Social Media Ads Manager

Meta Ads (Essential) | LinkedIn Ads (Desirable) | St Albans

Role Overview

Higher Education Partners (HEP) is one of the UKs leading online education businesses, delivering white-label Masters and PhD programmes across 200 courses in partnership with 12 universities.

We are expanding our in-house performance marketing team and are looking for a Paid Social Manager to take ownership of our Meta and LinkedIn advertising activity, with a particular focus on performance, audience strategy, and creative optimisation.

This is a hands-on role where you will not only manage and optimise campaigns, but also help shape how we use paid social more effectively including exploring and scaling underutilised channels, testing new creative approaches, and helping build a stronger cross-channel acquisition strategy alongside Google Ads.

At a Glance

• Location: Onsite St Albans
• Salary: £60,000
• Experience: 5+ years paid social experience
• Core Channels: Meta Ads (essential), LinkedIn Ads (desirable)
• Reports To: Growth Marketing Director
• Start Date: As soon as possible

About HEP

HEP partners with UK universities to deliver fully online postgraduate programmes across a wide range of disciplines. Our audience is primarily working professionals aged 2545 who are looking to progress their careers through further education.

Paid social is a key growth channel for us, but still an area of significant opportunity. We are looking for someone who can both optimise existing performance and help expand our creative and channel strategy particularly across Meta and LinkedIn to drive higher quality enrolment outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

Campaign Ownership & Optimisation

• Manage Meta Ads campaigns across Facebook and Instagram (prospecting, retargeting, lead generation)
• Manage LinkedIn Ads campaigns targeting professionals by role, seniority, and industry
• Optimise budgets, audiences, and creatives to improve CPL and lead quality
• Own end-to-end campaign delivery: briefing, build, launch, optimisation, reporting

Creative & Channel Development

• Work closely with creative teams to develop high-performing ad concepts, messaging, and formats
• Test and iterate across static, video, carousel, and lead form campaigns
• Identify opportunities to improve creative performance and reduce fatigue
• Help shape how we use paid social more strategically including testing new approaches and expanding underutilised channels

Audience Strategy

• Build and refine audiences using CRM data, pixel events, and engagement signals
• Develop segmented funnel strategies (prospecting vs retargeting)
• Work with analytics teams to identify high-performing audience profiles
• Manage exclusions and refinement strategies to improve efficiency and conversion rates

Tracking & Performance

• Manage Meta Pixel and Conversions API setup and optimisation
• Maintain LinkedIn Insight Tag and conversion tracking
• Report on CPL, CTR, engagement, lead quality, and conversion performance
• Build clear, actionable performance reporting for stakeholders

Collaboration & Stakeholder Management

• Work closely with Google Ads team to ensure paid social and paid search work in alignment
• Collaborate with content, CRM, and university partners on intake planning and campaign alignment
• Feed insights into wider cross-channel marketing strategy discussions
• Work with contact centre teams to understand lead quality and optimise targeting accordingly

What Were Looking For

Essential

• 5+ years experience managing Meta Ads campaigns with meaningful budgets
• Strong hands-on knowledge of Meta Ads Manager and campaign optimisation
• Experience managing paid social performance end-to-end
• Understanding of creative performance and what drives engagement and conversion
• Strong analytical skills with ability to diagnose and improve performance
• Confident communicator able to present insights to non-technical stakeholders

Desirable

• Experience with LinkedIn Ads (Campaign Manager, Lead Gen Forms, Sponsored Content)
• Background in lead generation, education, or professional services marketing
• Experience working with CRM audiences and data-driven targeting
• Exposure to Google Ads or multi-channel paid media environments
• Experience with GA4, Looker Studio, or Power BI

What We Offer

• Opportunity to own and shape paid social within a growing in-house team
• Direct impact on student enrolments and campaign performance
• Access to strong first-party data and clear conversion signals
• Collaborative, data-driven marketing environment
• Competitive salary and benefits package

Ready to take ownership of a large-scale paid search portfolio and make a direct impact within a growing higher education business? Apply now to be part of HEPs evolving performance marketing function.

HEP is a Disability Confident and equal opportunity employer. HEP evaluates qualified applicants without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, protected veteran status, disability status or any other legally protected characteristic.