Search Associate Director

About the Company

As a leading global media network, Omnicom Media Group APAC (OMG) creates end-to-end solutions for clients, anywhere, swiftly and efficiently. We consider client business needs from the start and keep consumer behaviour at the heart of everything we do. We are compromised of the full-service media networks OMD and PHD as well as a number of specialty media communications companies. We offer unparalleled clout in the marketplace and a depth of capabilities and experience that drive leadership and innovation in every media type. Omnicom Media Group is the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC), the leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company, providing services to over 2,500 clients in more than 100 countries.

The Search Associate Director is responsible for leading the Paid Search discipline for our client across six markets: Australia, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand. It is the central Search lead, connecting the regional hub with local Initiative and activation teams to ensure a consistent standard of Search planning, activation, optimisation, measurement and governance across markets.

The Search Associate Director will be responsible for developing Search recommendations aligned to our client's media and business objectives, overseeing campaign performance and ensuring Search investment is deployed effectively across relevant Google Ads and Search platforms.

The role requires a strong understanding of Search's role across the consumer journey, from capturing existing category and brand demand through to converting interest generated by broader brand and consideration activity.

Given the diversity of the region, the role must establish consistent regional Search principles while recognising differences in market maturity, consumer search behaviour, competitive intensity, platform ecosystems and local business priorities.

The role will work closely with regional and market stakeholders, Business Leadership and Strategy teams, and local Search specialists to ensure Search is effectively integrated into the broader media approach.

SPECIFIC ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

SEARCH STRATEGY & PLANNING

• Translate campaign, audience and business objectives into appropriate Search strategy, campaign structures, keyword approaches, bidding strategies and investment recommendations.
• Define the role of Search within client's broader media mix, ensuring it complements rather than operates independently from brand and consideration activity.
• Develop clear approaches across brand, category, model, competitor and high intent Search demand, based on campaign and market requirements.
• Support appropriate budget allocation across Search campaigns based on demand, efficiency, business priorities and market opportunity.
• Apply Search behaviour, keyword trends and performance data to improve broader media and audience planning.
• Ensure Search recommendations reflect local market conditions while following consistent regional principles.

ACTIVATION & PERFORMANCE

• Brief Search activation teams and ensure campaigns are implemented accurately and in accordance with agreed plans and SLAs.
• Oversee campaign structure, keyword management, audience application, bidding, budget allocation, optimisation and reporting across markets.
• Maintain visibility of Search performance across the six markets and identify opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
• Work with activation teams to optimise activity against agreed KPIs and downstream business outcomes where available.
• Monitor areas including impression share, CPC, CTR, conversion rate, cost per lead and other relevant Search performance metrics.
• Ensure Search investment is appropriately balanced between capturing demand and supporting priority models, campaigns and commercial periods.
• Identify underperformance or delivery issues early and coordinate corrective action.
• Ensure campaign learnings are captured and applied to future planning across markets.

REGIONAL COORDINATION & GOVERNANCE

• Lead coordination between the regional hub and offshore search implementation team to ensure consistency in outputs, timelines and ways of working.
• Establish and maintain consistent Search planning, activation and reporting standards
• Ensure agreed global and regional Search processes and best practices are adopted appropriately across markets.
• Manage multiple market workstreams simultaneously, ensuring visibility of campaign status, actions and responsibilities.
• Identify opportunities to simplify and improve Search workflows across briefing, planning, activation, optimisation and reporting.
• Facilitate cross market sharing of Search learnings and scale successful approaches across the region.
• Develop and own the regional Search framework: a documented standard covering campaign architecture, keyword and audience approach, bidding methodology, naming and taxonomy, budget principles, optimisation cadence, measurement and reporting.
• Set a consistent regional baseline while allowing deliberate flex for market maturity, search behaviour, competitive intensity and local platform ecosystems, so markets differ by decision rather than by drift.
• Embed the framework across regional, local and offshore teams through documentation, onboarding and review, and keep it current as platforms and our client's priorities change.
• Establish clear ways of working across the regional and offshore teams, including defined standards, briefing formats and quality expectations, so day to day delivery runs reliably without direct oversight and the role can focus on strategy, client counsel and capability building.
• Coach the team to understand not just what needs to be done but why, so judgement develops at every level and decisions are made close to the work.

DATA, MEASUREMENT & MEDIA QUALITY

• Maintain strong knowledge of Search measurement capabilities and identify opportunities to strengthen measurement approach.
• Work with Analytics and activation teams to ensure appropriate conversion tracking, tagging and measurement frameworks are in place.
• Evaluate Search performance against relevant downstream actions including leads, opportunities, test drives and sales where data is available.
• Support the application of attribution, experimentation and incrementality approaches where appropriate.
• Maintain strong working knowledge of Google Ads, SA360, GA4 and associated measurement and reporting capabilities.
• Identify opportunities to improve Search performance through automation, Smart Bidding, audience signals and first party data integration.
• Run a structured testing agenda where experiments are prioritised, documented, measured against a clear hypothesis, and either scaled across markets or retired with a reason.

DESIRED SKILLS & EXPERTISE

• Proven experience in Paid Search planning, activation, optimisation and reporting, ideally at Associate Director level or equivalent.
• Strong hands on and strategic understanding of Google Ads and SA360.
• Strong understanding of Search campaign structures, keyword strategy, bidding, audience targeting and budget optimisation.
• Experience managing Search across multiple objectives including awareness support, traffic, lead generation and conversion.
• Experience working across regional or multi market accounts
• Strong understanding of Search measurement including conversion tracking, attribution and GA4.
• Analytical mindset with the ability to interpret large data sets and translate performance into clear client recommendations.
• Understanding of how Paid Search integrates with wider brand and performance media activity.
• Strong understanding of automation, Smart Bidding, first party data and emerging Search capabilities.
• Awareness of changing consumer Search behaviour and the implications of AI powered and generative search experiences.
• Strong working knowledge of search ecosystems beyond Google, including Yahoo! JAPAN, Naver and Kakao, with the ability to advise on their role, limitations and relative weight in each market.
• Broad understanding of the wider digital ecosystem, including programmatic, social, video and paid discovery, sufficient to define where Search ends and other channels begin, correct common misconceptions in client conversations, and contribute credibly to planning discussions with specialist teams across the account.
• Proven experience directing offshore or remote delivery teams, including briefing to a standard that removes ambiguity, setting and holding SLAs, and building quality into the process rather than inspecting for it afterwards.
• Strong client service skills and ability to build relationships with regional and local stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain complex Search topics clearly to non specialist audiences.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple markets, campaigns and priorities simultaneously.
• Ability to provide strategic leadership while remaining sufficiently hands on to identify and resolve detailed activation and performance issues.