Manager, Performance Marketing, SEM

About Airwallex

Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by our unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software, we empower over 150,000 businesses worldwide – including Brex, Rippling, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN and many more – with fully integrated solutions to manage everything from business accounts, payments, spend management and treasury, to embedded finance at a global scale.

Proudly founded in Melbourne, we have a team of over 1,800 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US $6.2 billion and backed by world‑leading investors including Visa, Airtree, Blackbird, Sequoia, DST Global, Greenoaks, Salesforce Ventures, Lone Pine, and Square Peg, Airwallex is leading the charge in building the global payments and financial platform of the future.

If you’re ready to do the most ambitious work of your career, join us.

We hire successful builders with founder‑like energy who want real impact, accelerated learning, and true ownership. You bring strong role‑related expertise and sharp thinking, and you’re motivated by our mission and operating principles. You move fast with good judgment, dig deep with curiosity, and make decisions from first principles, balancing speed and rigor.

You're humble and collaborative; turn zero‑to‑one ideas into real products, and you “get stuff done” end‑to‑end. You use AI to work smarter and solve problems faster. Here, you’ll tackle complex, high‑visibility problems with exceptional teammates and grow your career as we build the future of global banking. If that sounds like you, let’s build what’s next.

The Marketing team at Airwallex drives brand awareness and customer engagement through innovative and strategic campaigns. We work to communicate the value of our financial solutions, attract new customers, and strengthen relationships with existing ones. By leveraging data‑driven insights and creative strategies, we ensure Airwallex stands out in a competitive market. Our team is passionate about telling the Airwallex story and supporting the company's growth and success.

We’re looking for a strategic, analytical, and deeply experienced SEM leader to own and scale our global paid search program.

As the Associate Director, Performance Marketing (SEM), you’ll lead the strategy, investment, and execution of search engine marketing across Google and Microsoft Ads. You’ll manage a multi‑million‑dollar budget, define our SEM growth roadmap, and partner closely with product marketing, regional marketing, and analytics to drive measurable business outcomes — from lead generation to revenue contribution.

This role is ideal for someone who can operate both strategically and tactically: designing frameworks for growth, mentoring regional and channel specialists, and ensuring our paid search programs deliver sustainable ROI across multiple regions and audiences.

This role is based in San Francisco.

• Own the global SEM strategy, setting the vision for how paid search drives customer acquisition, lead generation, and pipeline growth across segments (SMB, mid‑market, enterprise).
• Develop and execute short‑and long‑term SEM growth plans, balancing efficiency (LTV:
  
  CAC) with scale.
• Partner with Global Performance Marketing Strategy, Product Marketing, and Regional Leads to localize SEM campaigns for each market’s commercial priorities.
• Manage annual and quarterly budget planning, pacing, and forecasting for paid search investments.
• Serve as the SEM thought leader, identifying innovation opportunities in automation, AI bidding, audience layering, and creative testing.

• Oversee campaign structure, keyword strategy, bidding models, and creative optimization across Google and Microsoft Ads.
• Implement testing frameworks (ad copy, landing pages, audiences, match types) to continuously improve CTR, CVR, and pipeline conversion.
• Partner with Analytics and Data teams to ensure end‑to‑end visibility into ROI, pipeline contribution, and attribution across campaigns.
• Drive adoption of value‑based bidding (VBB) and audience‑first…