Performance Marketing Director

Digital Tonic are working with a leading international eCommerce group as they appoint a Performance Marketing Director into a newly created role. This is a significant leadership opportunity, bringing together three established acquisition teams and shaping how the business responds to changing consumer behaviour, evolving search habits and the rapid impact of AI.

The Role

Reporting to the VP of eCommerce, you’ll take strategic ownership of the group’s paid and organic acquisition engine across SEA, SEO and organic discovery, and affiliate marketing. You’ll unite three specialist teams under one performance strategy, with direct reports comprising the leads of each channel and a wider team of approximately 15 people across the UK, Germany and remote locations.

The scale is considerable, with an annual media budget reaching nine figures and activity operating across multiple EMEA markets. You’ll own the blended acquisition P&L, setting investment priorities and ensuring spend, customer acquisition, ROAS, contribution and long-term commercial value are considered collectively rather than channel by channel.

Paid search depth will be particularly important. The strongest candidate is likely to have developed their career within search before progressing into broader leadership across multiple performance channels. You don’t need to have personally managed SEA, SEO and affiliates throughout your career, but you must be able to challenge channel leaders, understand the relationship between paid and organic discovery, and make confident commercial decisions across the complete acquisition mix. Affiliates will represent the smallest part of the remit, while SEA and SEO will remain central.

A major priority will be leading the function through change. Competition, consumer demographics and search behaviour are evolving quickly, particularly among younger audiences, while AI is reshaping how people discover and engage with brands. You’ll help the business respond by advancing its approach to automation, AI-led search, AI SEO and GEO, working closely with senior colleagues responsible for AI and automation to turn emerging developments into practical commercial opportunities.

This role extends beyond channel performance. You’ll build a cohesive leadership structure across the three teams, strengthen accountability and develop the capability of your direct reports. You’ll need to bring people with you, communicate a compelling direction and demonstrate how you have previously led teams through meaningful organisational, technological or commercial change.

You’ll partner closely with regional marketing leads, CRM, brand, social media, retention, PR and eCommerce teams to ensure acquisition activity supports wider trading priorities. Paid social sits within a separate specialist function, so your focus will remain firmly on SEA, SEO and affiliates while maintaining close alignment across the broader marketing organisation.

You’ll also oversee senior relationships with agencies, platforms and technology partners, holding them to clear commercial standards while determining which capabilities should sit internally and where external expertise can add value.

Skills & Experience

• Extensive experience within performance or digital marketing, including senior leadership at Head of or Director level
• Deep expertise in paid search, ideally developed before progressing into broader multi-channel performance leadership
• Strong strategic knowledge of SEO and organic discovery, including the changing impact of AI, AIO and GEO
• Experience overseeing affiliate marketing would be beneficial, although this is the lowest-priority channel within the remit
• A proven track record of leading multiple specialist teams through experienced channel heads
• Strong examples of leading organisational, technological or commercial change
• Experience managing or overseeing annual paid media budgets of at least £20 million
• Proven ownership of acquisition strategy, channel investment and a blended performance marketing P&L
• Strong commercial knowledge of ROAS, customer acquisition, contribution, attribution, incrementality and channel economics
• Experience operating across multiple international markets, ideally within EMEA
• The ability to balance short-term revenue performance with sustainable customer and business growth
• Experience implementing or developing automation and AI-assisted approaches within performance marketing
• Confidence challenging specialists and making strategic decisions without needing to be the hands-on expert in every channel
• Exceptional executive communication and stakeholder-management skills

Benefits

The role offers a very competitive salary that reflects your level of seniority, alongside an annual bonus scheme, comprehensive pension provision, a health cash plan and gym discounts, including a monthly contribution towards a gym of your choice. You’ll also receive generous employee discounts and a complimentary family password-management account.

More importantly, this is an opportunity to shape a newly created function within a major international eCommerce business. You’ll inherit established specialist teams, operate with a genuinely significant acquisition budget and have the backing to develop how the organisation approaches search, discovery, automation and AI at scale.

The company operates a hybrid model requiring three office days per week. Candidates must be comfortable committing to this working pattern.

Sound Good?

Reach out to Stacey at Digital Tonic for the finer details.