Performance Marketing Specialist

Job Title: Performance Marketing Specialist

Department: Marketing

Reports to: Director, Marketing

Status: Full-time, Exempt

Purpose:

The Houston Symphony is seeking a Performance Marketing Specialist to lead the planning, execution, optimization, and reporting of paid media campaigns across digital channels. This role is critical to driving patron acquisition, increasing seats sold, effectively managing advertising spend, and supporting full-funnel marketing strategies through paid search, paid social, programmatic, and other performance channels.

Essential Job Function:

Create pathway for increased ticket sales with reduced costs.

• With direction from the Chief Marketing Officer and Marketing Director, implement the digital advertising strategy for symphony subscriptions, flex packages, single tickets and lead generation.
• Own the day-to-day management of paid campaigns across Google Ads, PMax, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, programmatic display/retargeting, digital radio and CTV platforms (e.g., Hulu, Roku, Netflix).
• Develop and execute paid media and retargeting strategies aligned with cross-functional goals (ROAS, conversion rates, CAC, etc.).
• Manage paid media budget with a keen focus on reducing advertising costs while maximizing campaign performance.

Optimize campaign performance.

• Monitor campaign performance daily and make real-time optimizations to improve ROAS, CTR, CPL, and conversion rates.
• Conduct ongoing A/B testing of ad creative, copy, targeting, and landing pages to improve campaign performance.
• Regularly report on campaign insights and optimization recommendations to internal stakeholders.
• Stay current on emerging platforms, algorithm changes, and paid media trends.

Create strong working relationships to achieve goals.

• Collaborate with Marketing Technology to ensure attribution, analytics and conversion tracking is correctly implemented for all campaigns, using tools such as Google Tag Manager (GTM), UTM parameters, conversion pixels, and first-party tracking solutions.
• Partner with Email Marketing to design and implement lead generation campaigns across digital channels. Conduct planning with Creative team to produce platform-specific ad assets, including static, video, and carousel ads.

May be required to perform other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s Degree: or equivalent combination of education and experience in Digital Advertising and Marketing
• 3-5 years: of hands-on experience in digital advertising, with direct experience in managing and optimizing paid media campaigns
• Proven experience: managing paid campaigns across paid search (Google, Bing), paid social (Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, etc.), CTV (Hulu, Roku, Netflix, etc.), programmatic display, and digital radio (iHeart, Spotify, Sirius) platforms
• Strong working knowledge: of tracking tools and methods: Google Tag Manager, UTM structures, Facebook Pixel, Google Ads conversion tracking, etc.
• Experience: building and managing retargeting audiences across platforms such as AdRoll and Google
• Excellent understanding: of multi-channel attribution and how paid media fits into the broader customer journey
• Proficiency: in campaign analytics tools (Google Analytics, Looker Studio, Excel, etc.)
• Strong attention: to detail, organization, and communication skills
• Familiarity: with data privacy and compliance (GDPR, HIPAA, etc.) in digital advertising
• Certification: in Google Ads, Meta Blueprint, LinkedIn Marketing or equivalent, preferred
• Passion: for the symphony and the arts, preferred