Search Engine Marketing Specialist

Overview

** This position is an expat role and requires relocation to Saudi Arabia. The job is completely onsite in Saudi Arabia. You must be a current holder of a North, South, or Central American passport**

Overview
We are seeking a Search Engine Marketing Specialist to join the Advertising Management Group (Communications Strategy Department). The Advertising Management Group is responsible for planning, management and optimization of the company’s global and local advertising campaigns. The group ensures the company has a unified channel ecosystem that is optimized to reach and engage its target stakeholders and content formats – and that platforms are optimized to achieve KPIs.

As Search Engine Marketing Specialist, your primary role will be to manage the SEM media budget, work with Marketing & Sponsorship Strategy Group to plan for campaign media and execute the companies strategy through media buying partners, including but not limited to Google and Baidu.

Duties and Responsibilities
General responsibilities:
• Build and implement performance-oriented media plans for search campaigns
• Author and interrogate media briefs
• Ensure that the media runs accurately so that the desired message is seen and heard by stakeholders
• Maintain strong relationships with media representatives across channels
• Work with partner agencies and media owners across all channels to plan and buy media activity, both in the KSA and internationally
• Assess the value of different digital media opportunities in the context of the business objectives
• Research innovative digital media opportunities to be presented to Senior Management as part of our innovation process
• Work with the Data & Insights group to develop media reports (e.g. competitive, post campaign analysis) and interpret data to provide useful insights

Strategic Search Engine Marketing responsibilities:
• Contribute in identifying new products, strategies and ways of working that improve SEM results and targeting capabilities
• Maintain an understanding of the various SEM channels including text, voice and image search and the role of PPC/SEM
• Help to educate internal teams on PPC/SEM strategies and tactics; engage teams in the world of digital communications by demonstrating its direct response, creative and brand building abilities
• Keep up to date with and lead the testing of new SEM products, including advanced features and beta trials for Google Ads and SA360
• Actively track in market audiences and integrate the insights with display and video campaigns
• Collaborate with agency partners and affiliate offices to implement campaign in market-specific languages
• Actively research search queries directly related to our industry to inform search strategy and inform content creators on the newly captured topics

Leadership & Management responsibilities:
• Lead the day-to-day campaign or project development and execution
• Ensure that all campaigns follow the internal advertising and brand safety processes
• Prepare and lead performance review presentations
• Lead development of regular results analysis & reporting, recommendations and presentations
• Build an understanding of the communications strategy objectives, and develop SEM strategies to help meet those objectives
• Effectively set and manage internal stakeholder expectations
• Provide counsel to colleagues’ marketing issues and opportunities
• Monitor competitors and their activity

Minimum Requirements
As a successful candidate, you will hold a bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Advertising, Media or equivalent from a leading university. A minimum of eight years’ experience in search engine media buying is required.

As Search Engine Marketing Specialist, you will play a key role in ensuring that specific stakeholders and markets are connected through strategic SEM campaigns. You are driven to provide effective media plans and budgets according to an agreed project brief. You will be familiar buying media across a broad range of owned digital channels with a specific focus on search engines and associated DSPs.
• You have extensive experience in media planning and buying
• You are highly adaptable with the ability to assimilate information quickly, particularly with budgets and timelines
• You possess a strong drive to be proactive and strive to deliver the highest quality of work in the most efficient way possible
• You have strong numerical skills and have proven experience managing large media budgets
• You are up to speed on the latest digital media trends and are able to speak to them confidently with internal stakeholders and platform providers
• You are a great collaborator and are able to bring people together around common goals
• You have absolute attention to detail, are highly organized and thorough
• You show willingness to voice challenges and opportunities
• You have excellent communications skills at all levels, including presentation skills – formal and informal to differing audiences