Acquisition / Paid Media Manager

The Paid Media Manager, or paid acquisition manager, is the professional who manages online advertising campaigns and adjusts investment according to their results. They choose channels, organise ad delivery and analyse the resulting conversions. Their value to the business lies in connecting advertising spend with the intended actions: a contact enquiry, registration or purchase.

Their work combines campaign preparation with performance monitoring. They define target audiences, messages and formats, then allocate the budget across platforms. They monitor spending and propose or decide on reallocations according to the authority they have been given. To define the role, specify which changes they can make independently and which require approval.

The role exists both in-house and in agencies. It may report to the marketing, digital marketing or e-commerce department, or to an acquisition and performance manager. In a large organisation, the professional may specialise or supervise colleagues. The title alone therefore does not establish their management responsibilities.

Defining the role in your organisation

• For a need that extends beyond paid media, compare this remit with that of a Growth Marketing Manager, then specify the additional activities expected.
• If you assign execution to campaign specialists, clarify who prepares the ads and who retains budget decision-making authority.

Search engine optimisation and organic community management are not central responsibilities of this role. An advertising conversion may be an enquiry or a purchase: it does not automatically mean a new customer. The role thus contributes to acquisition without being solely responsible for all of the company's growth.

The first challenge is to understand what the business gets in return for its advertising spend. Clicks indicate a response to an ad. Conversions correspond to a defined action, such as completing a form or making a purchase. Confusing these results can lead to increasing a budget without understanding what it actually contributes to the business.

The quality of tracking then shapes decisions. Poorly configured conversion tracking undermines performance analysis. The paid acquisition manager must be able to check the tracking relevant to their campaigns and involve the appropriate people when a technical correction is needed. If there is a Marketing Ops function, clarify responsibilities for data and tools with the person in charge of it. Defining these responsibilities does not transfer all data governance to the advertising role.

Budget allocation is another important decision. Objectives, reachable audiences, estimated costs and expected results inform the choice of platforms. It should be possible to explain an increase in spending by reference to the results observed and their limitations. Reducing or suspending spending requires the same rigour: specify what reflects insufficient performance and what first requires a check of the measurement.

Finally, tests of messages and visuals must address a clear question. Without a hypothesis and analysis of the results, the team risks producing more and more creative without learning what is worth keeping. If the role is poorly defined when recruiting, these decisions may be left without an owner, even when campaigns are correctly launched.

• Define the objectives of paid campaigns and the actions to measure.
• Choose audiences, placements and advertising formats suited to the objectives.
• Allocate the budget across platforms according to the expected results.
• Organise ad delivery and check that ads go live correctly.
• Check tracking codes and conversion events before launch.
• Monitor spending and reallocate investment according to performance.
• Organise tests of messages and visuals based on explicit hypotheses.
• Present campaign results in dashboards that support decisions.

Useful pathways combine an understanding of marketing with practical experience of analysis and digital tools. The programmes cited by Apec and Onisep include the French BTS, BUT, licence professionnelle and master, as well as business school programmes, in marketing, communications or IT. These different pathways can prepare people for the role: do not restrict recruitment to a single qualification.

A sound grounding enables someone to turn a business objective into a campaign: identify an audience, choose a format, prepare a message and define the intended action. It should also provide the foundations needed to read statistics and understand what a metric measures. Proficiency with an advertising interface offers only partial insight into this knowledge.

Practical experience complements this education when it exposes the professional to the consequences of their choices. Campaign experience may have involved launching ads, checking conversions, monitoring the budget or recommending adjustments. These responsibilities do not all require the same degree of autonomy: supported practice differs from decisions made without prior approval.

An advertising certification can complement this pathway. The knowledge acquired becomes meaningful through practical campaign work.

The common foundations of GetPro's assessment approach

GetPro structures assessment around a grid of recruitment criteria, distinguishing those that can be checked against a candidate's career history from those that need further exploration at interview. Each criterion is linked to an assessment method. The interview explores the key criteria through open questions and concrete examples.

Reference checks complement this assessment: the conversations put achievements into context and explore points that remain uncertain. A summary brings together strengths, areas requiring attention and the examples gathered to inform the decision.

Suggested exercises for paid acquisition

To complement this framework, here are exercises you can use when recruiting an Acquisition / Paid Media Manager.

Define the criteria for the role

Establish a common assessment grid covering budget management, conversion analysis, tracking checks and advertising tests. Add coordination or management only if the role includes them.

For each criterion, specify the expected level: execute subject to approval, recommend an adjustment or decide within an allocated budget. Use these levels to compare candidates against the same work.

Examine a past campaign

Ask the candidate to present a campaign whose objectives, spending and results they can explain. Ask them to clarify their personal contribution and the decisions approved by others.

Examine a dashboard, campaign report or test analysis that they are authorised to share. You can also ask them to explain corrections made to tracking and what they learnt from a disappointing result. Ask which action counted as a conversion and how that definition influenced their analysis.

Treat an explanation that connects observations to a specific adjustment as a positive signal. Probe answers limited to an increase in traffic, without an explicit link to the campaign objective.

Test a budget allocation decision

Hypothetical example: present two campaigns, one aimed at contact enquiries and the other at purchases, with their spending and results.

Ask what information is missing before changing the budget allocation. Then invite the candidate to recommend an increase, a reallocation or a suspension, explaining the conditions behind their decision.

Observe whether they compare the actions measured before ranking performance. Question an immediate recommendation based on a lower cost per conversion without examining what that conversion represents.

Explore a tracking problem and a creative test

Ask how the candidate would check a conversion event that appears to be recorded incorrectly. Ask them to detail the tracking code checks and the tests to carry out before restarting the campaign.

If reports show different results for the same campaign, ask which elements they would compare before reaching a conclusion. Assess their checking process without expecting a definitive explanation based on incomplete data.

Then present an advertising message to improve. Ask for a hypothesis, the variations to test and the results needed to decide what to do next. Look for reasoning that the people responsible for creative can understand.

Assess coordination and cross-check explanations

Ask the candidate to explain a budget allocation decision to a non-specialist. Observe whether they identify the decision, the available information and the remaining uncertainties.

If the role includes management, ask how they would allocate work between specialists and monitor their contributions. Distinguish actual supervision from simply taking part in a group project.

With the candidate's consent, use reference checks to clarify the responsibilities described and how they work with other functions. Focus on the points that remain uncertain after the interview.

If no one in-house has expertise in paid advertising, have a specialist who can explain their judgement examine the technical case. Retain responsibility for deciding whether the candidate fits the intended responsibilities and organisation.