Senior Paid Media Strategist (Recruitment Marketing - Contractor)

Senior Paid Media Strategist – Recruitment Marketing Contractor

Job Type

Contract / Freelance Location: Remote Engagement Type: Project or retainer-based Focus: Recruitment marketing and paid media execution

About the Role

We are seeking a highly technical, performance-driven Senior Paid Media Strategist to support digital talent acquisition campaigns for an established organization with more than 20,000 employees.

This is a remote contractor role focused exclusively on campaign execution across Meta and Google Ads. The ideal candidate is experienced in recruitment marketing, paid media optimization, lead generation, and performance tracking.

This is a back-office, execution-heavy role. You will not be responsible for client calls or presentations. Your primary focus will be managing paid media campaigns, improving applicant volume, lowering Cost Per Applicant, and optimizing campaigns across Meta and Google.

What You’ll Do

• Manage paid media campaigns across Meta Ads and Google Ads, including Google Search and Performance Max.
• Allocate and optimize budgets based on hiring priorities and campaign performance.
• Monitor campaign performance metrics, including CPC, CPA, lead quality, and applicant volume.
• Track conversions using pixels, UTM parameters, and campaign attribution through an Applicant Tracking System such as iCIMS.
• Test ad copy, creative, landing page strategies, lead forms, and campaign funnels.
• Evaluate whether native lead forms or direct-to-site traffic produce stronger applicant quality.
• Optimize campaigns independently with minimal oversight.
• Troubleshoot performance issues related to recruitment marketing, high-friction application funnels, and ATS drop-off.
• Navigate Meta Special Ad Category restrictions for employment-related campaigns.

Key Challenges You’ll Help Solve

• Meta employment ad restrictions limit targeting options such as age, gender, and ZIP code. You should understand how to drive results within these restrictions.
• Candidates may be directed to an enterprise Applicant Tracking System, which can create friction and drop-off. You will help improve tracking, retargeting, and lead capture strategies.
• Campaigns will require balancing automated Google solutions like Performance Max with high-intent Meta lead generation campaigns.

Requirements

• Deep experience with Meta Ads and Google Ads.
• Strong paid media optimization skills, especially around lead generation or applicant acquisition.
• Experience running employment, housing, credit, or other Special Ad Category campaigns on Meta.
• Ability to analyze campaign performance and make optimization decisions independently.
• Comfort working with tracking, pixels, UTMs, conversion events, and attribution.
• Experience with recruitment marketing, talent acquisition campaigns, or employment branding is strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with Applicant Tracking Systems such as iCIMS, Workday, Taleo, or similar platforms is preferred.
• Strong understanding of funnel drop-off, lead quality, and conversion optimization.
• Comfort working in spreadsheets, dashboards, and ad platforms.
• Ability to work independently in a contractor or freelance capacity.

Ideal Candidate

• You are a seasoned paid media expert who enjoys execution, optimization, testing, and data analysis. You are comfortable working inside ad accounts, making performance-based decisions, and improving campaign results without needing constant direction.
• You thrive in a project-based environment, understand recruitment marketing challenges, and know how to drive qualified applicants through paid media.

Why This Role

• This role is ideal for someone who loves the technical side of paid media: campaign setup, media buying, data analysis, A/B testing, and optimization.
• You will have a clear objective: drive qualified applications. You will be given autonomy to execute, test, and improve campaign performance across Meta and Google.

Pay: From $20.00 per hour

Work Location: Remote