If you’re a strategic thinker that loves helping businesses grow and forming technical campaigns (from writing enticing copy for adverts to pushing the campaign live and monitoring the success), a career in pay-per-click is creative, analytical and systematic. There are a range of paths you can go down, including the agency path, where you could be managing various campaigns for different clients. You could also be based in-house with one focus – growing the business of one brand through effective online paid strategies.

This career path can take you down a variety of different routes. Your role may blend more with digital marketing, or you could specialise in PPC alone.

As a PPC Executive, you’ll manage paid search campaigns on channels such as Google and Bing and social media. Part of your role is to create, optimise, report and to delve into the data and related analytics, to discover what is driving performance. Sometimes as a PPC Executive you will work amongst a digital marketing and media team, predominantly on PPC campaigns. You will have a sound knowledge of data and strategy with the ability to drive client campaigns (if you work for an agency) or your business. You’ll often manage budgets of various sizes, making sure you get the best for your spend. Across the business you’ll be a sounding board in terms of new strategies and the role paid search plays within the wider digital picture. In terms of hands-on PPC, you’ll work from planning through to implementing, monitoring, optimising and analysing the activity of a campaign.

As a Digital Marketing PPC Specialist, you will work amongst a digital marketing and media team, predominantly on PPC campaigns. You will have a sound knowledge of data and strategy with the ability to drive client campaigns (if you work for an agency) or your business. You’ll often manage budgets of various sizes, making sure you get the best for your spend. Across the business you’ll be a sounding board in terms of new strategies and the role paid search plays within the wider digital picture. In terms of hands-on PPC, you’ll work from planning through to implementing, monitoring, optimising and analysing the activity of a campaign.

As a PPC Account Executive, you may be part of an agency team, this role would involve managing various accounts for a wide range of clients. You’ll specialise in paid search, biddable media, programmatic and display. You’ll be instrumental in supporting the success of client accounts, ensuring successful digital marketing strategies for your clients. You’ll be comfortable working across commercial, analytical, communication and hands-on PPC based tasks.

As a PPC Specialist, you’ll provide day-to-day management and optimisation of paid search campaigns – to enhance performance in line with ROI targets. Daily PPC optimisations will include, query reports, budget/bid management, ad copy changes and keyword expansions. Competitor research will be key in staying several steps ahead of the competition. You’ll play part in the wider marketing team, ensuring a unified message is portrayed.

• PPC Specialist
• PPC Executive
• PPC Assistant
• Paid Search Specialist
• Digital Marketing PPC Specialist
• PPC Account Executive
• Head of PPC

• PPC Executive
• PPC Manager
• Head of Paid Search

We’ve outlined the latest salary benchmarks for PPC roles in the guides below:

Digital Marketing Salary guide – South West

Digital Marketing Salary guide – London & South East

Agency Salary Guide – South West

You should be naturally analytical with great organisational skills, along with the ability to communicate your ideas well and explain them technically.

You may hold a foundation degree or diploma within a relevant subject such as IT, marketing or mathematics. There are other options to get your foot in the door, such as apprenticeships, online courses and on-the-job training.

Salary:

£22k – £27k

What They Do:

Supports the setup and monitoring of PPC campaigns, handles ad copy updates, assists in keyword research, and tracks performance data.

Skills Needed:

• Google Ads and Microsoft Ads familiarity
• Keyword research tools (e.g. Keyword Planner, SEMrush)
• Excel and data handling
• Ad copywriting basics
• Budget pacing support and campaign reporting

Salary:

£22k – £27k

What They Do:

Supports the setup and monitoring of PPC campaigns, handles ad copy updates, assists in keyword research, and tracks performance data.

Skills Needed:

• Google Ads and Microsoft Ads familiarity
• Keyword research tools (e.g. Keyword Planner, SEMrush)
• Excel and data handling
• Ad copywriting basics
• Budget pacing support and campaign reporting

Salary:

£40k – £45k

What They Do:

Oversees multi-channel paid media campaigns (Search, Display, Shopping), manages accounts or agencies, and contributes to performance marketing strategy.

Skills Needed:

• Cross-platform knowledge (Google, Microsoft, Meta, LinkedIn Ads)
• Performance optimisation and bid strategies
• ROAS and CPA reporting
• Stakeholder and client communication
• Budget forecasting and pacing

Salary:

£55k – £70k

What They Do:

Leads high-budget or complex paid campaigns across channels. Shapes testing strategy, coordinates across acquisition teams, and drives efficiencies through data.

Skills Needed:

• Account audits and scaling strategies
• Advanced budget ownership
• Attribution understanding (multi-touch, post-view)
• Funnel and lifecycle targeting
• Agency and tool/vendor management

Salary:

£70k – £90k

What They Do:

Leads the overall paid media strategy across search, display, social, and video. Aligns channel goals to commercial targets and manages in-house and agency teams.

Skills Needed:

• Strategic performance forecasting
• Leadership across teams and platforms
• Investment planning and testing frameworks
• MarTech/tool selection and integration
• Executive reporting and budget control

Salary:

£90k – £120k+

What They Do:

Owns acquisition strategy across all paid channels. Oversees ROI and growth goals, aligns paid media with broader marketing and commercial strategies, and supports international scaling.

Skills Needed:

• Cross-channel performance strategy
• Executive and C-level engagement
• Innovation in automation and AI tools
• Budget ownership across territories
• Strategic roadmap and growth delivery