Paid Media Manager

Paid Media Manager

£40,000–£50,000 DOE | Remote-first | Swansea HQ

Big budgets. Bold ideas. Bigger ambitions.

Some marketers manage campaigns. Others make things happen. We're looking for the latter.

Since 2009, Cruise Nation has been shaking up the travel industry, helping hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers see the world for less. We pioneered our Smart Packages, combining flights, hotels and cruises into brilliantly priced holidays, with over 200 destinations worldwide.

Now we're looking for a Paid Media Manager who thinks beyond clicks and impressions. Someone who loves testing new ideas, challenging convention and turning clever marketing into commercial results.

You'll have the freedom to challenge, the backing to innovate and the opportunity to shape our paid media strategy. Best of all, you'll see the impact of your work in customer acquisition, bookings, revenue and profitable growth.

The opportunity. Your strategy. Your impact.

You'll own our paid media performance, developing strategies that attract new customers, maximise marketing investment and drive profitable growth.

Working across Google Ads, Meta and other digital advertising platforms, you'll combine commercial thinking, analytical expertise and creative flair to deliver campaigns that stand out. You'll collaborate with our marketing, creative, product and commercial teams, influencing everything from targeting and creative direction to website conversion.

What you'll own1. Make every click count

• Develop and optimise our paid media strategy across Google Ads, Meta and other relevant platforms.
• Manage paid search, Performance Max, paid social, display, programmatic and retargeting campaigns to drive qualified traffic, enquiries, bookings and profitable revenue.
• Ensure channels complement one another, improving acquisition, conversion and profitability throughout the customer journey.
• Challenge campaign structures, bidding strategies and platform recommendations to maximise commercial performance.
• Explore new platforms, formats and acquisition opportunities to reach untapped audiences.

2. Turn data into decisions

• Own performance metrics including CTR, CPC, CPA, conversion rate, ROAS and overall marketing return.
• Look beyond platform metrics to understand campaign contribution to booking value, revenue and profitability.
• Use GA4, Excel, advertising analytics and internal Cruise Nation data and APIs to identify trends, opportunities and performance gaps.
• Develop structured tests across audiences, creative, messaging, landing pages, bidding strategies and formats.
• Analyse performance by device, audience, destination, product and customer journey stage.
• Produce clear reports explaining what's working, what isn't and what happens next.
• Turn complex data into actionable commercial recommendations for senior management.

3. Spend smarter. Grow faster.

• Plan, manage and optimise paid media budgets across channels.
• Allocate investment according to commercial priorities, customer demand, performance and growth opportunities.
• Forecast spend and results, keeping activity aligned with budgets and business objectives.
• Reduce wasted spend, improve acquisition costs and increase profitable bookings.
• Work with Product and Marketing to support the right holidays, destinations and promotions.
• Make evidence-led decisions on where to increase, reduce or redirect investment.

4. Bring creativity and performance together

• Collaborate with creative, content, social media and marketing teams to develop distinctive, high-performing campaigns.
• Shape advertising concepts, messaging and creative direction using customer insights and performance data.
• Ensure creative assets suit their platforms, audiences and objectives.
• Lead testing across headlines, imagery, video, calls to action and campaign formats.
• Challenge generic advertising and give customers compelling reasons to choose Cruise Nation.
• Improve landing pages, customer journeys and conversion with the wider digital team.
• Share insights to bring paid, owned and organic marketing together.

5. Find customers we haven't met yet

• Develop audience targeting and segmentation strategies across paid media.
• Use first-party data, GA4, platform insights and internal systems to improve targeting, personalisation and relevance.
• Balance new-customer acquisition with re-engaging prospects and previous visitors.
• Develop prospecting, remarketing and retargeting throughout the customer journey.
• Improve audience quality, conversion rates and acquisition costs.
• Review attribution and measurement to understand channel and customer touchpoint contributions.
• Explore marketing automation and audience intelligence to deliver more relevant advertising.

6. Stay ahead of the game

• Keep up with paid media, AI, advertising technology, privacy, measurement and consumer behaviour.
• Explore AI tools and automation to improve efficiency, targeting, creative testing and decisions.
• Assess new platforms, formats and technologies for their commercial potential.
• Challenge the status quo and introduce smarter ways of working.
• Build a culture of continuous testing, learning and improvement.
• Share knowledge to keep Cruise Nation competitive in a fast-changing digital landscape.

About you

You're not just good with numbers. You know what to do with them.

You'll bring:

• Significant paid media, digital advertising or performance marketing experience, ideally in a consumer-focused B2C business.
• A proven track record of driving acquisition, conversions, revenue and measurable ROI.
• Hands-on expertise in Google Ads, including Search, Performance Max and Display, plus Meta Ads Manager.
• Experience in media planning, buying, campaign activation, bidding and optimisation.
• Exposure to programmatic advertising and wider digital channels.
• Strong knowledge of audience segmentation, targeting, remarketing, attribution and conversion measurement.
• Confidence using GA4, Excel, advertising analytics and reporting tools.
• An understanding of SEO and how paid, owned and organic channels contribute to marketing performance.
• Knowledge of social media and the relationship between paid and organic content.
• Experience running structured tests and turning insights into commercial improvements.
• Excellent communication skills, making complex data clear and actionable.
• Strong organisation and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple campaigns, budgets and priorities.

Even better if you have:

• Experience in travel, tourism, cruises or holidays.
• Experience with marketing automation, CRM audiences and advanced remarketing.
• Knowledge of AI-powered advertising, emerging measurement solutions and marketing technology.
• Experience using first-party customer data to improve targeting, personalisation and acquisition.

The kind of person who'll thrive here

Attitude matters just as much as experience. You'll fit right in if you:

• Question everything and look for smarter ways to work.
• Love analysing performance and finding ways to improve it.
• Think commercially, prioritising profitable growth over vanity metrics.
• Take ownership, show initiative and get things moving.
• Enjoy experimenting, learning quickly and making better decisions.
• Collaborate brilliantly with creative, content, digital and commercial teams.
• Thrive on pace, manage competing priorities and maintain attention to detail.
• Want to make a difference and build something bigger, not simply maintain the status quo.

Why Cruise Nation?

Because life's too short for ordinary.

We're not weighed down by layers of management, endless meetings or the dreaded "that's how we've always done it" mentality.

We challenge the norm, move quickly and give talented people the freedom to do what they do best. You'll have a voice, genuine responsibility and the opportunity to influence our growth.

Your ideas won't gather dust in a presentation. If they're good, we'll back them.

You'll join ambitious people who care about what they do, in a business where creativity meets commercial thinking and success is something we build together.

We're investing in our technology, marketing and people, giving you a genuine opportunity to shape how we attract and engage the next generation of Cruise Nation customers.

We're not looking for someone to simply fill a role. We're looking for someone who wants to leave their mark.

The perks of coming aboard

Great people deserve more than just an interesting job. Here's what you can expect:

• £40,000–£50,000 salary, depending on experience.
• Remote-first working, giving you flexibility while staying connected to the team.
• Company-paid Swansea visits: Every six weeks, spend Monday to Friday alongside the team at our Swansea HQ, with travel and food expenses covered.
• Performance bonus scheme following successful completion of probation.
• Private medical insurance following successful completion of probation.
• Company pension scheme following successful completion of probation.
• Discounted holidays and travel perks following successful completion of probation. Working in travel should have its advantages!
• Perkbox membership, with access to employee discounts, rewards and wellbeing benefits.
• 20 days’ annual leave plus 8 bank holidays, with annual leave entitlement increasing after two years’ service.