Associate Manager, Media Strategy - Paid Search Focus
Description
Reset your expectations of a health and wellness agency. From our inception, Fingerpaint has been driven by an unstoppable collective spirit of possibility. It’s that curiosity that’s at the heart of everything we do. From our legendary people-first culture to the hundreds of Fingerpainters who define us, we’ve reimagined what it means to be a healthcare and wellness advertising agency. Here, creativity happens naturally—we attract top talent and give them a space to grow and collaborate.
Fingerpaint Group’s medical communications solutions, Fingerpaint Medical, help pharmaceutical and biotech companies communicate complex scientific data effectively, enabling healthcare providers to make informed decisions that advance patient care. Our targeted educational programs and strategic communications support product adoption and drive commercial success in competitive therapeutic areas.
Objectives of the Role:
We are seeking an Associate Manager, Media Strategy with deep, hands-on expertise in paid search and a strong desire to expand their horizons into full-spectrum, cross-channel media planning and buying. In this role, you will sit at the intersection of execution and insight. You will be the driving force behind building, launching, and managing our search campaigns while using real-time performance data to directly inform and evolve our broader media strategies.
While your day-to-day will initially be heavily focused on hands-on-keyboard search management, this execution is the exact fuel we use to build smart strategies. You won't just pull levers; you will analyze the "why" behind the numbers, dip your toes into strategic planning, and actively help refine our holistic media approach. This position is designed for an ambitious search specialist who wants to transcend the single-channel silo and continuously develop their strategic media buying muscles across emerging channels and third-party media. You will act as a key internal hub, a primary point of contact for our vendor partners, and will naturally grow into client exposure as you master our campaign ecosystem.
What You'll Do:
Campaign Strategy & Execution
• Build, launch, and manage hands-on-keyboard campaigns across paid search platforms, including Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising (Bing).
• Lead the foundational strategy for search campaigns by developing comprehensive keyword architectures, structuring ad groups, and writing compelling, high-converting ad copy.
• Ensure absolute accuracy across all campaign setups, budget pacing, and insertion orders within our internal buying and platform tools.
• Oversee the technical workflow of campaign launches, including ad trafficking and UTM creation, while partnering with internal analytics teams to ensure site tagging, pixeling, and conversion tracking are correctly implemented.
Optimization, Reporting & Insights
• Actively monitor, pace, and optimize live campaigns to maximize performance against core client KPIs.
• Pull platform data and collaborate with analytics teams to build out performance dashboards and automated reports.
• Look beyond the raw data to analyze reports, surface market trends, and deliver meaningful insights and strategic recommendations for internal teams and stakeholders.
Partner & Team Collaboration
• Serve as a primary day-to-day point of contact for external vendor partners and platform representatives to maximize service and resolve technical anomalies.
• Contribute to agency POVs and evaluate publisher and vendor proposals for relevance, value, and potential inclusion in omnichannel media plans.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional internal teams to ensure campaign assets and strategies align perfectly with overarching client media objectives.
Required Qualifications:
• 3+ years of digital media experience with a heavy, proven focus on hands-on-keyboard paid search campaign management, ideally within an agency setting.
• Deep, daily working expertise navigating Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising platforms.
• Proven ability to independently conduct keyword research, map user intent, and write tailored search ad copy.
• Solid technical understanding of how ad trafficking, web pixeling, conversion tracking, and tag QA impact search attribution.
• Strong analytical skills with a proven ability to review campaign performance data, identify trends, and formulate clear optimization insights.
• Excellent organizational and communication skills, with the ability to manage multiple platform workflows and external vendor relationships simultaneously.
• A strong curiosity and desire to learn channels outside of search, growing into an all-encompassing media strategy and buying professional.
Preferred Qualifications:
• Familiarity with pharma, Medical Affairs, or other highly regulated industries.
• Experience with cross-channel media planning, buying, or monitoring tools (e.g., Prisma, MediaRadar, Campaign Manager 360, SRDS).
• Current platform certifications (e.g., Google Ads Search, Google Ads Video, Microsoft Advertising Certified Professional).
Don’t meet every single requirement? That’s okay! Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Fingerpaint, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles! Our team of qualified recruiters can match you with the right opportunity. Fingerpaint Group provides equal employment [and affirmative action] opportunities to all applicants and employees. We are proud to recruit qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, protected veteran status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or citizenship status.