Digital marketing recruitment — PPC, Google Ads, Meta

The hiring pain is real, and it is not a sourcing problem.

Digital marketing recruitment fails in a familiar way. The brief is a channel list. The agency returns people who have “PPC” in a headline and a campaign they sat near in 2019. You need someone who can read a Google Ads account, argue with a GA4 view, and tell you whether Meta is doing anything. Performance roles are expensive to get wrong. A volume CV spray makes them more expensive.

Digital marketing recruitment here means people who can open the account: PPC, Google Ads, Meta, GA4, heads of performance. Viktorija has recruited this market for years. She does not send media-buyer lookalikes harvested from a board. Network only. £450 to start.

If the last three interviews could talk about channels but not about an account, the sourcing method is the problem. A specialist search is quieter than a campaign to fill a spreadsheet, and that is the point.

Credentials she vets

What actually gets checked.

Hands-on Google Ads — structure, bidding, and whether they can explain a change
Meta (paid social) where the brief actually needs it
GA4 literacy: events, conversions, and the difference between a dashboard and a decision
Whether they have owned a number, not only a channel

Typical searches

Roles she is asked to find.

PPC and paid search specialists
Performance and paid social (Meta) roles
Heads of performance and digital marketing managers
Analysts who can live in GA4 without hiding behind a slide

The brief

What a strong digital marketing brief contains.

The number they will own

Say which number the hire is expected to move: cost per lead, revenue, return on ad spend or qualified pipeline. Someone who has only reported on clicks and impressions is a different hire from someone who has carried a revenue target and defended a budget to a finance director. Be honest about the budget range and how many accounts or brands they will run, because good candidates judge the role on scope and authority, not on the job title.

The accounts, the access and the agency question

List the platforms that matter, whether the work is in-house or shared with an agency, and who owns conversion tracking. A strong PPC or paid social specialist will ask whether they can change account structure, landing pages and tracking, or only adjust bids inside someone else’s setup. If the answer is the latter, say so. It changes who will be interested and who will stay.

How the interview should run

Ask for a walk-through of a real account they have managed, anonymised where needed: what they found, what they changed first and what happened next. Ask how they would check tracking before touching bids in a new account, and how they explain a bad month to a non-specialist. Avoid long take-home tasks that amount to free consultancy; a structured conversation about real decisions tells you more and respects the candidate’s time.

Questions

FAQs

Which digital marketing roles do you recruit?

PPC and paid search specialists, Google Ads account managers, paid social and Meta specialists, performance marketing managers, heads of performance and analysts who work in GA4. The common thread is that the person owns a number, not only a channel.

How do you test whether a PPC candidate can really run an account?

Ask them to walk through an account they have owned: the structure, the bidding approach, how conversions were tracked and one change they made and why. Strong candidates explain the trade-off and what the numbers did next. Weaker ones describe the platform rather than their decisions.

Should a performance marketer also understand GA4?

Usually, yes. Anyone managing paid spend should understand how conversions are defined and recorded, because bidding decisions depend on that data. The brief should say whether they will own measurement themselves or work alongside an analyst or agency.

Can the search stay discreet if we are replacing someone?

Yes. The role is not posted on job boards. Viktorija approaches people through her network and your name is shared only when you have agreed it, so you can plan a handover before anyone hears about it.

What does the £450 fee cover?

It opens a named, network-only search: a tightened brief, confidential approaches through Viktorija’s network and a shortlist she will stand behind. It is not a listing charge or payment for a batch of unsolicited CVs. If the brief is not a fit, she will say so before anyone pays.

A short note is enough. If it is not a fit, she will say so.

Start a search

Digital marketing recruitment for people who can open the account.