Paid Media Manager

About Us

Longdue Games is a narrative-first, psychologically rich video game studio building ambitious cRPGs that push the boundaries of storytelling, design, and emotional depth. We’re part of the HyperionDev ecosystem, one of the world’s largest and most recognised coding education providers, backed by Meta, the UK government’s Department for Education, and a global community of nearly 2000 investors.

Our ecosystem also includes HyperDev, a developer-focused AI tools spin-out creating groundbreaking generative AI applications for software development. Together, we share a mission to combine creativity, technology, and impact, whether that’s through interactive storytelling or cutting-edge AI tools.

By joining Longdue, you’ll work alongside a diverse and ambitious team operating at the intersection of games, education, and AI innovation.

About the role

HyperionDev/Longdue is seeking a results-driven, data-focused Paid Media Manager to steer our paid media strategy and execution across multiple channels and brands. The Paid Media Manager will play a key role in driving customer acquisition and engagement through paid campaigns, ensuring alignment with our overall marketing objectives. This is a hands-on role, and you will be responsible for managing paid media channels, optimizing campaigns, and maximizing ROI across platforms like Google Ads, Meta Ads, Reddit Ads, and others. You will work closely with cross-functional teams, including product, sales, and creative, to ensure campaigns are high-impact, cost-efficient, and aligned with the business's growth goals.

As a pivotal member of the paid media team, you will manage large ad budgets, implement optimization strategies, and lead performance reporting. This is a great opportunity for you to sharpen your digital marketing skills with the budget you need to stay at the top. Your efforts will directly contribute to the company's growth by acquiring qualified leads, improving conversion rates, and maximizing lifetime value from our paid media channels.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and Lead Paid Media Strategy: Create and implement effective paid media strategies across multiple platforms (Google, Meta, Reddit, YouTube, Spotify etc.), optimizing for lead generation and sales conversions.
• Campaign Execution & Optimization: Hands-on management of day-to-day operations of paid campaigns (PPC, display, social ads) including setting up, optimizing, and scaling. Use A/B testing, audience segmentation, and creative iterations to improve CTR, conversion rates, and ROI.
• Budget and Resource Management: Own and optimize paid media budgets to ensure maximum efficiency and return on investment. Forecast, allocate, and adjust spend across channels based on performance and business objectives.
• Data-Driven Reporting & Insights: Track, analyze, and report on the performance of campaigns using tools like Looker Studio, Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads Manager. Provide actionable insights to internal stakeholders and recommend strategy improvements. Experience with BigQuery for Marketing Analytics is a plus.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with the sales, product, and creative teams to refine campaign messaging, optimize landing pages, and ensure a seamless user experience across the customer journey.
• Lead Conversion & Funnel Optimization: Continuously assess the customer funnel and optimize paid campaigns to increase lead conversion rates. Provide recommendations for improving user experience, landing page designs, and ad creatives.
• Supplier and Vendor Management: Manage relationships with key platforms (Google, Meta, etc.), staying up-to-date with new features, betas, and product developments to drive campaign success.
• Mentorship & Team Development: Act as a mentor in a growing paid media team and the wider Marketing team, sharing best practices, strategies, and insights. 
• Thought Leadership: Stay on top of industry trends and share knowledge with the team and broader organization. Advocate for new tools, technologies, and best practices that can enhance paid media performance.

Requirements

Minimum

• Minimum 3+ years of experience managing large-scale paid media campaigns, including hands-on experience with PPC, display, and social ads across platforms such as Google, Meta, and others.
• Proven experience in B2C marketing, both paid and organic, ideally within the tech, education, or SaaS sectors, with a strong focus on lead generation and acquisition (e-commerce considered).
• Advanced analytical skills: Strong command of Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager (including consent management), and other web analytics platforms. Ability to analyze campaign performance, conduct competitive and keywords analysis, and use insights to drive optimizations.
• Experience with budgeting and forecasting: Comfortable managing multi-million rand annual budgets and optimizing spend for maximum ROI.
• Creative and Strategic Mindset: Experience in A/B testing, creative optimization, and developing strategies for different stages of the customer journey.
• Excellent communication skills: Ability to clearly articulate complex ideas and campaign results to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience with CRM and marketing automation tools is a plus, as is familiarity with email marketing, landing page optimization, and conversion rate optimization (CRO).
• Action-oriented with a “roll up your sleeves approach”
• A self-starter: You should be able to work independently, manage your time effectively, and drive results in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Advantageous

• Experience with scaling ATL advertising budgets
• Experience with BigQuery/SQL used with GA4 is a plus
• Experience leading the marketing of a product to a category leader in the education market
• Knowledge of Search Engine Optimization
• Knowledge of design tools such as Figma

Benefits

• Hybrid work: We are a hybrid work organisation offering flexibility on your schedule. Remote working options are available for candidates not in proximity of a HyperionDev Campus
• Learn new tech skills: We offer our employees the opportunity to enrol part-time in our Coding Bootcamps.
• Join the heart of tech in Africa, Europe and the US: You'll work with the best of the best and rub shoulders with the world leaders in edtech, developer education, and developer assessments. Join one of the most ambitious and highest performing tech companies in the space, with a management team that draws their former experience from top tech companies.
• Life-changing work: Solve real problems that make education and tech careers accessible to those who need it most: you're allowed to brag about it.

OUR VALUES

We're a people-forward company with a purpose that underlines everything we do. We're obsessed with the potential in people and challenge them to do their best work. We embrace a culture of growth and learning to deliver on our vision and ours is a relentless quest for improvement