Search Marketing Manager

Senior Paid Search Manager (m/f/d) – Germany

Location: Munich, Germany (Hybrid: 3 days in office, 2 days remote)

Package: €75,000 – €85,000 + Share Options + Full Benefits

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced, highly commercial Senior Paid Search Manager to take end-to-end strategic and operational ownership of our Paid Search and Google Shopping channels across the German market.

Managing an annual budget of €10m–€12m, you will be the direct channel lead responsible for scaling our high-intent marketplace (New, Used, and Leasing) as well as our fast-growing Sell-Your-Car (Autoankauf) platform. You will lead forecasting, campaign architecture, value-based bidding strategies, and feed management to drive efficient, profitable customer acquisition.

This is a hands-on, high-ownership role designed for a builder who wants full autonomy over a major market budget and is motivated to push the boundaries of AI, automation, and feed optimisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Market Channel Leadership: Act as the primary lead for paid performance in Germany, taking full ownership of Paid Search (Google & Bing) alongside high-level oversight of Paid Social, Display, and Video spend allocation.
• Full PPC Ownership: Direct end-to-end campaign strategy, account structures, bottom-up forecasting, bid management, copy experimentation, and landing page/CRO testing.
• Feed & Shopping Strategy: Build, optimise, and scale Google Shopping, Vehicle Ads, and feed-driven campaign structures to ensure maximum product coverage and competitiveness.
• Advanced Automation & AI: Implement and refine Value-Based Bidding (VBB), Smart Bidding levers, Performance Max (PMax), audience signal layering, and custom Google Ads scripts/APIs to drive performance efficiencies.
• Commercial & P&L Alignment: Work closely with Analytics and central Marketplace squads to ensure campaign decisions directly support bottom-line unit economics and OKRs.
• Partner & Stakeholder Management: Manage primary relationships with external tech and platform partners (Google, Microsoft) while presenting regular strategic insights to senior leadership.

What We Are Looking For

• Proven In-House PPC Track Record: Mid-to-senior level experience managing large-scale, multi-million euro Google Ads budgets within high-transaction environments (e-commerce, marketplace, classifieds, or automotive).
• Automotive / Shopping Feeds Expertise: Hands-on experience scaling feed-driven campaign types (Google Shopping, Vehicle Ads, Merchant Center) and working with feed management tools.
• Value-Based Bidding & Automation: Direct experience setting up and troubleshooting Value-Based Bidding models, conversion signal integration, and Smart Bidding algorithms.
• Data-Driven & Commercial Mindset: Strong grasp of forecasting, incrementality, GA4/attribution models, and connecting PPC performance to P&L outcomes.
• Proactive Self-Starter: Autonomous problem-solver who can spot opportunities, design the strategy, and execute without needing top-down briefs.
• Languages: Fluent or native proficiency in German with professional working proficiency in English.