Head of Performance

About the Role

Bench Media seeks a seasoned Head of Performance to spearhead and enhance our programmatic, paid search, and paid social media strategies. This role demands hands-on leadership, combining profound channel knowledge with excellent people management, commercial acumen, and senior client communication capabilities. The successful candidate will guide our performance team, ensure campaign excellence, and leverage data, technology, automation, and measurement to drive superior client results.

Responsibilities

• Lead daily operations and development of the performance team across programmatic, paid search, and paid social channels.
• Manage workloads, set priorities, and ensure the team has resources and support to succeed.
• Coach and mentor team members through one-on-one meetings, performance assessments, and tailored development plans.
• Oversee campaign performance metrics, expenditure, pacing, delivery, and budget control across portfolios.
• Maintain high-quality standards in campaign setup, trafficking, tracking, optimization, and quality assurance.
• Ensure media-buying adheres to best practices including viewability, brand safety, and fraud prevention.
• Contribute to strategy formulation, planning, and client presentations for key accounts.
• Develop trusted relationships with senior client stakeholders and act as escalation point for complex campaign or technical issues.
• Identify and mitigate portfolio risks ahead of client impact.
• Enhance attribution techniques, experimentation, incrementality, and conversion tracking methodologies.
• Support new-business pitches, proposals, and presentations with performance insights.
• Recognize growth opportunities within existing client relationships.
• Collaborate with Technology teams to optimize use of Bench Connect, data, automation, and AI for campaign management and reports.
• Evaluate new platforms, inventory, data, and technology partners to integrate into service offerings.
• Help evolve Bench's overall performance service proposition.

Candidate Requirements

• Minimum seven years of experience in performance media, with strong expertise in programmatic and solid knowledge of paid search and paid social.
• At least three years in a leadership role involving team management, coaching, and staff development.
• Proven track record handling complex client portfolios and leading senior client discussions on performance strategy and measurement.
• In-depth understanding of ad serving, tracking, analytics, and major media-buying platforms.
• Experience resolving complex issues related to campaigns, platforms, and measurement.
• Familiarity with attribution models, experimentation, incrementality, and analyzing performance data.
• Contributions to new pitches, organic growth, and agency product or capability development.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and presentation skills.
• Strategic and commercial mindset linking media performance to broader client and business objectives.
• Agency experience is highly desirable.

About Bench

Bench is committed to transforming possibilities into breakthrough results through the blend of media expertise, technology, data, and innovation. Joining Bench means becoming part of a pioneering independent agency where your impact and ideas are valued. This opportunity allows you to shape performance offerings while nurturing talent and managing a diverse client portfolio.

Work Environment & Benefits

• Hybrid work model with two days remote per week.
• Office located in North Sydney with harbor views and excellent public transit access.
• Paid birthday leave and two volunteering days annually for supporting your preferred causes.
• Frequent team-building and social activities foster a collaborative and supportive culture emphasizing shared growth and innovation.