| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Marketing |
| Level | Mid level |
| Reports to | Performance Marketing Manager |
| Direct reports | None |
| Experience | 3 to 5 years in performance or paid marketing |
Performance Marketing Specialist job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: Performance Marketing Specialist
Department: Marketing
Reports to: Performance Marketing Manager
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Performance Marketing Specialist owns paid acquisition across channels such as Google, Meta and other ad platforms. They plan and scale campaigns, allocate budgets, optimise for cost per acquisition and return on ad spend, and answer for the numbers. More senior than an executive, they set the paid strategy rather than just run ads. The role sits in the digital or growth team. A good one turns ad spend into profitable growth, reads data to move budget to what converts, and keeps scaling without letting the cost per result slip.
Key responsibilities
- Plan the paid acquisition strategy across Google, Meta and other ad platforms against clear targets.
- Set up, structure and scale paid campaigns, and allocate budget to the best-performing channels and audiences.
- Optimise campaigns for cost per acquisition, return on ad spend and conversion rate.
- Build and test audiences, creatives, bids and landing pages to improve results.
- Run and analyse A/B tests, and roll out the winning variants.
- Set up conversion tracking, tags and attribution so every rupee is measured correctly.
- Monitor spend and pacing daily, and act fast when a campaign drifts off target.
- Coordinate with creative and web teams on ad assets and landing pages.
- Report performance, spend and return to the manager with clear recommendations.
- Keep up with platform changes, ad formats and bidding features.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in marketing, commerce, engineering or a related field
- Google Ads and Meta certifications
- A track record of scaling profitable paid campaigns
- 3 to 5 years in performance or paid marketing
KRAs and KPIs for a Performance Marketing Specialist
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Return on ad spend | Meet or beat the agreed return on ad spend across paid channels |
| Cost per acquisition | Keep cost per acquisition at or below target while scaling spend |
| Growth | Grow paid-driven leads or sales towards the quarterly target |
| Testing | Run and act on a set number of A/B tests each month |
| Budget efficiency | Spend paced to plan, with no wasted or unspent budget at month end |
| Tracking accuracy | Conversion tracking and attribution accurate across all campaigns |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Looker Studio or Excel.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Performance Marketing Manager, Head of Growth
Interview questions for a Performance Marketing Specialist
- You have a target cost per acquisition and a growing budget. How do you scale without breaking it?
- A campaign's return on ad spend is dropping as you scale. What do you check?
- How do you structure a Google Ads account for a lead generation business?
- How do you decide budget split between Google and Meta?
- How do you make sure your conversion tracking is accurate?
- Walk me through a test that changed how you ran a campaign.
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What does a performance marketing specialist do?
A performance marketing specialist owns paid acquisition across channels such as Google, Meta and other ad platforms. They plan and scale campaigns, allocate budgets, optimise for cost per acquisition and return on ad spend, and answer for the numbers. They set the paid strategy and turn ad spend into profitable, measurable growth.
What is the difference between performance marketing and digital marketing?
Digital marketing covers all online channels, including organic search, social, content and email. Performance marketing focuses on paid channels where every rupee is measured against a result, like a sale or lead. Performance marketers are judged strictly on cost per acquisition and return on ad spend, not on reach or awareness alone.
What skills does a performance marketing specialist need?
A performance marketing specialist needs deep hands-on skill with Google Ads and Meta Ads, campaign scaling, conversion tracking and A/B testing, plus strong analytics and budget management. Analytical thinking matters most, because the role lives on reading data and moving budget to what converts, while keeping cost per result under control.