Lead Strategy. Drive Results. Build Client Trust. Make an Impact.
Leads: Paid Media (Google Ads, Meta, Microsoft Ads, LinkedIn) and SEO (Organic search, AI visibility).
About the Role
We're hiring a sharp, strategic, and dependable
Performance Marketing Director to lead our Paid Media and SEO departments - owning results across Google Ads, Meta, Microsoft Ads, LinkedIn, all organic search, AI visibility. You'll lead a blended team of paid media managers, SEO managers, and freelancers, and work cross-functionally with project managers, designers, and copywriters.
This role blends leadership, strategy, performance accountability, and hands-on support across paid and organic. You'll shape high-impact strategies, mentor and hold a team accountable, and continuously improve systems, reporting, and campaign performance - measured in leads, rankings, ROI, and margin, not vanity metrics.
You'll be the internal performance voice for Halstead's clients: making sure every channel works together to generate results that support long-term growth. Most importantly, you own outcomes - from the first signal that something's off through to a confirmed, verified fix.
About Halstead
At Halstead Media Group, we help landscape and outdoor living companies eliminate instability, fuel growth, and shape a lasting legacy with year-round, specialized marketing systems. As a StoryBrand Certified Agency, we lead with clarity, empathy, and results that matter.
Our clients choose us - and stay with us - because we deliver best-in-class ROI, strategic thinking, and genuine human connection. We act like co-owners in our clients' growth, embrace change, and move fast. We believe growth comes from action, curiosity, and collaboration.
What You'll Do
Leadership & Strategy
- Own and execute integrated performance strategy across Paid Media and SEO.
- Set goals, KPIs, and campaign strategy across platforms and search environments, tailored to each client's growth stage and service focus.
- Lead and mentor a team of paid media managers and SEO managers (plus freelancers) - building accountability, communication, and real ownership, not just task completion.
- Partner with project managers and leadership to forecast capacity, set priorities, and resolve bottlenecks before they become client problems.
- Maintain strong QA and reporting processes for both paid and organic - where "reported" and "actually true" are the same thing.
- Identify and prioritize cross-channel growth opportunities - campaigns, content strategy, local SEO, landing pages, and testing.
- Ensure paid and SEO strategies reinforce each other and align with client goals, seasonal cycles, and budgets.
- Act as the internal escalation point for performance issues and strategic pivots - present and accountable, not reachable only after the fact.
Paid Media Oversight
- Direct strategy, execution, and optimization across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, and Microsoft Ads.
- Review and support ad copy, campaign structure, pacing, targeting, and platform fit.
- Set testing agendas and creative frameworks for performance lift.
- Step in to troubleshoot campaign issues and guide budget-allocation decisions.
- Lead performance reporting, client insights, and recommendations.
SEO Oversight
- Own the SEO roadmap across all clients - keyword strategy, on-page optimization, link-building, content direction, and AI visibility / GEO (how clients surface in AI search and answer engines).
- Review and guide SEO work done by team members, and confirm it actually ships - live, across every client site it should touch, including legacy sites, at the scope represented.
- Ensure strong collaboration across SEO, web, content, and UX.
- Interpret performance data, rankings, and AI-visibility signals to shape recommendations - and reconcile reported progress against actual organic leads and traffic.
- Stay ahead of algorithm, AI-search, and answer-engine changes that affect rankings, AI visibility, or lead flow, and translate them into action fast.
- Lead reporting on organic traffic, keyword growth, AI visibility, lead quality, and overall search presence; ensure technical SEO tasks are managed and resolved.
Collaboration & Communication
- Partner with copywriters so all messaging (ads and organic) aligns with StoryBrand principles.
- Work with designers and video editors on creative assets for paid and organic - e.g., paid media landing pages and campaign creative.
- Collaborate with project managers to track performance, align on goals, and respond quickly to client needs - supporting the PM who owns the account, not taking it over.
- Train and coach team members to strengthen cross-functional knowledge and performance thinking.
- Participate in internal marketing planning, tool selection, and team development.
How This Role Is Measured
This is a high-ownership seat. Beyond the "what you'll do," here's the bar we hold it to:
- Own it end to end. You own performance problems from the moment the signal appears through to a confirmed fix - present in the escalation, on the client call, in the thread. Diagnosis without follow-through isn't ownership; the result changing is.
- See it before it's escalated. You surface underperformance and risk proactively - typically within a few business days of the signal - rather than waiting for a client, a PM, or your VP to raise it. What you catch on your own is the measure, not what you respond to once flagged.
- Report honestly, backed by evidence. Your status reflects reality. A channel isn't "green" while its leads are falling. You bring bad news early and plainly, and you back completion and quality claims with the source - the dashboard, the account, the live result - never a verbal "it's handled."
- Verify the work shipped - everywhere. "Done" means confirmed live everywhere it should be, at the scope and depth represented. You check; you don't assume a task marked complete actually reached every site.
- Analysis drives action. Being right about the data is the starting point, not the deliverable. You turn insight into the right action at the right time - for your own accounts and for the team you lead.
- Own the economics. You run both channels to their margin and labor-efficiency targets, not just their lead targets - results the business can afford to deliver, and that improve over time.
You'll Thrive Here If You
- Are a performance strategist at heart - always chasing results and clarity.
- Have 4+ years leading paid media campaigns and SEO strategy.
- Have managed and mentored a multi-disciplinary team (paid + SEO + freelancers).
- Blend high-level strategic leadership with hands-on support - comfortable getting into the account when it moves the outcome.
- Can lead integrated strategy and reporting across both paid and organic search.
- Are highly analytical and can turn data into direction for others - then make sure the direction gets executed.
- Write clear, conversion-optimized ad copy and value messaging with precision.
- Are organized, accountable, and effective at building and maintaining systems.
- Give thoughtful, respectful feedback and guide cross-team collaboration.
- Take ownership of outcomes - and are the person who stays present and calm exactly when performance is at risk.
- Would rather deliver an accurate "red" than a comfortable "green."
What This Role Is Not
- Not a checkbox manager who marks tasks complete and moves on.
- Not a diagnostician who hands off - you carry problems through to a verified resolution.
- Not a status-painter - you don't dress up a struggling account in green.
- Not absent when it's hard - you're most visible exactly when a client's results are at risk.
Nice-to-Have (Bonus Skills)
- Experience with HubSpot or similar CRMs.
- Comfort with Google Analytics, Search Console, SEMrush, and AI-visibility / GEO tracking tools (e.g., Peec, Local Falcon).
- Familiarity with GA4 reporting, budget forecasting, and attribution modeling.
- Working knowledge of technical SEO (site structure, schema, page speed).
- Background in the lawn, landscape, or outdoor living industries.
- Familiarity with the StoryBrand messaging framework.
- Ability to build client-facing performance narratives and recommendations.
Details & Perks
- PTO: 15 days to start (combination of vacation and sick) plus paid holidays
- 401(k) with match
- Health insurance (medical, dental, vision): 100% of the medical premium paid for the employee. Have your own insurance? Opt out and receive a weekly opt-out pay perk.
- $500 annual equipment reimbursement
- Monthly perks (snack, tea/coffee subscriptions)
- Paid training and professional development
Final Word
We're not looking for a checkbox manager. We're looking for someone who owns performance across both paid and organic channels - and knows how to lead, teach, and inspire others to deliver measurable results, honestly and on budget.
If you're ready to elevate both traffic and leads - and build a performance engine that drives real client growth - this role is for you.
JOB CODE: 1000087
