Search & Performance Lead at Santa Monica Studio in United States, CA

Why Sony Interactive Entertainment?

Sony Interactive Entertainment isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is the company behind the PlayStation brand. As a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation, we’re part of a proud legacy of innovation and excellence. SIE is a dynamic technology company, delivering cutting-edge hardware and network services to more than 100 million people and an entertainment leader, home to some of the most beloved and recognizable intellectual properties (IP) in the world. Our role at SIE is to create and nurture the experiences under the PlayStation brand, a name synonymous with entertainment excellence and creativity.

Search & Performance Lead San Mateo, CA (hybrid) remote considered- west coast only

The Search & Performance Lead will join the Performance Media team and work alongside the Search Lead to help shape and execute PlayStation's global performance media strategy across the portfolio.

This role is responsible for driving engagement, increasing purchases, and improving product discovery for current and prospective PlayStation customers. Working closely with internal stakeholders, global territories, and external agency partners, the Search & Performance Lead will help shape performance media initiatives and identify opportunities to drive measurable business growth across the PlayStation portfolio.

We are looking for an experienced performance media professional with strong analytical skills, business acumen, and a deep understanding of Search Marketing and the broader performance media landscape.

The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of performance media, with deep expertise in Search Marketing and recent hands-on experience managing and optimizing paid media campaigns.

Note: The responsibilities outlined below are not exhaustive, and additional tasks may be assigned.

Responsibilities:

• Manage the day-to-day relationship with the paid media agency, ensuring high-quality execution and delivery against business objectives.
• Partner with internal teams to execute performance media initiatives, ensuring campaign details and creative are delivered on time.
• Develop and optimize search strategies to improve campaign performance and drive measurable business outcomes.
• Monitor campaign performance, identify optimization opportunities, and make data-driven recommendations to achieve business goals and KPIs.
• Apply and optimize automated bidding strategies, including tCPA and tROAS, to maximize campaign efficiency and performance.
• Collaborate with internal and external partners to develop and maintain performance reporting and dashboards.
• Deliver ad hoc, monthly, and quarterly performance insights and recommendations to key stakeholders.
• Partner with the paid media agency to identify testing opportunities, evaluate results, and implement learnings to continuously improve performance.
• Identify opportunities across Search, Retail Search, and other performance media channels to drive innovation and business growth.
• Champion automation, AI, and measurement innovations to improve campaign performance and operational efficiency.
• Stay current on performance media and search marketing trends, platform updates, best practices, and emerging technologies.

What we’re looking for:

• 5+ years' experience in Paid Search, with exposure to other performance media channels.
• Advanced level of understanding of search & biddable principles and applications.
• Excellent collaboration skills (e.g., communicating, coordinating, building consensus, influencing without authority, listening, being open to other perspectives).
• Deep understanding of automated search bidding strategies including tCPA & tROAS required.
• Exceptional analytical capabilities and the ability to turn trends into actionable insights and hypotheses.
• Experience with bid management, analytics & competitive insights tools available in the market including Search Ads 360
• An understanding of the international or global landscap
• A demonstrated track record of driving performance in house or in an agency role
• A strong understanding of SEO principles
• Experience working across multiple product lines or business units for a brand
• Oversight and awareness of the agency’s tasks & deliverables

Candidate Preferred Qualities:

• Bachelor's degree and/or equivalent experience preferred
• Forward-thinking leader with the ability to clearly define, implement, and handle scalable sustainable processes for growing team
• Experience managing changing processes, objectives and deliverables across multiple teams
• Experience working within EMEA, LATAM, ASIA or any other non US/CA territories
• Experience working with or for an entertainment or gaming brand
• Ability to balance multiple priorities and maintain strong attention to detail
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with cross-function teams positively
• Excellent communication and presentation skills both verbal and written
• Self-starter with sense of humor, passion, energy, enthusiasm to get results and affect meaningful change!
• Strong interest in video games and entertainment

At SIE, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.

Please note that the base pay range may vary in line with our hybrid working policy and individual base pay will be determined based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

In addition, this role is eligible for SIE’s top-tier benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, matching 401(k), paid time off, wellness program and coveted employee discounts for Sony products. This role also may be eligible for a bonus package. Click here to learn more.

The estimated base pay range for this role is listed below.

$128,600—$193,000 USD

Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.

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Equal Opportunity Statement:

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

Sony Interactive Entertainment is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.