Performance Biddable Specialist

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Job Title: Performance Biddable Specialist

Company: WPP Media South Africa

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

Reports To: Biddable Lead

Role purpose:  The Performance Biddable Specialist plans, builds, optimises and reports on Unilever sponsored search campaigns across South Africa's main retail media platforms: Takealot, Checkers Sixty60, Pick n Pay and Amazon. The role covers a large portfolio of brands across three Unilever business units (Beauty, Wellbeing & Personal Care; Home Care; and Foods). It requires daily, hands-on optimisation at keyword and SKU level, with tight control of client budgets.

Key responsibilities

Campaign management and optimisation

•    Set up, run and optimise sponsored product and sponsored search campaigns across Takealot, Checkers Sixty60, Pick n Pay and Amazon.
•    Manage keyword, SKU and placement-level bidding, adjusting bids and budgets daily based on performance, stock availability and retailer promotions.
•    Carry out keyword research, negative keyword management and search term analysis to improve relevance, ROAS and share of search.
•    Align campaigns with brand and retailer promotional calendars, launches and trade activations.
•    Test and learn on bidding strategies, ad formats and new retailer platform features as they become available.

Budget pacing and financial control

•    Track spend daily against client budgets by brand, business unit and platform, so campaigns deliver in full with no under- or overspend.
•    Keep the team's DCom pacing tracker up to date with monthly platform data.
•    Follow Unilever's billing process: confirm spend on the flowplan, check a PO has been issued, then raise CEs on time.
•    Reconcile platform-reported spend against flowplans and invoices each month, and flag discrepancies early.

Reporting and insights

•    Produce monthly and quarterly performance reports and contribute to post-campaign analyses (PCAs) for each brand.
•    Turn platform data into clear insights and recommendations for brand teams and DCom budget owners.
•    Monitor competitor activity and category trends on each retailer platform.

Governance and compliance

•    Apply Accutics naming conventions to all campaigns and follow the requirements of Client's media audit (MediaSense) and the Digital Process Audit.
•    Keep a clear change log for budget and asset changes briefed in by planners.
•    Manage platform access, campaign ownership and documentation so work can be handed over or covered without disruption.

Stakeholder management

•    Work closely with media planners on briefs, budgets and assets.
•    Build strong working relationships with Client's DCom and ecommerce teams and with retailer media account managers.
•    Back up the second Retail Media Specialist during leave and peak periods, so neither person is a single point of failure.

Requirements

Experience

•    [2 to 4] years' experience in paid search, retail media or performance marketing, ideally at an agency.
•    Hands-on experience running sponsored search on at least one retail media platform (Takealot, Checkers Sixty60, Pick n Pay, Amazon Ads or similar). Strong Google Ads search experience with a clear interest in retail media will also be considered.
•    Experience managing multiple brands or clients with separate budgets at the same time.
•    FMCG or ecommerce experience is an advantage.

Skills

•    Strong understanding of search auctions, bidding, keyword match types and ROAS-led optimisation.
•    Advanced Excel or Google Sheets skills (pivot tables, lookups, data cleaning across messy platform exports).
•    Strong attention to detail and comfort with daily, granular optimisation and budget control.
•    Able to turn data into clear, concise insights and recommendations.
•    Organised, proactive, and able to manage competing deadlines across brands and platforms.
•    Clear written and verbal communication with clients and internal teams.

Advantageous

•    Amazon Ads or Google Ads certification.
•    Experience with Power BI, Looker Studio or similar reporting tools.
•    Familiarity with media billing processes (flowplans, POs, CEs) and media audit requirements.
•    Interest in using automation and AI tools to improve campaign management and reporting.

Key performance indicators

•    Budget delivery accuracy by brand and platform (spend within agreed tolerance of plan each month).
•    Campaign performance against agreed ROAS, CPC and sales targets.
•    On-time reporting, PCAs and CE submissions.
•    Clean audit results: naming conventions, change logs and process compliance.
•    Client satisfaction from Client DCom budget owners.

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