Paid Media Lead

Job Description: Paid Media Lead STARZPLAY | Growth Marketing |Dubai, UAE About the role STARZPLAY is a subscription streaming service operating across MENA, with both a free, ad-supported tier and a paid subscription tier. We are looking for a Paid Media Lead to own the demand side of that business: paid media, affiliates and display inventory, under one remit. This is a broad, hands-on role. You will own paid channels end to end, the programmatic and display estate, and the affiliate and partner network that sits alongside them. You will be accountable for the volume, cost and quality of the users and subscribers those channels deliver, across both the free and paid journeys. The role suits someone who is equally comfortable inside the ad platforms and in a commercial negotiation: building and optimising campaigns, interrogating attribution data, agreeing partner terms, and presenting a clear performance view to senior stakeholders. Key responsibilities 1. Paid channel ownership Own paid acquisition end to end across Meta, Google (Search, Video, PMax, App), TikTok and Snapchat, including channel mix, launch planning and always-on activity. Own Google in full, Search, YouTube, PMax, App campaigns and ASO, as the primary intent-capture surface. Build campaign structures that serve both the free and paid journeys, from upper-funnel reach through to trial, subscription and win-back. Manage content-led campaign activity so media investment is aligned to release schedules and audience demand. 2. Display, programmatic and inventory Own the programmatic estate including DV360: deal curation, private marketplaces, inventory quality, viewability, brand safety and frequency management. Manage display inventory and placement strategy across markets, balancing reach against efficiency. Build and maintain the audience stack: first-party segments, lookalikes, exclusions and reach planning across campaigns. Hold programmatic partners to measurable incremental contribution rather than impression volume. 3. Affiliates and partner-led growth Own the affiliate and partner estate end to end: recruitment, commercial terms, payout structures, activation and ongoing performance management. Grow telco, OEM, aggregator and partner-billing acquisition, working with Commercial on revenue share, bundling and placement within partner journeys. Own MMP partner management, fraud detection and traffic quality control, filtering low-quality or incentivised traffic before it converts. Own partner payout tracking and reconciliation with Finance, and measure partner-sourced users on retained value rather than volume alone. 4. Funnel and subscriber economics Own the paid media contribution to free-tier growth and to free-to-paid conversion, working with the lifecycle and product teams. Manage acquisition against CAC, payback and LTV targets rather than against cost per install or cost per signup in isolation. Support win-back and reactivation activity, and coordinate paid spend with lifecycle activity to avoid overlap. Feed cohort quality back into buying decisions: early churn, trial-to-paid rate and retention by source should inform budget allocation, not only reporting. 5. Budget and commercial management Own the paid media budget across channels, markets and partners, including monthly pacing, in-flight reallocation and reforecasting. Track spend and efficiency against plan, and flag pacing or performance risk early rather than at month end. Negotiate and manage platform, agency, ad-tech and affiliate commercials, including annual commitments, joint business plans and beta access. Reallocate investment on evidence of audience opportunity and incremental contribution. 6. Measurement, testing and reporting Own the integrity of the measurement stack: platform pixels, server-side events and Conversions API, MMP configuration, and event signal quality. Define and defend the attribution basis used for reporting, and be explicit where platform-reported numbers diverge from back-end data. Run a structured test roadmap across bidding, audiences, placements, creative and landing experiences, with agreed success criteria and read-out dates. Apply incrementality methods, holdouts, geo tests and lift studies, where last-click reporting would otherwise misdirect investment. Deliver recurring performance reporting and a clear point of view to leadership on what is working, what should stop, and where to invest next. 7. Creative, localisation and cross-functional delivery Direct creative strategy for paid, with Arabic-first localisation rather than adapted English creative. Use dynamic and feed-based advertising formats to scale campaign activity efficiently. Work with content and marketing teams on campaign timing and priorities. Partner with product and lifecycle teams on onboarding, conversion and retention journeys where paid media is a lever. Qualifications and requirements Experience: 6-7+ years in performance or paid media marketing, with meaningful time spent hands-on in platforms rather than briefing others to run them. Breadth of scope: Proven ownership across at least two of paid social, paid search, programmatic or display, and affiliate or partner-led acquisition, and the appetite to own all three pillars. Business model: Experience in a subscription or recurring-revenue consumer business, with working command of CAC, payback, LTV, churn and cohort economics. OTT, streaming, gaming, fintech or e-commerce app backgrounds all translate. Market: Hands-on buying experience across MENA, and an understanding of how Arabic-speaking audiences behave across platforms. Technical command: Deep fluency in Google Ads, Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and DV360, plus MMPs (AppsFlyer, Adjust or similar), GA4 and server-side event tracking. Commercial skill: Track record negotiating and managing partner, agency and platform commercials, including payout models and reconciliation. Analytical capability: Advanced Excel or Sheets and comfort interrogating performance data at scale; able to question an automated report rather than accept it at face value. Communication: Able to turn complex performance data into a clear executive narrative and hold a position with commercial and finance stakeholders. Education: Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Economics, Analytics or a related field. Preferred qualifications OTT or streaming experience, particularly across both ad-supported and subscription propositions. Experience with telco bundling, carrier billing or OEM pre-load partnerships in the region. Professional working proficiency in Arabic alongside English, including a feel for Arabic nuance in performance ad copy. Working SQL and comfort querying a data warehouse to validate platform-reported performance. Exposure to marketing data connectors or ETL tooling and automated dashboarding. Experience with iOS ATT, SKAdNetwork, and privacy-led measurement, and with incrementality or geo-lift testing. Show more Show less