Performance Director

Digital Performance Director

Location: Cape Town
Working pattern: Hybrid, 3 days in office (Ideas Cartel)
Type: Permanent

We are working with a fast-growing international digital agency that is looking for a Digital Performance Director to lead its paid media and performance marketing function from Cape Town.

This is a senior leadership role for someone who can raise standards across the agency, drive technical excellence and ensure all paid media activity is being managed to a high level. The role is ideal for someone who is still close to the platforms, highly analytical and confident enough to challenge teams, improve processes and set clear performance expectations.

The successful candidate will oversee a team of digital marketers across paid search and paid social, with a strong focus on Google Ads, Meta, ecommerce performance and agency-wide best practice.

Key responsibilities

• Own performance standards across all paid media accounts
• Lead and develop a team of performance marketers, including managers and executives
• Ensure campaigns are structured, optimised and measured correctly across Google, Meta and other paid channels
• Establish and improve agency-wide best practices, playbooks and quality standards
• Conduct regular account audits and identify areas for improvement
• Build testing frameworks across bidding, audiences, creative, landing pages and measurement
• Ensure teams are following a clear optimisation cadence and working to high standards
• Act as the senior escalation point for performance-related challenges
• Provide strategic guidance across ecommerce and lead generation accounts
• Support the adoption of new platform features, automation and AI-driven solutions
• Define standards around tracking, reporting, attribution and measurement
• Oversee GA4, Google Tag Manager, Google Merchant Centre and conversion tracking requirements
• Train, coach and mentor the team on paid media best practice
• Support senior stakeholders with performance reviews, planning and growth opportunities
• Help improve internal processes, team capability and overall agency delivery

What they are looking for

• 8+ years of hands-on paid media experience
• 4+ years' experience managing or developing performance marketing teams
• Strong agency-side experience preferred
• Expert knowledge of Google Ads and Meta Ads
• Strong experience with Google Merchant Centre, Performance Max, GA4 and Google Tag Manager
• Good understanding of Microsoft Ads, YouTube, TikTok and emerging paid media channels
• Proven ecommerce experience is highly preferred
• Experience working with Shopify reporting, AOV, lifetime value and ecommerce measurement
• Strong understanding of attribution, tracking, testing and incrementality
• Ability to audit accounts and quickly identify poor setup, weak structure or missed opportunities
• Confident creating frameworks, processes and best-practice standards
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent leadership, coaching and stakeholder management ability
• Comfortable holding teams accountable and maintaining high standards

Nice to have

• Server-side tracking experience
• Feed management platform experience
• Experience building agency capability frameworks
• Experience supporting new business or pitch work
• Experience working with UK, US or international clients
• Large-budget account experience

Personality fit

• Confident, direct and commercially minded
• Still close enough to the platforms to know what good looks like
• Able to challenge recommendations rather than blindly follow platform best practice
• Strong enough to improve standards across a growing team
• Analytical, structured and detail-focused
• Comfortable being the person who keeps performance quality under control

Package and benefits

• Competitive salary
• Performance-based bonus
• Hybrid working in Cape Town
• Access to industry events and certifications
• Clear progression opportunities
• Opportunity to shape the performance function of a growing international agency

Sphere Digital Recruitment currently have a variety of job opportunities across digital so feel free to get in touch with us to find out how we can help you. Please take a look at our website.

Sphere is an equal opportunities employer. We encourage applications regardless of ethnic origin, race, religious beliefs, age, disability, gender or sexual orientation, and any other protected status as required by applicable law.

If you require any adjustments or additional support during the recruitment process for any reason whatsoever, please let us know.