Group Director, Paid Search at Real Chemistry in New York City, NY

At Real Chemistry, making the world a healthier place isn’t just an aspiration—it’s our everyday reality. Our drive to transform healthcare is informed by our blend of deep scientific expertise, human-centred creativity, and AI-driven insights, fostering a unique environment where innovation thrives and our people are impact-obsessed. As a global agency, we provide a full suite of services across healthcare communications and marketing to our clients, including top players in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Our #LifeatRealChem culture is rooted in our people—we believe we are best together and are committed to excellence for both our clients and colleagues. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your career, if you share our passion for healthcare and connection, we invite you to explore our opportunities. Discover your purpose. Embrace innovation. Experience #LifeatRealChem. RC Media is Real Chemistry’s unified media offering, formed through the integration of the legacy strengths of GTO, Spring & Bond, and Real Chemistry. Today, RC Media operates as one connected team delivering modern, measurable, and insight-led media solutions for healthcare and life sciences brands. We bring together deep channel expertise, omnichannel strategy, analytics, and creative partnership to drive performance across both HCP and patient engagement. The Role Real Chemistry is seeking a Group Director, Media to lead and scale our Paid Search capability. This individual will serve as the Paid Search team lead, responsible for defining the practice, elevating activation standards, and driving performance across platforms such as Google, Bing, Open Evidence, and other query-based environments. This role will act as the senior authority for the channel, ensuring excellence in both strategy and execution while integrating paid search into broader omnichannel plans. You will lead a high-performing team, partner closely with strategy and analytics, and deliver measurable outcomes for pharma, biotech, and life sciences clients. This is a senior leadership role suited for someone with strong agency experience who can operate both strategically and hands-on, while building capability and advancing innovation within the paid search space. What You’ll Do Serve as the senior Paid Search lead across assigned accounts, owning channel strategy, investment approach, testing roadmaps, and performance outcomes Translate brand objectives into actionable paid search strategies aligned to broader omnichannel journeys across HCP and DTC audiences Guide clients through recommendations, measurement frameworks, optimization decisions, and performance storytelling Ensure all campaigns meet healthcare compliance standards in partnership with cross-functional teams Establish best practices for paid search activation, including pacing, optimization, QA, and reporting Partner with analytics and strategy teams to define KPIs, measurement approaches, and learning agendas Identify performance drivers and optimization opportunities, adjusting plans to deliver strong results Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing Paid Search team, building capability and bench strength Create scalable processes and playbooks specific to paid search, including governance models and quality standards Drive strong collaboration across RC Media, ensuring paid search is effectively integrated with strategy, analytics, planning, and creative Champion innovation across paid search platforms and tools, including AI-driven optimization, automation, and audience strategies Support new business and organic growth through insight-led paid search strategies Stay ahead of trends shaping paid search and healthcare media, including privacy changes, platform evolution, and targeting shifts Explore emerging AI and LLM-driven search environments and integrate new self-serve platforms into the paid search offering What You Bring 10+ years of experience in performance media within an agency environment, with deep specialization in paid search Experience supporting pharma, biotech, or life sciences clients, with a strong understanding of regulatory considerations Expertise in paid search strategy and activation across major platforms Ability to connect paid search to broader omnichannel strategies Proven leadership experience managing and developing teams Strong client presence with the ability to influence and communicate with senior stakeholders Analytical mindset with the ability to translate data into actionable insights Experience working cross-functionally with strategy, analytics, and creative teams Strong organizational skills and ability to operate in a fast-paced, evolving environment Pay Range: $130,000-$200,000 This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting.  Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on job-related, non-discriminatory factors including but not limited to work experience, skills, certifications, and geographical location. The Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Real Chemistry is proud to be Great Place to Work® certified; check out what our people shared about our culture and workplace on our Great Places to Work Profile here. We believe we can do our best when feeling our best, which is why we’ve put together a benefits program designed to give you the support you and your family need at every stage of life. Real Chemistry offers a comprehensive benefit program and perks, tailored to your region. Globally, this includes offices in our key markets with free snacks to keep you running all day long, generous holiday and paid time off, options for private medical, dental, and vison plans, and support in saving for the future. Other perks include mental wellness coaching and support and access to more than 13,000 online classes with LinkedIn Learning.  Learn more about our great benefits and perks and search specific offerings in your region at: www.realchemistrybenefits.com. Working with Real HART: Since the pandemic, we have adapted to how our people told us they want to work. We have office locations in cities in the US, UK, and Europe with many employees and clients that serve as hubs where and when they need us.For employees who are within an hour of one of our offices, we expect attendance in the office two days per week, either at a Real Chemistry office or onsite with clients. We are also actively opening new office locations, so if one opens near you, our Real HART policy will apply. We are not looking for attendance for the sake of attendance but believe that the opportunity to coordinate in-office team meetings, 1:1 meetings with managers, taking advantage of on-site learning, and connecting with client partners is a critical to delivering on our purpose of making healthcare what it should be.Outside of these offices, we have regions, where people work remotely but come together quarterly for collaboration, culture and learning opportunities. We call this our Real Hybrid and Regional Teams (Real HART) approach. Real Chemistry believes we are best together – and our workplace strategy fosters connection and collaboration in person – but also supports flexibility for our people. Real Chemistry is an Equal Opportunity employer. We continually strive to build and sustain an inclusive and equitable work environment where our employees feel empowered to leverage all they bring from their personal lived experience and professional expertise, to make our team the best in the industry. We encourage motivated and qualified applicants to apply without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, ethnic or national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, marital information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local employment discrimination laws where Real Chemistry operates. Should you require accommodations throughout the interview process please let your recruiter know. *Notice: Real Chemistry and its affiliates' names are being misused by scammers through messaging services, fake websites, and apps. Do not share personal or financial information or make payments to any unverified sources claiming to be connected to Real Chemistry. We are working to stop these unauthorized activities and protect our community. Read more here.