Paid Media & Performance Marketing Specialist

Please note: This position does not offer sponsorship for overseas applicants and requires a valid Employment Permit. Applicants without the relevant experience will not be considered.

At Portobello Institute, we believe that exceptional marketing is about more than generating clicks - it is about connecting the right people with life-changing educational opportunities. We are looking for a Performance Marketing Specialist to lead our paid digital acquisition activity, using insight, creativity and data to attract high-quality prospective students and support their journey from first enquiry to enrolment.

This is a commercially focused role where you will own and continuously optimise our paid media performance across platforms such as Google, Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok. Reporting to our Marketing Manager, and working closely with our Performance & Growth Manager and CRM & Lifecycle Marketing Specialist, you will shape how prospective students discover us, test new approaches, improve conversion performance and ensure every marketing investment delivers measurable impact. If you enjoy combining analytical thinking with creative problem-solving and want to see your work directly influence enrolment growth and educational outcomes, this is an opportunity to make a genuine difference.

What You Will Do

Paid Media & Performance Marketing

Plan, build, manage and optimise paid digital campaigns across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok and other relevant platforms.

Continuously improve campaign performance through audience targeting, creative testing, bidding strategies and budget optimisation.

Manage campaign pacing and spend to maximise return on investment and support enrolment growth.

Identify opportunities to scale successful campaigns and improve acquisition efficiency.

Performance Analysis & Optimisation

Monitor campaign performance across the entire enrolment funnel - not just clicks and leads, but applications, offers and enrolments.

Analyse campaign, audience and channel performance to identify trends, opportunities and areas for improvement.

Maintain accurate tracking, attribution and reporting to ensure marketing decisions are supported by reliable data.

Translate performance insights into practical recommendations that improve commercial outcomes.

Audience, Content & Conversion

Develop and refine audience targeting strategies for different learner groups and programme portfolios.

Work with colleagues to test campaign messaging, creative, landing pages and calls to action that improve engagement and conversion.

Use student behaviour and campaign data to continually improve lead quality and conversion performance.

Monitor competitor activity and emerging digital marketing trends to identify new opportunities.

Collaboration Across the Enrolment Function

Reporting to:

Marketing Manager – campaign priorities, budget management and marketing strategy

Work closely with:

Performance & Growth Manager – funnel performance, reporting, forecasting and optimisation

CRM & Lifecycle Marketing Specialist – lead nurturing, automation and conversion journeys

Brand & Insights Executive – audience insight, messaging and creative development

Enrolments Team – lead quality feedback, applicant behaviour and conversion insights

External paid media agencies and platform partners (where applicable)

Performance, Technology & Continuous Improvement

Produce regular campaign performance reports with clear recommendations for improvement.

Use Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, CRM and reporting platforms to support data-driven decision making.

Explore new technologies and AI-assisted tools that improve campaign effectiveness, productivity and insight.

Contribute to a culture of continuous testing, learning and optimisation across the enrolment function.

The Person

You are naturally curious about what drives performance. You enjoy solving problems, testing ideas and using data to understand not just what happened, but why. You see paid media as more than launching campaigns - you see it as a powerful engine for connecting the right people with opportunities that can genuinely change their lives.

This is an exciting opportunity to join Portobello Institute at a time of significant growth and to help shape the future of performance marketing within the organisation. As a newly created role, you will have the opportunity to build capability, influence how we approach digital acquisition and play a key role in the continued evolution of our enrolment function. We are looking for someone who is excited by the opportunity to make an impact, challenge conventional thinking and continuously improve how we attract and convert prospective students.

You will thrive in this role if you:

Have proven experience delivering successful paid media or performance marketing campaigns across multiple digital platforms.

Are commercially minded and motivated by improving outcomes, not simply delivering activity.

Enjoy analysing data, identifying opportunities and turning insight into measurable improvements.

Have experience optimising campaigns through structured testing of audiences, creative, messaging and landing pages.

Are comfortable working in a fast-paced, performance-focused environment where priorities evolve and continuous improvement is expected.

Can balance analytical thinking with creativity, using evidence to inform decisions while remaining open to new ideas.

Are organised, detail-oriented and disciplined in managing budgets, campaign execution and reporting.

Enjoy collaborating with colleagues across marketing, CRM, admissions and performance functions to achieve shared goals.

Communicate clearly and confidently, translating technical performance data into practical recommendations for colleagues.

Are naturally curious, proactive and committed to continually learning new platforms, technologies and marketing techniques.

Believe that education has the power to transform lives and want your work to contribute directly to that mission.

About Portobello Institute

Portobello Institute is a small Institute with big ambitions. Our mission is to make education accessible, personalised and meaningful. Every decision we make is guided by one question: How can we create better outcomes for our students?

Our culture is collaborative, ambitious and values-driven. We believe the impossible is possible, encourage innovation and empower our people to take ownership, experiment responsibly and continuously improve. As we continue to grow, we are investing in our marketing capability and building a modern, insight-led enrolment function where data, creativity and collaboration work hand in hand.

If you are looking for a role where your ideas are valued, your expertise can shape the future of performance marketing, and your work has a direct impact on helping people transform their careers through education, we'd love to hear from you.

It Would Be Great If You Also Have

Experience in higher education, professional education or another high-consideration purchasing environment.

Experience working with HubSpot or a similar CRM platform.

Experience using Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager and Looker Studio.

Google Ads, Google Analytics or Meta Blueprint certifications.

Experience working alongside CRM, admissions or sales teams to optimise end-to-end conversion performance.

How to Apply

If you believe in the power of education and are excited by the opportunity to use data, creativity and performance marketing to connect the right people with life-changing educational opportunities, we would love to hear from you.

This is more than a paid media role - it's an opportunity to help build and shape a modern performance marketing function, continuously improve how we attract and convert prospective students, and make a measurable contribution to the growth of Portobello Institute.

Pay: €48,000.00-€52,000.00 per year

Application question(s):

When are you available to start?

At Portobello Institute, success is measured by applications, offers and enrolments - not simply lead volume. If a campaign generated lots of enquiries but very few applications, what would you investigate first and what actions would you take?

Experience:

Paid Media: 3 years (required)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Dublin, County Dublin