managing complex bidding techniques, audience ingestion and integration of opportunities to utilise data.
• Strong technical knowledge around bidding automation, particularly learning period and collaboration
• Ability to forecast and present for C-Suite to manage expectations and highlight risks.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

• Proven ability to grow senior level client relationships and drive the strategic direction of key PPC accounts
• Extensive experience in building, inspiring and motivating high performance PPC teams delivering best-in-class strategies and innovation for large advertisers
• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to synergise workstreams and connect channel initiatives
• In depth PPC knowledge in order to define, and ensure consistent implementation of, Croud PPC best practices. Knowledge of wider paid media channels (e.g. Social or Programmatic is a bonus).
• Client leadership skills, ability to set out a vision, clearly communicate this to stakeholders at all levels and articulate the requirements to achieve the goals and vision outlined.
• Able to build strong partnerships with internal and external stakeholders, and contribute to wider development projects in the agency
• Proven project management skills demonstrating the ability to effectively prioritise and unify teams on complex projects in a digital marketing environment

COMPANY BENEFITS

Croud operates a hybrid working model with a minimum of 3 days a week based in our Shrewsbury office and the remaining days from home if you wish.

Croud offers a clear path to progression for all members of staff. We are committed to offering development opportunities alongside a support system of regular performance reviews. The opportunities are endless!

On completion of the three-month probation period, every employee is eligible for the benefits listed on our careers site which include:

• 25 days holiday per year with the option to purchase an additional 5 day
• Discretionary annual performance based incentive
• Sabbatical: Paid sabbatical at 7 years with an option to take it unpaid at 5 years
• Recruitment Referral Bonus
• Sale Commission
• Health & Wellbeing Contribution
• Ride to Work Scheme
• Railcard & Season Ticket Loan
• Home Office Equipment (chair and screen)
• Office Perks: Free fruit, breakfast cereals, lunches twice a week, snacks, and tea/coffee
• Enhanced Family Leave: Including primary and secondary family leave, extended parental leave, and shared family leave.
• Life Assurance & Income Protection
• Medical Cash Plan
• Pension
• Learning & Development: Access to Croud Campus, curated third-party learning platforms, and an IPA Membership with subsidised training and events
• Peer Recognition: Through our “Bonusly” program
• Team Off-Sites & Social Events
• Year-round Holiday Celebrations
• Flexible Working Options
• A Day to Make a Difference

Standard hours are from 9.00am to 5.30pm, there’s flexibility if agreed in advance with your line managers (it may also be necessary on occasions to work outside of these hours).

Croud is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the grounds of a person's gender, marital status, race, religion, colour, age, disability or sexual orientation. All candidates will be assessed based on merit, qualifications and their ability to perform the requirements of the role.

OUR VALUES

At Croud, our vision centres around the idea of unlocking potential. We do this by elevating everyone in an inclusive and progressive culture, empowering individuals to deliver their best work. This means we build better brand outcomes, and unlock potential for our people, our clients and our communities.

We live and breathe five core values that foster a culture where everyone can thrive. Our commitment to elevating each other is fundamental to both our cultural and business success. The ideal candidate will excel in and demonstrate the following:

• In it together - our value on integration, collaboration and outcomes
• Eye on the future - our value on futurism, creativity and passion
• Generous in spirit - our value on people, development and inclusion
• Do what you say - our value on integrity and accountability
• Make a difference - our value on purpose and impact