Performance Marketing Manager
Location: Hybrid (Cape Town or Johannesburg)
Employment Type: Full-Time | Permanent
Industry: HR Tech | SaaS | Global Employment Technology
WatersEdge Solutions is partnering with a fast-growing global technology business to recruit a highly commercial, data-driven Performance Marketing Manager. This is a standout opportunity for an experienced B2B performance marketer who wants genuine ownership of paid growth and the freedom to experiment, move quickly, and prove what works.
You’ll be the first dedicated paid marketing hire, working closely with senior leadership, a Growth Engineer, Content, Organic Growth, and Revenue Operations. There won’t initially be a large team or agency behind you - this role needs someone who loves being hands-on, owns the numbers, and can turn smart ideas into measurable pipeline.
About the Role
As Performance Marketing Manager, you will own the paid acquisition strategy and execution across an ABM-led, named-account approach. Rather than focusing on broad B2B campaigns and traditional MQL metrics, your success will be measured by your ability to influence target accounts and generate pipeline.
You’ll work across LinkedIn, Google, programmatic, affiliate, direct media buys, direct mail, personalised landing experiences, and emerging channels. You’ll also partner closely with technical resources to build AI-enabled workflows, enrichment pipelines, and scalable growth experiments.
This is a role for an operator rather than an overseer - someone who is comfortable being hands-on with campaigns, data, tools, experimentation, and execution.
Key Responsibilities
Own the strategy and hands-on execution of ABM-led paid acquisition against named target accounts
Manage paid media across LinkedIn, Google Search and Display, programmatic, retargeting, review platforms, and affiliate channels
Build account-level measurement and attribution across HubSpot and Salesforce
Measure success against pipeline influenced rather than MQL volume
Manage direct media buys with relevant industry publishers, newsletters, and intent platforms
Develop creative account-based approaches including direct mail, gifting, and targeted outreach
Brief and launch personalised landing pages, microsites, and 1:few ABM experiences
Partner weekly with Growth Engineering to develop agents, workflows, enrichment pipelines, and AI-assisted processes
Use LLM and AI technology to build sophisticated marketing workflows and improve execution
Work closely with SDR teams to identify and communicate which target accounts are showing buying signals
Continuously analyse campaign performance and rapidly stop initiatives that aren't producing results
Launch new growth experiments on a regular basis
Use data to identify where investment should be increased, reduced, or redirected
Own paid performance and communicate results clearly to executive stakeholders
Your First 90 Days
You’ll be expected to move quickly. Early priorities will include:
Auditing existing paid activity and removing underperforming spend
Establishing an ABM paid motion against a named 500-account target list
Building and launching an AI-enabled paid marketing workflow
Establishing reliable account-level measurement
Giving executive leadership a clear and trusted view of paid-influenced pipeline
What You’ll Bring
4+ years' B2B paid marketing experience, ideally within SaaS
Genuine Account-Based Marketing experience involving named account lists - not simply remarketing positioned as ABM
Experience with multi-channel ABM orchestration
Strong hands-on experience across LinkedIn Ads and Google Ads
Experience managing programmatic, display, retargeting, affiliate, or similar paid channels
Strong understanding of SDR handoffs and sales/marketing alignment
Experience building or working with account-level reporting and attribution
Strong understanding of HubSpot and Salesforce environments
Highly analytical and confident making decisions from performance data
Comfortable independently owning paid performance and pipeline contribution
Experience using data and enrichment platforms such as Clay, Apollo, ZoomInfo, or equivalent
Strong working knowledge of AI/LLM tools and the ability to apply them to workflows and growth problems
Technical confidence to work effectively with Growth Engineers
Strong experimentation mindset with the ability to test, learn, and iterate quickly
Commercial understanding of where a challenger brand should - and shouldn't - compete
Nice to Have
Previous experience in a high-growth SaaS or technology scale-up
Advanced Clay experience
Experience using Claude, Cursor, or similar AI tools
Experience building AI-assisted marketing workflows
Direct mail or physical gifting campaign experience
Experience with personalised microsites and 1:few ABM campaigns
G2 or Capterra advertising experience
Direct publisher and newsletter media buying experience
What’s On Offer
Competitive market-related package
Share incentive scheme
Generous vacation policy
Hybrid working environment
Four-week work-from-anywhere policy
Monthly flexible benefits allowance for medical, life, or wellness options
Team lunches and breakfasts
Office refreshments and healthy snacks
Significant autonomy over paid strategy and experimentation
Opportunity to become the first dedicated paid marketing specialist and help shape the function as the business scales
Company Culture
This is an ambitious, high-growth environment built around continuous improvement, collaboration, accountability, and excellence. People are expected to challenge conventional thinking, take ownership of outcomes, and focus on measurable impact rather than simply completing tasks.
The culture particularly suits someone who is curious, experimental, comfortable with change, and excited by the opportunity to compete creatively against significantly larger organisations.
Please Note: If you have not been contacted within 10 working days, consider your application unsuccessful.