digital marketing director job description

Introduction

The digital marketing director job description defines the leader who converts online channels into predictable revenue, measurable growth, and repeatable acquisition. For business owners and marketers scaling online presence, this role links strategy to execution across search engine optimization (SEO), social media, paid advertising, content, and analytics.

This guide covers what to include in a job description, realistic KPIs, hiring and onboarding timelines, toolkits with pricing, and tactical examples you can plug into job posts and interview rubrics. It matters because a poorly scoped role wastes budget and slows growth; a precise role aligns teams, accelerates results, and protects unit economics like customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV).

Digital Marketing Director Job Description Overview

What the Role Is

A digital marketing director leads cross-channel digital strategy, sets measurable goals, allocates budget, manages internal and external teams, and reports ROI to executives. They bridge brand, product, and demand generation.

Why the Role Matters

A single director can improve efficient growth by integrating paid, organic, and owned channels so that acquisition feeds retention. Example: merging SEO-led content (organic) with targeted paid campaigns reduced CAC by 22% for a B2B SaaS company within six months when cross-channel landing pages were used and conversion rate optimization (CRO) was applied.

Where Value Shows Up

Increased qualified leads and lower CAC
Higher search visibility and organic traffic
Scalable paid media with predictable return on ad spend (ROAS)
Better data governance and reporting for decision making

Sample Scope (Annual Expectations)

Manage marketing budget: $250,000 to $3,000,000 depending on company size.
Target KPIs: 30% organic traffic growth in 6 months, CAC reduction 15-25% in 3-6 months, ROAS 3-6x on core paid channels.
Team size: 3-12 direct and indirect reports (SEO, paid media, content, analytics).

Core Responsibilities and Kpis

Responsibilities Broken Into Pillars

Strategy and planning

Define 12-month digital roadmap tied to revenue. Translate business targets into channel-level OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). Example: For $5M ARR target, allocate a demand-generation funnel producing 2,000 MQLs (marketing qualified leads) with a 5% SQL (sales qualified leads) conversion rate.

Channel execution and optimization

Oversee SEO, paid search, paid social, programmatic where applicable, email marketing, and content. Set weekly and monthly optimization cycles for paid campaigns and quarterly refreshes for SEO and content calendars.

Team leadership and vendor management

Hire, coach, and evaluate staff and agencies. Hold vendor reviews monthly and quarterly. Negotiate agency retainers and define SLAs (service-level agreements) for deliverables.

Measurement and analytics

Implement and maintain analytics stack (tagging, attribution models, dashboarding). Ensure single source of truth for CAC, LTV, churn, and channel-level ROAS.

Key Performance Indicators (Examples)

Organic sessions: +30% in 6 months
New MQLs per month: 1,000 baseline growing to 1,500 in 6 months
CAC: reduce by 20% in 3-6 months
ROAS: PPC channels average 4:1 within 90 days
Conversion rate: landing pages improve from 2% to 3.5% in 90 days

Interview and Vetting Metrics

Case study: candidate presents a 90-day paid media plan that scales spend from $10k to $30k while maintaining ROAS >= 3
Technical check: ability to audit GA4 (Google Analytics 4) implementation and propose fixes within a day
Management test: run a 30-day performance improvement plan for a hypothetical team of 5

Hiring and Onboarding Process Timeline and Checklist

Legal and Recruiting Timeline (Typical)

Week 1: Finalize role, responsibilities, compensation band, and posting.
Weeks 2-3: Sourcing and initial screening. Use LinkedIn Recruiter, industry boards, and referrals.
Weeks 3-5: First round interviews (culture and experience), second round (technical and case study), final round (executive alignment).
Week 6: Offer, negotiation, background checks, acceptance.
Week 7-10: Notice period or replacement; start date planned.

Onboarding Timeline (First 90 Days)

Day 0-7: Setup and access - grant logins to Google Ads, Google Analytics 4, Tag Manager, Meta Business Manager, SEMrush/Ahrefs, CRM, and dashboards.
Week 1-4: Audit and rapid wins - complete a 30-day channel audit delivering a prioritized list of fixes. Expected deliverables: 5 paid media optimizations, 3 SEO technical fixes, 2 landing page tests.
Month 2: Strategy delivery - present a 90-day execution plan with growth targets and budget reallocation proposals.
Month 3: Scaling and handoffs - implement the first growth sprint, set up weekly performance rituals, and define quarterly OKRs.

Onboarding Checklist (Short)

Access: Google Ads, Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, Meta Business Manager, CRM (HubSpot or Salesforce), email platform.
Data: baseline performance reports and historical data for 12 months.
Teams: introductions to product, sales, customer success, and creative.
Budget: current monthly ad spend and committed agency contracts.

Interview Questions to Include (Short)

Describe a campaign that scaled from $20k to $80k monthly spend. What were the key levers?
How do you attribute cross-channel conversions when using multiple touchpoints?
Explain a technical SEO issue you fixed and the measurable result.

Overview of Channel Roles

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): long-term acquisition; focus on high-intent queries and content hub strategy.
Social Media: brand engagement, upper-funnel awareness, and direct response for certain audiences.
Paid Advertising: immediate scale for demand capture and retargeting to convert intent.
Email and CRM: owned channel to reduce CAC and increase retention.

SEO Tactical Plan (6-12 Months)

Month 0-1: Technical audit using Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, Google Search Console. Fix crawl issues, duplicate content, and XML sitemap errors.
Months 2-4: Content hub creation targeting 20 high-intent keywords. Example target: rank top 3 for 10 keywords representing 3,000 monthly searches combined.
Months 4-12: Build backlinks via outreach, PR, and partnerships to achieve Domain Authority improvements. Expected lift: 30-50% organic traffic growth in 6-9 months.

Paid Advertising Tactical Plan (1-3 Months to Start Seeing Stable Results)

Initial 14 days: Launch test campaigns across Google Ads and Meta for 10-15 audiences with conservative budgets ($50-$200/ad set per day).
Days 15-45: Pause underperforming creatives, scale budgets 20-30% weekly on ad sets with ROAS > target.
90 days: Consolidate winners, deploy lookalike audiences, and implement automated rules and portfolio bid strategies.

Use Meta Ads Manager for paid social. Budget split example: 60% performance (lead gen), 25% prospecting, 15% retargeting.
Organic calendar: 3 posts/week on LinkedIn for B2B, 4 posts/week on Instagram for B2C. Expect steady follower growth of 5-8% per month with consistent content and paid boosts.

Cross-Channel Experiments and Attribution

Set up multi-touch attribution modeling in GA4 or a third-party like Ruler Analytics for B2B.
Run an A/B test where 50% of traffic sees long-form content plus email sequence and 50% sees only paid landing page. Measure LTV uplift at 90 days.

Examples with Numbers

Example 1: B2B SaaS company with $1.5M ARR increased MQLs by 40% in 6 months by shifting $20k/mo from broad prospecting into product-led demo campaigns and improving landing page conversion from 1.8% to 3.6%.
Example 2: Ecommerce brand with $800k annual revenue cut CAC from $42 to $31 in 3 months by combining dynamic product ads in Meta with sitewide CRO improvements that improved add-to-cart rate by 12%.

Tools and Resources

Stack by Function with Pricing (Approximate)

Analytics and attribution

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) - free for standard use. Google Analytics 360 is enterprise and may cost $150,000+/year.
Ruler Analytics - starts around $150/month for small businesses and scales with contacts and features.

SEO tools

Ahrefs - $99 to $999/month. Strong for backlink research and keyword tracking.
SEMrush - $129.95 to $549.95/month. Good for competitive analysis and PPC keyword planning.
Screaming Frog - one-time license about 200 GBP/year.

Paid advertising

Google Ads - platform free; ad spend varies. Expect management fees of 10-20% of spend or fixed $1,000-$5,000+/month for agencies.
Meta Ads Manager - platform free; ad spend varies. Creative production and targeting often drive costs.
Google Ads Smart Bidding and Performance Max are within platform.

Email and CRM

HubSpot Marketing Hub - starts free, paid tiers from $50 to $3,200+/month depending on contacts and features.
Mailchimp - free tier and paid plans starting around $13/month.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud - enterprise pricing typically high, starting thousands monthly.

Hootsuite - plans $99 to $739+/month.
Sprout Social - $99 to $249+/user/month.
Buffer - $15 to $99+/month.

Testing and personalization

Optimizely - enterprise pricing, often $50k+/year.
VWO (Visual Website Optimizer) - starts ~$199/month for small teams.

Hiring and Outsourcing Cost Comparison (Annual)

In-House Director

Salary: $110,000 to $180,000 (US median varies by region).
Benefits and taxes: add ~25% - total cost $137,500 to $225,000.
Pros: deep company alignment; full-time ownership.
Cons: hiring time, limited breadth if team is small.

Fractional or Consultancy Director

Cost: $3,000 to $8,000/month.
Pros: faster hire, flexible, immediate expertise.
Cons: limited hours, onboarding required.

Agency Retainer

Cost: $5,000 to $25,000+/month depending on scope.
Pros: broad skillset, scale.
Cons: less company-specific ownership; stopgap for growth.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Mistake 1: Vague role definition

Problem: Blurred responsibilities cause overlaps and finger-pointing.
How to avoid: Use the job description template below and name specific deliverables and KPIs. Example: “Owns SEO technical roadmap and reduces organic technical errors by 80% in 60 days.”

Mistake 2: Hiring for tactics not strategy

Problem: Hiring a candidate strong in Facebook Ads but weak at cross-channel measurement.
How to avoid: Test candidates on multi-channel scenarios and require a strategic 90-day plan during interviews.

Mistake 3: Ignoring attribution and data hygiene

Problem: Poor tagging leads to misallocated budget and bad decisions.
How to avoid: Require an initial 30-day audit and include specific audit deliverables in the onboarding checklist.

Mistake 4: Over-emphasizing vanity metrics

Problem: Focusing on followers or clicks without conversion context.
How to avoid: Tie every goal to business metrics like MQLs, SQLs, CAC, and LTV.

Mistake 5: Underfunding experimentation

Problem: No budget for tests results in stale performance.
How to avoid: Allocate 10-20% of digital budget to experiments with clear success criteria and time-boxed runs.

FAQ

What Should be the Salary Range for a Digital Marketing Director?

Salary ranges vary by market and company size. In the United States, expect $110,000 to $180,000 base with total compensation higher for strong candidates; add ~25% for benefits and taxes.

Should I Hire an in-House Director or Use an Agency?

Hire in-house when you need long-term ownership and product alignment. Use an agency or fractional director for speed, niche expertise, or when budgets are insufficient to hire full-time.

How Quickly Will a Director Deliver Measurable Results?

Paid channels typically show measurable shifts in 2-8 weeks with optimization, while SEO-based initiatives usually require 6-12 months for full impact. Expect clear 30- and 90-day deliverables.

What Kpis Should be in the Job Description?

Include CAC (customer acquisition cost), LTV (lifetime value), ROAS (return on ad spend), organic traffic growth, MQLs, conversion rates, and retention metrics tied to revenue goals.

What Tools Should the Candidate Know?

Require proficiency in Google Ads, Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, Meta Business Manager, at least one SEO tool (Ahrefs or SEMrush), and a CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce.

How Many Direct Reports Should a Director Manage?

Typical spans vary from 3-8 direct reports in early-stage companies and 8-12 or more in larger organizations. Include expected team structure in the job description.

Next Steps

Create the job post using the checklist below

Title: digital marketing director
Top three deliverables in first 90 days
Budget ownership and expected monthly ad spend
Required tools and technical skills
KPI targets and reporting cadence

Plan the hiring timeline

Post job and source candidates for 2-3 weeks.
Conduct technical and case-based interviews weeks 3-5.
Make an offer and plan a 30-90 day onboarding with audits and measurable early wins.

Prepare onboarding assets

Export 12 months of channel data and baseline reports.
Compile access list for platforms and credentials.
Schedule stakeholder meetings: product, sales, finance, and creative.

Set the first 90-day goals and review cadence

Week 2: deliver 30-day audit with prioritized fixes.
Week 6: present 90-day plan and revised budget allocations.
Week 12: show performance vs baseline and plan next quarter.

Job Description Template (Copy and Paste)

Title: Digital Marketing Director

Role summary: Lead and scale digital acquisition and retention across SEO, paid search, paid social, email, and analytics. Owns the digital roadmap, budget allocation up to $X/month, and delivery of measurable business outcomes.

Key responsibilities:

Build and execute 12-month digital strategy tied to revenue and CAC goals.
Manage and optimize paid campaigns across Google Ads and Meta with a 4:1 ROAS target.
Improve organic traffic by 30% within 6 months through technical SEO and content strategy.
Lead a team of X marketers and manage agency partners with defined SLAs.
Own analytics, attribution, and reporting; maintain GA4 and CRM integrations.

Required experience:

6+ years in digital marketing with at least 2 years managing teams.
Demonstrated success scaling paid media with budgets $10k+/month.
Technical SEO and CRO experience with measurable results.
Proficiency in Google Ads, GA4, Tag Manager, Meta Business Manager, and one SEO tool.

KPIs and targets:

Organic sessions +30% in 6 months
CAC reduction 15-25% in 3-6 months
ROAS 3-6x on core paid channels
Increase MQL volume by X% quarter over quarter

Compensation:

Base salary range $110,000 - $180,000 plus performance bonus and benefits.

Required materials for application:

Case study of a campaign you managed that scaled spend by 2x with maintained ROAS.
90-day plan sample for our product (link to product page), including 3 prioritized tests.

Closing

This digital marketing director job description and playbook equips you to recruit, hire, and onboard a leader who will align channels to revenue. Use the 90-day templates and tool pricing to set realistic expectations, and require early audits to surface quick wins while building long-term value through SEO and data-driven advertising.