Growth Marketing Manager, SEM

About this role

<p>This is a high-impact, high-visibility role with direct influence on pipeline and revenue. You'll be the primary driver of BuildOps' paid search program at a $1B+ SaaS company scaling aggressively in the commercial contracting space.</p> <p>We’re looking for a Growth Marketing Manager, SEM to own and scale our performance marketing engine across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and pay-per-click review platforms (e.g., Capterra, Technology Advice). You’ll be responsible for driving efficient, scalable growth across the full funnel—owning strategy, execution, and optimization—with a strong experimentation mindset focused on improving conversion across key landing pages.</p> <p>This role is ideal for a data-driven marketer who is equally comfortable in keyword strategy, bid management, targeting, on-site conversion rate optimization (CRO), creative testing, and experiment design. We want someone who can translate insights into clear stories and recommendations for marketing, cross-functional partners, and leadership.</p> <h2><strong>Key Responsibilities</strong></h2> <h3><strong>SEM</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Own SEM and PPC strategy, budgets, and bids across search engines and review sites with a focus on high-intent B2B demand.</li> <li>Lead keyword strategy across core use cases, industries, and competitor terms.</li> <li>Continuously refine audience targeting, including remarketing lists, customer lists, and intent-based segments.</li> <li>Own reporting on CPL, CVR, CAC, and pipeline contribution by channel, campaign, and segment in partnership with RevOps/MarOps.</li> <li>Build a structured experimentation roadmap in partnership with Senior Manager, Demand Generation and other growth marketing team members.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>CRO</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Collaborate with content and brand to align organic and paid keyword priorities and ensure messaging consistency.</li> <li>Lead conversion rate optimization across key pages. Define and prioritize experiments on landing pages, run A/B and multivariate tests using appropriate tools, and ensure clean setup, measurement, and statistical rigor.</li> <li>Own and improve session → lead CVR across high-intent pages (demo, product pages, core content).</li> </ul> <h3><strong>AI, Automation & Tooling</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Leverage AI tools (including LLMs, automation platforms, or Claude) to accelerate keyword research, ad copy ideation, QA, reporting, and reduce manual ops overhead.</li> <li>Use automation to improve the efficiency and quality of campaign execution, analysis, and experiment design.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Cross-Functional Collaboration & Communication</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Partner with Product Marketing, Content, Brand, RevOps, and Sales to ensure lead quality, routing, and follow-up processes support performance goals.</li> <li>Turn performance and experiment results into clear, concise recommendations for the marketing team, cross functional partners, and leadership.</li> </ul> <h2><strong>Must-Haves</strong></h2> <ul> <li>3–5 years B2B growth/performance marketing experience with deep SEM ownership.</li> <li>Hands-on management of Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. Experience with Capterra is nice to have.</li> <li>Strong command of CPL, CVR, CAC, and pipeline, and how they connect across the funnel.</li> <li>Proven CRO impact: demonstrated wins improving conversion across PPC and website.</li> <li>Meaningful experience designing, running, and interpreting experiments.</li> <li>Highly data-driven; advanced comfort in ad platforms and analytics tools (GA, BI, CRM reporting).</li> <li>Experience in B2B SaaS or complex, high-ACV sales cycles.</li> <li>Familiarity with marketing automation and CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce) for closed-loop reporting.</li> </ul> <h2><strong>Compensation</strong></h2> <ul> <li>Raleigh Hub: $100,000.00 - $120,000.00 base + annual bonus opportunity</li> <li>Toronto Hub: 85,000.00 - 100,000.00 CAD base + annual bonus opportunity</li> </ul><div class="content-conclusion"><div class="p-rich_text_section"><strong data-stringify-type="bold">What we offer:</strong></div> <ul class="p-rich_text_list p-rich_text_list__bullet p-rich_text_list--nested" data-stringify-type="unordered-list" data-list-tree="true" data-indent="0" data-border="0"> <li data-stringify-indent="0" data-stringify-border="0">Generous equity grant, become an owner in our company!</li> <li data-stringify-indent="0" data-stringify-border="0">A comprehensive benefits package</li> <li data-stringify-indent="0" data-stringify-border="0">Flexible PTO and hybrid work schedules</li> <li data-stringify-indent="0" data-stringify-border="0">One-time work-from-home allowance</li> <li data-stringify-indent="0" data-stringify-border="0">Hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, and Raleigh with hybrid work schedules and lunch provided for in-office days</li> <li data-stringify-indent="0" data-stringify-border="0">Company events and team-building activities, both in-person and virtual</li> <li data-stringify-indent="0" data-stringify-border="0">Fast-paced, collaborative, and…