Manager Paid Social & Programmatic

Overview

(This is a 6-month temporary role)The Manager, Paid Social & Programmatic owns the strategy, execution, and measurement of paid social advertising across Foot Locker Europe's markets, with Programmatic as a secondary supporting channel within the broader media mix.This role is expected to operate Smartly.io as the primary campaign management and automation platform for paid social, to build and govern an incrementality measurement framework that goes beyond platform-reported attribution, and to build out the long-term development roadmap for the channel.This role depends on strong cross-functional alignment with Media Strategy, Marketing Analytics, Creative, Integrated Marketing, and Ecomm teams. The role manages agency and platform partner relationships and is accountable for channel performance against key business and campaign KPIs.

Responsibilities

• Own paid social strategy and day-to-day execution across Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat for 6 European markets, using Smartly.io as the primary campaign management and automation layer, including feed/catalog setup, dynamic creative, and budget optimization workflows.
• Lead and develop a small team of 2 specialists, supporting with day-to-day operations and projects.
• Design and govern an incrementality measurement framework (geo-lift, holdout/PSA tests, conversion lift studies) in partnership with Marketing Analytics, to validate platform-reported attribution and inform budget allocation decisions, accelerating the transition to MTA.
• Lead a structured, hypothesis-led testing and development roadmap for the channel: one variable at a time, defined refresh cadence, funnel-aligned success metrics and turn results into actionable insights and creative feedback loops.
• Manage YouTube/DV360 activations within the broader media mix, covering alignment, optimization, and reporting.
• Drive cross-team alignment: partner with Media Strategy, Marketing Analytics, Creative and Ecomm teams to ensure paid social and programmatic plans are integrated into the always-on and brand media calendar, owning the narrative in discussion with key stakeholders.
• Collaborate closely with the Organic Social team, aligning activation strategies, content approach and post boosting workflows across both teams.
• Translate data into decisions: build and maintain reporting dashboards (GA4 and BI tooling), and communicate performance insights, test results, and recommendations clearly to the leadership teams.
• Manage agency and platform partner relationships (Meta, TikTok, Google/YouTube), including staying ahead of beta/alpha product access and roadmap changes relevant to measurement and creative automation.
• Own budget and efficiency targets (ROAS/CPA, % cost-to-sales) across platforms, with clear tracking, forecasting, and variance reporting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications or similar experience.
• 5+ years of paid social experience, ideally in B2C eCommerce or retail, with a proven track record managing significant media budgets.
• Hands-on Smartly.io experience required (or a comparable ad automation/creative platform, with a fast ramp-up expected).
• Demonstrated experience designing or running incrementality tests (geo-lift, holdout, conversion lift) and translating results into budget or strategy decisions; working knowledge of MMM concepts is a plus.
• Strong creative/content knowledge, able to write briefs, evaluate creative quality, and run structured, hypothesis-led creative tests.
• Working knowledge of DV360 and YouTube campaign management, understanding the capabilities of the platform and the value in the broader channel mix.
• Highly analytical, comfortable in GA4 and BI/reporting tools (Looker, Tableau, or similar); able to build dashboards and independently derive and communicate insights.
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration skills with proven ability to align creative, analytics, ecommerce, and regional stakeholders around a shared roadmap without formal authority over those teams.
• Experience with managing a digital marketing agency, preferably with social and programmatic experience.
• Fluent English (written & verbal); an additional European language is a plus.

Benefits

• Recognition, inclusion and belonging in a diverse environment
• 25 holidays and flexible working (hybrid position, in office ~2 days p/w)
• Employee Discount on in-store and online products
• Casual Sneaker Culture
• Learning & Health/Wellbeing programs
• Career development and growth in an ambitious international team
• Travel reimbursement
• Access to premium wellness apps
• Bike plan and contribution to gym subscription
• Pension Plan
• Discounted Collective Health plans
• Activities organized by our Social Committee#