Senior Manager, Paid Social Lead

We're transforming the grocery industry

At Instacart, we invite the world to share love through food because we believe everyone should have access to the food they love and more time to enjoy it together. Where others see a simple need for grocery delivery, we see exciting complexity and endless opportunity to serve the varied needs of our community. We work to deliver an essential service that customers rely on to get their groceries and household goods, while also offering safe and flexible earnings opportunities to Instacart Personal Shoppers.

Instacart has become a lifeline for millions of people, and we’re building the team to help push our shopping cart forward. If you’re ready to do the best work of your life, come join our table.

Instacart is a Flex First team

There’s no one-size fits all approach to how we do our best work. Our employees have the flexibility to choose where they do their best work—whether it’s from home, an office, or your favorite coffee shop—while staying connected and building community through regular in-person events. Learn more about our flexible approach to where we work.

Overview

About the Role - We are seeking a motivated and experienced Paid Social Lead to own and drive our paid social media strategy on the growth marketing team. In this role, you will be responsible for overseeing two channel managers, developing a strong vision for the channel with both short-term and long-term roadmaps, and delivering measurable results that drive business growth. You will bring a data-driven approach to campaign strategy and execution while fostering collaboration across teams to scale performance on all paid social platforms. This is a highly XFN role, and requires collaboration with key stakeholders from data science, marketing analytics, strategic finance, creative, organic social/influencer and consumer marketing. This leadership role requires a combination of strategic vision, team management expertise, and deep knowledge of platform best practices to drive customer acquisition, engagement, and ROI for the business. You will be responsible for reporting to senior leadership on a weekly basis on the status and performance of key paid marketing and growth programs. This is an incredible opportunity to have a large impact on overarching company goals.

About the Team - The growth marketing team accelerates topline business growth by driving highly qualified traffic to Instacart via Paid, Owned and Organic channels, as efficiently as possible. We promote growth across each stage of our customer lifecycle by leveraging our earned channels (Email, Push, In-App, etc) as well as paid and digital channels (SEM, Paid Social, Connected TV, etc). This role will report into the Director of Media, alongside a team of channel managers, with two direct reports with Paid Social expertise.

About the Job

Develop and own the short-term and long-term roadmaps for all paid social media initiatives, ensuring alignment with business objectives.Design and implement robust strategies to acquire and retain customers through high-impact paid social media campaigns on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, etc.Collaborate with cross-functional teams (creative, analytics, consumer marketing) to develop cohesive campaigns that drive measurable business impact.Maintain a deep understanding of industry trends, platform updates, and competitive insights to inform strategies.Lead and mentor two channel managers, providing guidance and growth opportunities while ensuring day-to-day operational excellence.Foster a collaborative environment within the team to drive creative problem-solving and knowledge sharing.Continuously evaluate campaign performance, analyzing key metrics to identify opportunities for improvement.Implement a structured approach to testing and optimization, focusing on creative, targeting, bidding strategies, and new channel exploration.Regularly report on performance to key stakeholders, uncovering actionable insights and outlining roadmaps for channel growth.Oversee paid social budgets, ensuring efficient allocation across channels and campaigns to maximize ROI.Proactively monitor spend pacing and adjust plans when necessary to meet goals.

About You

Minimum Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in paid social media marketing, including hands-on campaign management and team leadership.
• Demonstrated success in developing paid social strategies that deliver strong business outcomes (growth, ROI, engagement, etc.).
• Expertise in managing large budgets and multi-channel campaigns across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and more.
• Strong analytical skills, with a proven ability to interpret campaign performance data and translate insights into actionable strategies.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills—both written and verbal
• Experience managing and mentoring team members in a high-performance environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• A natural "can-do" attitude who thrives in fast-paced environments.
• Strong commitment to embracing and leveraging AI tools
• Ability to balance a visionary approach with hands-on execution.
• Familiarity with creative best practices for paid social media advertising.
• A testing-first mindset with proven experience in running A/B and multivariate experiments.

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