PPC Manager Job Description Templates for Small Businesses
6 templates for the companies that hire their first paid media owner without an HR department: in-house, multi-channel, e-commerce, agency, senior lead, and fractional. Download as DOCX.
The first PPC manager job description I ever wrote was a list of everything I had been doing myself at two in the morning. It ran to twenty-two bullet points, described my bottleneck rather than the job, and attracted people who were very good at talking about paid search. The account we handed over had been built by whoever the platform wizard suggested it should be built by.
Most templates you find for this role have the same problem in a tidier font. They list keyword research, bid management, and A/B testing, then stop before the three things that actually decide whether the hire works out: how much money the person will control, who owns the advertising account, and what number they are on the hook for.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for companies without an HR department, where the founder approves the ad budget and also writes the posting. The six below cover an in-house manager, a multi-channel paid media owner, e-commerce, agency side, a senior lead, and a fractional contract role, each with the budget, ownership, and classification language the generic versions skip.
TL;DR
A PPC manager owns a paid advertising budget and a target: cost per acquisition, return on ad spend, or blended acquisition cost. Size the hire to monthly spend, state the budget in the posting, and put account ownership in writing up front. Federal wage data has no PPC manager occupation; benchmark against the nearest classifications. Six templates below as DOCX.
What a PPC Manager Actually Owns
A PPC manager owns a budget and a number, which is what separates the role from a paid search specialist who executes campaigns against someone else's plan. The manager decides how the money is split, defends the split with data, and answers for the result.
Everything else follows from that. Keyword research, bidding, ad copy, and conversion tracking are the tools of the job, not the job itself. If your posting lists only the tools, you will get applicants who can operate a platform but have never been accountable for whether the spend paid back. For a purely hands-on execution hire, our SEM specialist templates are the closer fit.
Name the Budget in the Posting
The monthly ad budget under management communicates seniority faster and more honestly than any title. A candidate who has run $200,000 a month will not apply to a $4,000 a month account, and a candidate who has only run $4,000 will not waste your time on a role that needs channel allocation across six platforms. One number does the filtering that three paragraphs of requirements cannot.
Match the Role to Your Ad Spend
The right hire is a function of monthly ad spend, not of ambition. A full-time salary has to be earned back out of the efficiency gain on the budget it manages, and below a certain spend that arithmetic simply does not work no matter how good the candidate is.
Under about $5,000 a month
Contract or fractional
At this level a full-time salary costs several times the ad budget it manages, which almost never pays back. Hire a part-time or contract manager on a defined scope, and keep the accounts in your own name from day one.
Roughly $5,000 to $30,000 a month
First in-house PPC manager
This is where a dedicated hire starts to earn the salary back through better structure, faster testing, and someone who knows your margins. Expect a hands-on operator, not a strategist who delegates.
Roughly $30,000 to $100,000 a month
Paid media manager, multi-channel
Once spend crosses several channels, the job becomes allocation as much as execution. Hire for the judgment to move money between channels and to reconcile platform numbers against real revenue.
Above roughly $100,000 a month
Senior lead plus a team
At this scale one person cannot execute and steer at the same time. You are hiring someone to own a number, manage specialists or an agency, and design measurement that survives finance asking hard questions.
The tiers are rules of thumb, not rules. A complex account with thin margins and a large catalog can justify a dedicated hire at lower spend than a simple lead generation account, and a business where paid is the only acquisition channel should hire earlier than one where it is a supplement. If you are still on the fence, our guide to hiring a contractor covers the tradeoffs.
6 PPC Manager Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: company overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a budget and account access clause, a classification and compliance note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you change.
Download All 6 PPC Manager Job Description Templates
In-house, multi-channel paid media, e-commerce, agency, senior lead, and fractional. All in one download.
PPC Manager (In-House)
One owner, one budget
The baseline in-house role: owns the monthly ad budget, runs the campaigns hands-on, and reports results to leadership in plain language.
Paid Media Manager
Search plus social and more
For a budget spread across channels, where the real skill is deciding where the next dollar goes rather than optimizing one platform.
E-commerce and Shopping
Feed health plus ROAS
For online retail: Shopping and Performance Max, product feed quality, margin-aware bidding, and inventory-aware budget throttling.
Agency, Client-Facing
A book of accounts
For an agency hire carrying several client accounts, presenting results directly, and protecting retention as well as performance.
Senior PPC / Paid Media Lead
Strategy, team, vendors
For the level where the job is owning customer acquisition cost, choosing and firing vendors, and managing the people who execute.
Fractional / Contract
Defined monthly scope
For a modest budget that still needs an expert, with the account ownership and contractor classification language written in.
Template 1: PPC Manager (In-House, Standard)
The baseline in-house role: one owner for the monthly ad budget, hands-on in the accounts, reporting results to leadership in language a non-marketer can act on.
PPC Manager Job Description (In-House, Standard)
PPC MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION (IN-HOUSE)
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Marketing Director / Head of Growth / Owner]
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt] (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year
Ad budget under management: $_ per month
ABOUT [COMPANY NAME]
[Company Name] is a [industry] company in [City, State] selling [product or
service] to [customer type]. We currently spend about $_ per month across
[Google Ads / Microsoft Advertising / Meta / LinkedIn / TikTok], and we are
hiring our [first / next] in-house PPC Manager to own that budget end to end.
POSITION SUMMARY
The PPC Manager plans, launches, and optimizes our paid advertising campaigns,
owns the monthly ad budget against agreed targets for cost per acquisition and
return on ad spend, and reports results in plain language to leadership.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Own the day-to-day management of paid campaigns across [platforms]
•Plan and pace the monthly budget of $________ against [CPA / ROAS] targets
•Research keywords, build campaign and ad group structure, manage negatives
•Write and test ad copy, headlines, extensions, and creative variants
•Set and maintain conversion tracking, and reconcile it with [analytics tool]
•Run structured tests on bidding, audiences, creative, and landing pages
•Work with [design / web / content] on landing pages and offers
•Report weekly on spend, CPA, ROAS, and pipeline contribution to [role]
•Keep ad claims accurate and substantiated, and follow platform ad policies
•Forecast next quarter spend and flag when a channel stops returning
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years managing paid search or paid social budgets directly
•Demonstrated ownership of at least $________ per month in ad spend
•Hands-on skill in [Google Ads / Microsoft Advertising / Meta Ads Manager]
•Working knowledge of conversion tracking, attribution, and analytics
•Comfort presenting numbers to non-marketers without jargon
•[Bachelor's degree preferred / not required: choose one]
BUDGET AND ACCOUNT ACCESS
All advertising accounts, billing profiles, tracking containers, and data assets
remain the property of [Company Name]. The PPC Manager works inside our accounts
under [role] level access. Spending authority is $_ per month, and any
increase requires written approval from [role].
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE (read before posting)
Classify on duties and pay, not on the word Manager in the title. A salaried
paid media role that exercises real discretion over budget, strategy, and vendor
selection may qualify for the administrative exemption. A junior or heavily
directed role that mostly executes a plan set by someone else is non-exempt and
owed overtime past 40 hours in a week. Advertising claims in ad copy are your
company's legal responsibility, not the platform's. This is general information,
not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year, [bonus structure], [benefits]
To apply, email __ with your resume and one example of a
campaign you improved, including what you changed and what it moved.
Template 2: Paid Media Manager (Multi-Channel)
For a budget spread across search, social, and display, where the skill that matters is deciding where the next dollar goes rather than optimizing any single platform.
Paid Media Manager Job Description (Multi-Channel)
PAID MEDIA MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION (MULTI-CHANNEL)
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Marketing Director / Head of Growth]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt] (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year
Channels in scope: [Search, Shopping, Paid Social, Display, YouTube, Retail]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Company Name] runs paid campaigns across more than one channel, and the budget
now needs a single owner who can move money between them based on what is
working. This role covers paid search plus [paid social / display / video /
retail media], with authority to reallocate within the monthly total.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Paid Media Manager owns the full paid budget across channels, decides how it
is allocated, runs the campaigns or directs the people who do, and is measured
on blended cost per acquisition and return on ad spend rather than on any single
platform's reported numbers.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Build and own the paid media plan across [channels] for [quarter / year]
•Allocate and reallocate the monthly budget of $________ between channels
•Manage campaigns hands-on in [platforms] or direct [agency / contractors]
•Own creative briefs and the testing calendar with [design / content]
•Maintain conversion tracking, UTM discipline, and a single source of truth
•Reconcile platform-reported conversions against [analytics / CRM] revenue
•Report blended CAC, ROAS, and channel contribution to [role] [frequency]
•Manage platform reps, vendors, and any agency relationship
•Enforce brand safety, placement exclusions, and ad policy compliance
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years running paid media across at least [two / three] channels
•Track record allocating a budget of at least $________ per month
•Fluency in [Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, Microsoft Advertising, LinkedIn]
•Ability to explain why a channel is being cut, not only when it is scaled
•Strong spreadsheet and reporting skills; [SQL / BI tool] a plus
BUDGET AND ACCOUNT ACCESS
All ad accounts, business manager assets, pixels, feeds, and audiences remain
the property of [Company Name]. The Paid Media Manager holds [admin / standard]
access and may reallocate up to $_ per month between channels without
further approval.
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
A multi-channel budget owner who selects vendors, sets strategy, and commits
company money is a stronger candidate for the administrative exemption than a
single-platform executor, but the exemption still turns on the actual duties and
salary rather than the title. Do not tie variable pay to raw ad spend: paying a
percentage of spend rewards spending more, not earning more. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year, [bonus tied to blended CAC or
contribution margin, not to spend], [benefits]
To apply, email __ with your resume and a short note on how
you decide to cut a channel.
Still Using Spreadsheets for Onboarding?
Automate documents, training assignments, task management, and track onboarding progress in real time.
For online retail: Shopping and Performance Max, product feed health, margin-aware segmentation, and throttling spend on out-of-stock or low-margin items.
PPC Manager Job Description (E-commerce and Shopping)
•Segment campaigns by margin, bestseller status, and inventory position
•Hit a target ROAS of [number] while growing revenue [percent] per [period]
•Pause or throttle spend on out-of-stock and low-margin SKUs
•Manage promotional calendars, seasonal peaks, and [holiday] budget planning
•Maintain conversion tracking, enhanced conversions, and revenue accuracy
•Test creative, landing pages, and offers with [design / merchandising]
•Report ROAS, blended CAC, contribution margin, and new customer share
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years running e-commerce paid campaigns with a revenue target
•Hands-on experience with Shopping campaigns and product feed management
•Comfort working from margin data, not just platform-reported revenue
•Experience with [Shopify / BigCommerce / WooCommerce / custom] and a feed tool
•Understanding of inventory constraints and how they change bidding
BUDGET AND ACCOUNT ACCESS
Ad accounts, merchant center, product feeds, pixels, and customer lists remain
the property of [Company Name]. Customer data used for audience matching is
handled under our privacy policy and applicable consent requirements.
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Two things trip up e-commerce advertisers. First, pricing, discount, shipping,
and availability claims in ads and on landing pages must be accurate and
substantiated, and that obligation sits with the advertiser. Second, uploading
customer lists for audience targeting has privacy consequences under state
privacy laws; confirm your consent basis before the new hire starts building
audiences. Classification still turns on duties and salary, not on the title.
This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year, [bonus tied to contribution
margin], [benefits]
To apply, email __ with your resume and the ROAS and
revenue figures for an account you personally managed.
Template 4: PPC Manager (Agency, Client-Facing)
For an agency hire carrying a book of client accounts, presenting results directly, and protecting retention as well as performance. Pair it with the advertising manager templates if you are also staffing account leadership.
Reports to: [Account Director / Head of Paid Media / Owner]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt] (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year
Client load: [number] accounts, $_ to $_ per month each
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Agency Name] manages paid media for [number] clients in [industries]. We are
hiring a PPC Manager to carry a book of [number] accounts, own the results on
each, and be the person the client actually talks to on the monthly call.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Agency PPC Manager runs campaigns for an assigned portfolio of clients,
sets and defends the strategy for each account, presents results directly to
clients, and protects both retention and the agency's utilization targets.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Manage [number] client accounts across [Google Ads / Meta / Microsoft]
•Build the quarterly plan for each account and get client sign-off
•Run monthly or biweekly client calls and present results honestly
•Handle onboarding for new accounts: access, tracking, audit, quick wins
•Write scopes and flag when a client's budget cannot deliver their goal
•Keep timesheets or utilization records accurate against retainer hours
•Support new business with audits and proposals [percent] of the time
•Escalate at-risk accounts to [role] before renewal, not after
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in an agency or managing multiple accounts at once
•Comfort presenting bad months to clients without losing the relationship
•Demonstrated ability to carry [number] accounts without quality slipping
•Strong written communication for scopes, recaps, and QBR decks
•[Google Ads certification preferred / not required]
CLIENT ACCOUNT ACCESS
Client ad accounts remain the property of the client. The PPC Manager works
under delegated access and follows our access, offboarding, and data handling
policy. No client account, audience, or data asset is migrated into an
agency-owned account without the client's written consent.
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Agency roles carry two specific risks. Overtime is the first: client work
spikes at month end and around launches, and a non-exempt manager who works
past 40 hours in a week is owed overtime regardless of a salary label. The
second is misclassification of contract talent. Hiring freelance media buyers
and directing their hours, tools, and methods looks like employment to the
Department of Labor and the IRS. Classify honestly and put the terms in writing.
This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Agency Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year, [bonus tied to retention and
account performance], [benefits]
To apply, email __ with your resume and the number of
accounts and total monthly spend you have personally carried.
Template 5: Senior PPC Manager / Paid Media Lead
For the level where the job is owning customer acquisition cost as a business line, choosing and firing vendors, and managing the specialists who execute. The growth marketing manager templates cover the adjacent role when the remit runs wider than paid.
Senior PPC Manager / Paid Media Lead Job Description
SENIOR PPC MANAGER / PAID MEDIA LEAD JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [VP Marketing / CMO / Founder]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: Exempt (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year plus [bonus]
Team: [number] direct reports and [agency / contractors]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
Paid media at [Company Name] has outgrown one person. We spend $_ per
month across [channels] and work with [agency / contractors]. We are hiring a
Paid Media Lead to set the strategy, own the number, and build the small team
that executes it.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Senior PPC Manager owns paid acquisition as a business line: the strategy,
the budget, the measurement approach, the vendor relationships, and the people.
Success is measured on customer acquisition cost and payback period, not on
platform dashboards.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Own the annual paid media strategy and the $________ budget behind it
•Set targets for CAC, payback period, and incremental contribution
•Hire, coach, and review [number] specialists and coordinators
•Select, manage, and if necessary replace agency and contractor partners
•Build the measurement approach: attribution, incrementality tests, holdouts
•Present paid performance to [leadership / board] [frequency]
•Decide channel entry and exit, and defend those decisions with data
•Own budget forecasting and reforecasting with [finance]
•Set the team's testing standards, naming conventions, and documentation
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in paid media including [number] years managing people
•Track record owning a budget of at least $________ per month
•Experience choosing and firing an agency, not just working with one
•Fluency in measurement beyond last-click, including test design
•Ability to translate paid performance into finance language
BUDGET, ACCOUNT, AND VENDOR AUTHORITY
All advertising accounts, data assets, and vendor contracts belong to [Company
Name]. Signing authority is $_ per contract; anything above requires
[role] approval. The Paid Media Lead maintains the access register and removes
access within [number] business days of any departure.
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
A role that sets strategy, commits budget, selects vendors, and supervises staff
is normally exempt, most often under the administrative exemption and sometimes
the executive exemption where the person supervises two or more full-time
employees. Confirm the salary basis and level requirements are met, because
above the teaching and outside sales exceptions, exempt status still requires a
qualifying salary. Bonus structures should key on efficiency and contribution,
never on gross ad spend. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year, [bonus tied to CAC and payback],
[equity], [benefits]
To apply, email __ with your resume and a description of a
channel you shut down and why.
Template 6: Fractional / Contract PPC Manager
For a modest budget that still needs an expert, with a defined monthly scope, the account ownership clause spelled out, and an honest contractor classification note.
Hours or scope: [number] hours per month, or a defined monthly deliverable
Compensation: $_ per [hour / month] on a flat retainer
Ad budget under management: $_ per month
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Company Name] spends about $_ per month on paid advertising, which is
real money but not enough to justify a full-time hire yet. We are looking for an
experienced PPC Manager on a part-time or contract basis to run the account
properly until the spend supports bringing the role in house.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Fractional PPC Manager keeps our paid campaigns healthy and improving on a
defined monthly scope: campaign management, budget pacing, reporting, and a
short list of tests, with a clear handoff plan if we hire in house later.
SCOPE OF WORK
•Manage [Google Ads / Meta / Microsoft Advertising] campaigns within our
accounts
•Pace the monthly budget of $________ and flag overspend or underspend
•Deliver [number] structured tests per month with written results
•Provide a monthly report covering spend, CPA, ROAS, and recommendations
•Attend [number] calls per month at [frequency]
•Maintain conversion tracking and alert us when it breaks
•Document account structure and decisions so the work is transferable
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years managing paid accounts at similar spend levels
•References from [number] clients at comparable budget size
•Availability within [number] business hours for urgent account issues
•Willingness to work inside our accounts rather than a shared agency account
ACCOUNT OWNERSHIP (NON-NEGOTIABLE)
All advertising accounts, billing profiles, conversion tracking, audiences, and
historical performance data are created under and remain the property of
[Company Name]. Access is granted by invitation and revoked at the end of the
engagement. Campaign structures, keyword lists, and reporting produced under
this engagement transfer to us. No work is performed in a contractor-owned
account.
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Decide honestly whether this is a contractor or a part-time employee before you
post it. Setting the person's hours, requiring specific tools and methods,
supervising the day, and making them a continuing part of your operation all
point toward employment under Department of Labor and IRS analysis, whatever the
agreement says. A genuine contractor runs their own business, serves other
clients, and controls how the work gets done. A part-time employee is non-exempt
in most cases and owed overtime past 40 hours in a week. Put the terms and the
account ownership in writing before the first login. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [hour / month], [scope review cadence]
To apply, email __ with your rate, your availability, and
two accounts you currently manage at a similar budget.
What Belongs in the Posting
A PPC manager posting does four jobs: it qualifies candidates by scale, it filters on real platform skill, it protects the company legally, and it closes the person you want. Most postings do only the second, which is why they attract volume and not fit.
The numbers that qualify candidates
Monthly ad budget under management
Channels and platforms in scope
The target metric: CPA, ROAS, or blended CAC
Whether the role executes or directs
The parts that filter applicants
Hands-on platform requirements, named exactly
Conversion tracking and analytics expectations
Reporting cadence and audience
Team size or agency relationships to manage
The parts that protect you
FLSA classification stated on the posting
Account and data ownership language
Spending authority and approval thresholds
Equal opportunity statement
The parts that win the hire
A real salary range, not a placeholder
Bonus tied to efficiency, not to gross spend
Budget autonomy and who signs off
A named person and a real deadline to apply
The most common omission is the target metric. Candidates want to know whether they will be judged on return on ad spend, cost per acquisition, blended acquisition cost, or pipeline, because those four goals produce four different jobs. Our guide to writing a job description covers the general structure, and the hiring templates library has the rest of the marketing roles.
Account Ownership and Ad Claims
Create your advertising accounts, billing profiles, and conversion tracking under your own company before anyone else touches them, then grant access by invitation. This is the difference between a manager leaving and a manager leaving with your performance history.
The second thing to settle up front is who approves ad claims. Advertising claims are the advertiser's legal responsibility, and the Federal Trade Commission requires that objective claims be substantiated before they run. Its guidance on online advertising and marketing is the primary reference, and the duty extends to the landing page, not just the ad.
The account has to be in your name
The single most expensive mistake small advertisers make is letting a freelancer or agency create the ad account, the billing profile, and the conversion tracking under their own umbrella. When the relationship ends, the history ends with it: years of conversion data, audience lists, quality signals, and campaign structure walk out the door, and you restart cold. Create the advertising account, the merchant or business account, the billing profile, and the tag container yourself, under a company email nobody personally owns. Then invite the manager or the agency in as a user. Write it into the job description and the contract so it is settled before the first login rather than argued about at the end. This is general information, not legal advice.
Offboarding is an access problem, not a paperwork problem
A PPC manager accumulates access quickly: advertising platforms, analytics, tag management, the merchant feed, the CRM, the landing page builder, the credit card on file, and often the shared inbox where platform reps write. Small companies rarely track any of it, and it is common to find a departed contractor still holding admin rights months later. Keep a written access register per role, attach it to the employee or contractor profile, and make removal a dated task rather than a memory exercise. Rotate any shared credential the person knew, remove the billing card if it was theirs, and confirm ownership transferred rather than assuming it did.
Ad claims are your legal problem, not the platform's
Whatever the ad copy says about price, savings, availability, guarantees, results, or comparisons is a claim your company is making, and the Federal Trade Commission holds the advertiser responsible for substantiating it. Automated ad formats make this harder, because machine-assembled headlines and asset combinations can produce claims nobody wrote deliberately. Put a review step in the job description: someone approves claim language, discount math, and any testimonial or endorsement before it goes live, and the manager keeps substantiation on file. The same duty covers the landing page the ad points at, not just the ad itself. This is general information, not legal advice.
Manager in the title does not decide overtime
Job titles carry no weight in a Fair Labor Standards Act audit. A salaried paid media role that genuinely exercises discretion and independent judgment on significant matters, choosing strategy, committing budget, selecting vendors, may meet the administrative exemption. A role that mostly executes campaigns to someone else's plan, however senior the title sounds, is non-exempt: hourly or salaried non-exempt, with overtime owed past forty hours in a week. Paid media work spikes hard around launches, promotions, and peak season, so this is not a theoretical exposure. Decide classification from the real duties and the salary before you post, and track hours for anyone non-exempt. This is general information, not legal advice.
Write both into the job description rather than the onboarding checklist. Account ownership and claim approval are cheap to state before someone accepts an offer and expensive to renegotiate afterward, particularly with a contractor who has done it the other way at every previous client.
What to Pay a PPC Manager
There is no PPC manager occupation in federal wage data, so any figure you see quoted as an official PPC manager salary is coming from somewhere else. The honest approach is to bracket the role against the adjacent classifications the government does publish and then adjust for your market and spend level.
No Federal Occupation Matches This Title Exactly
The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish a PPC manager occupation. The nearest classifications, from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), are advertising and promotions managers at a median annual wage of $133,660, marketing managers at $166,790, and market research analysts and marketing specialists at $78,760, the last of which contains the search marketing strategist specialty covering paid search titles (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
For a small business, the specialist classification is usually the better anchor. The federal manager occupations are weighted toward large employers where the title means running a department with a headcount plan, which is not the job you are hiring for when one person runs the ad account.
Percentile
Advertising and promotions managers
Marketing managers
Market research analysts and marketing specialists
10th
$63,300
$90,260
$43,390
25th
$91,370
$123,020
$58,350
Median
$133,660
$166,790
$78,760
75th
$201,050
$216,410
$108,310
90th
$286,240
$293,610
$155,480
All figures are national annual wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025). A first in-house PPC hire at a small company most often lands between the 25th and 75th percentiles of the specialist classification, which is $58,350 to $108,310, with the upper half of that band reserved for someone who has genuinely owned a budget at your scale or larger. Publish a good-faith range wherever pay transparency laws apply, and keep the language neutral, since the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that indicate a preference based on a protected characteristic.
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Never tie a PPC bonus to gross ad spend. Paying a percentage of spend rewards spending more rather than earning more, and it points the person away from the least glamorous and most valuable work in paid media, which is cutting what is not returning.
Tie variable pay to efficiency instead: return on ad spend against a target, cost per acquisition, contribution margin from paid channels, or qualified pipeline. Write the arithmetic into the offer letter in terms the person can verify from a dashboard. The same logic applies to agency pricing, where percentage-of-spend retainers carry the identical incentive problem.
Bonus basis
What it actually rewards
Use it?
Percentage of ad spend
Spending more money, regardless of return
No
Return on ad spend versus target
Efficiency at a defined revenue level
Yes
Cost per acquisition versus target
Cheaper customers, with a volume floor attached
Yes, with a volume guard
Contribution margin from paid
Profit after cost of goods and ad cost
Best for e-commerce
Qualified pipeline or booked revenue
Lead quality rather than lead count
Best for B2B
Impressions, clicks, or traffic
Activity that may never convert
No
Classification is the other decision to make before you post. A salaried paid media role that exercises real discretion over strategy, budget, and vendors may meet the administrative exemption, while a role that executes a plan set by someone else is non-exempt and owed overtime past forty hours in a week. Our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through the tests, and the title on the posting carries no weight in either analysis.
Contractor Is a Test, Not a Label
Fractional paid media is usually contracted, and that is often correct: a genuine contractor runs their own business, serves other clients, and controls how the work gets done. It stops being correct when you set their hours, require your tools and methods, supervise the day, and make them a continuing part of operations. At that point the arrangement looks like employment to the Department of Labor and the IRS whatever the agreement says, and the exposure is back pay, overtime, and payroll taxes. Decide honestly before you post, because the posting is evidence.
How to Screen the Skill
Screen for evidence, not fluency. Paid media attracts confident explanation more than almost any marketing discipline, and a candidate can describe a sophisticated testing program they have never actually run without ever saying anything false.
Three exercises do most of the work. Ask for a live screen share of an account the candidate manages, numbers visible. Give a short paid exercise on your own account, asking for the first three changes and the reasoning. Then ask what they would stop spending on, because adding a channel is easy and killing one takes judgment.
Weak signal
Strong signal
Lists platforms and certifications
Walks through a live account structure and explains why it is built that way
Talks about growth and scaling
Names something they shut down and what it cost to learn
Quotes platform-reported ROAS
Explains how they reconciled platform conversions against real revenue
Proposes more tests
Prioritizes three changes and says what each is worth
References from a marketing peer
References from whoever approved the invoices
For the interview stage itself, keep the questions tied to the target metric you put in the posting, and score answers against a written rubric so two interviewers reach comparable conclusions. Adjacent analytical roles screen the same way: our marketing analyst templates use a similar evidence-first structure.
Hiring Paid Media Without an HR Department
Small-company paid media hiring fails in three predictable places: the posting describes the founder's current workload, the interview rewards confidence over evidence, and the new hire spends two weeks waiting on account access. Each has a fix.
You are the owner, the marketing department, and the person approving the ad budget
At a small company the person writing the PPC manager job description is usually the founder or a marketing generalist who has been running the ads themselves between everything else. That creates a specific trap: the posting gets written as a list of tasks you personally do today, which describes your current bottleneck rather than the job you actually need filled. Write it forward instead. Decide what the number is (cost per acquisition, return on ad spend, or blended acquisition cost), state the budget the hire will own, and let the responsibilities follow from that. A candidate who can hit the number will restructure the tasks anyway, and the ones who cannot will screen themselves out when they see a real target on the page.
You cannot judge the skill, so you end up hiring on confidence
Paid media is easy to talk about and hard to verify, which is why small employers so often hire the most fluent person in the room and find out nine months later that the account was never structured properly. Replace the impressive conversation with evidence. Ask for a screen-shared walkthrough of a live account the candidate manages, with the numbers visible. Give a short paid exercise: here is our current account, tell us the three things you would change first and why. Ask what they would stop spending on, because anyone can propose adding a channel. Then check references with the person who saw the invoices, not the person who saw the slides.
The hire starts and spends the first two weeks waiting on access and context
A paid media hire is useless without access, and access is exactly what small companies are slowest at granting: advertising platforms, analytics, tag manager, the merchant feed, the CRM, the billing profile, plus the context of margins, seasonality, and what has already been tried. Every day of waiting is budget spent on autopilot. Build the access list into onboarding as dated tasks with an owner. FirstHR was built for that kind of first-week sequence: the onboarding wizard runs the same steps for every hire, e-signature handles the offer and the confidentiality and account-ownership acknowledgments, document management keeps the access register and vendor agreements on the employee profile, and task workflows assign each grant to whoever actually holds the keys. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
Once the offer is accepted, the work becomes a sequence rather than a scramble. Confirm the terms with an offer letter, then run a dated onboarding checklist that treats every platform grant, every credential, and every ownership acknowledgment as a task with a name and a due date against it.
Key Takeaways
A PPC manager owns a budget and a target, which is what separates the role from a specialist who executes campaigns against a plan somebody else set.
State the monthly ad spend under management in the posting: one number qualifies candidates by scale faster than three paragraphs of requirements.
Size the hire to spend: fractional below roughly $5,000 a month, a hands-on in-house manager from about $5,000 to $30,000, a multi-channel owner or lead above that.
Create the advertising accounts, billing profiles, and conversion tracking under your own company first, then grant access, or the performance history leaves when the manager does.
Federal wage data has no PPC manager occupation; benchmark against adjacent classifications, where the specialist band of $58,350 to $108,310 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) brackets most small-business hires.
Never tie a bonus to gross ad spend, and decide exempt or non-exempt status from the real duties and salary rather than from the word manager in the title.
A paid media hire is only productive once the access is granted and the ownership terms are signed. FirstHR runs that first week as a repeatable sequence, with e-signature for the offer and the account-ownership acknowledgment, document management for vendor agreements and the access register, and task workflows that assign each platform grant to whoever holds the keys. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a PPC manager do?
A PPC manager owns a company’s paid advertising budget and the results it produces. The work is campaign strategy and structure, keyword and audience research, writing and testing ad copy and creative, managing bids and budget pacing, maintaining conversion tracking so the numbers are trustworthy, and reporting on cost per acquisition and return on ad spend. At manager level the job separates from a specialist role in three ways: the person decides how much goes to each channel, they are accountable for a target rather than for executing a plan someone else set, and they usually manage vendors, contractors, or an agency. In a small business the same person often owns landing pages and the offer as well, because there is nobody else to own them.
What should a PPC manager job description include?
Include seven things most postings leave out. The monthly ad budget the person will manage, because that single number tells candidates the seniority faster than any title. The channels and platforms in scope, named exactly. The target metric they will be measured on: cost per acquisition, return on ad spend, or blended acquisition cost. Whether the role is hands-on in the account or directs others. The FLSA classification. Account and data ownership language stating that advertising accounts, tracking, and audiences belong to the company. And a real salary range with a bonus structure tied to efficiency rather than to gross spend. Add the equal opportunity statement, name a person to apply to, and set a deadline. The six templates on this page carry all seven so you only fill in the brackets.
How much does a PPC manager make?
There is no PPC manager occupation in federal wage data, so you have to benchmark against adjacent classifications. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), advertising and promotions managers reported a national median annual wage of $133,660 and marketing managers $166,790, while market research analysts and marketing specialists, the classification that contains the search marketing strategist specialty, reported a median of $78,760. Most in-house PPC manager roles at small businesses sit closer to the analyst and specialist range than to the managers categories, because the federal manager occupations are weighted toward large-employer executives who supervise departments. Use the percentile ladder rather than the median: the 25th percentile for that specialist classification is $58,350 and the 75th is $108,310, which brackets the realistic range for a small-business hire.
Is a PPC manager exempt or non-exempt from overtime?
It depends on the actual duties and salary, not on the word manager in the title. A salaried paid media role that exercises discretion and independent judgment on significant matters, meaning it sets strategy, commits budget, and selects vendors, may qualify for the Fair Labor Standards Act administrative exemption if it also meets the salary basis and salary level tests. A role that primarily executes campaigns against a plan set by someone else is non-exempt and owed overtime past forty hours in a week regardless of how the title reads. This matters more in paid media than in most marketing roles because the hours spike hard around launches, promotions, and seasonal peaks. Decide the classification from the real duties before you post, state it in the posting, and track hours for anyone non-exempt. This is general information, not legal advice.
Should I pay a PPC manager a bonus based on ad spend?
No. Paying a percentage of ad spend rewards spending more money rather than earning more money, and it is the single most common compensation mistake in paid media. It pushes the person toward scaling budget past the point of profitability and away from the unglamorous work of cutting what is not returning. Tie variable pay to efficiency and outcome instead: return on ad spend against a target, cost per acquisition, contribution margin from paid channels, or qualified pipeline. If you use an agency, apply the same logic to the retainer, because percentage-of-spend agency pricing carries the identical incentive problem. Write the bonus basis into the offer in plain arithmetic the person can verify from a dashboard, so nobody argues about the calculation at review time.
Should I hire a PPC manager in house or use a contractor?
Match it to your monthly ad spend. Below roughly $5,000 a month, a full-time salary usually costs several times the budget it manages, so a fractional or contract manager on a defined scope is the better economics. Between roughly $5,000 and $30,000 a month, a dedicated in-house hire starts to earn the salary back through better account structure, faster testing, and someone who knows your margins and inventory. Above that, the question shifts from whether to hire to how many. Whichever route you take, create the advertising accounts, billing profiles, and conversion tracking under your own company first, then grant access. Contractors who work inside their own accounts take the performance history with them when the engagement ends, and rebuilding that history costs far more than the hourly rate ever saved.
How do I test whether a PPC manager candidate is any good?
Ask for evidence rather than explanation, because paid media is unusually easy to talk about convincingly. Have the candidate screen-share a live account they currently manage and walk through the structure with the numbers visible, which surfaces in five minutes whether they build campaigns deliberately or inherit whatever the platform suggests. Give a short paid exercise using your own account: name the three changes you would make first and explain why. Ask what they would stop spending on, since proposing a new channel is easy and killing a failing one is not. Ask how they verify that platform-reported conversions match real revenue, because a candidate who has never reconciled the two has never been accountable for a number. Then check references with whoever approved the invoices, and keep the exercise output and reference notes together so the evidence travels with the candidate instead of living in one person’s inbox. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
