Senior Performance Manager

Location: Hybrid - minimum 2 days per week in the Liverpool office (Tuesday & Wednesday)

Salary: From £48,000 + 10% discretionary bonus

Level: Senior manager-level, with scope across the VMG partnership and four direct reports.

About the Role

We are looking for a Senior Client Manager (Performance) to join our Very Media Group partnership. In this role, you will lead VMG’s performance-first approach across planning, operations, and data, helping to drive incremental revenue, improve media effectiveness, and unlock new commercial opportunities through strategic, insight-led planning.

If you love variety, thrive in a fast-paced environment, and embrace change with energy, this could be your right role.

Why SMG?

At SMG, we hire for the future, which is fast-moving and changing shape . Do you have the potential to help shape our business? We’re looking for brilliant, diverse talent who want to grow with us—people who are curious, ambitious, and eager to learn, whether as specialists or across teams.

Our culture is everything. If you’re someone who stays honest, stays hungry, stays foolish, and has fun, you’ll feel right at home here.

We value those who take ownership of their growth and bring fresh perspectives. That’s why we’re committed to equity, inclusion, and building a place where everyone feels empowered to grow . At SMG, it’s not just about filling a role but building the future together.

• 10% discretionary bonus
• £1,800 yearly wellbeing fund (on top of your salary!)
• Free Headspace subscription
• £500 yearly “Learning Fund” for learning
• 4 extra Wellbeing Days off per year
• 4pm finishes every Friday
• Flexible and hybrid working

Explore all our benefits here

Are We What You’re Looking For?

We move fast, adapt quickly, and like to challenge each other. We're looking for people who enjoy the buzz of change, the satisfaction of building something better, and the joy of working with a close-knit, values-driven team .

This isn’t for everyone, but if you thrive in this environment, we’d love to meet you!

A Little Bit About You

You’ll bring:

• Strong experience in performance marketing, digital media planning, or retail media
• A proven track record of driving revenue growth through media optimisation and planning
• Experience working across multiple channels such as Criteo, Paid Social, Programmatic, CRM, or Retail Media
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to use data to shape strategy and decision-making
• A commercial mindset and a clear focus on growth, performance, and media effectiveness
• The ability to influence stakeholders and build strong cross-functional relationships
• Strategic thinking, with the ability to turn insight into action
• Confidence leading, developing, and upskilling others
• A proactive, solutions-focused, and highly organised approach
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to influence at all levels
• A passion for continuous improvement, innovation, and evolving ways of working

Don’t meet every single requirement? We still want to hear from you. If you believe you’d thrive in this role, your unique perspective might be just what we’re looking for.

What You’ll Be Doing

Your days will be dynamic. You might find yourself:

• Leading VMG’s performance-first planning approach across planning, operations, and data
• Creating clear, insight-led planning frameworks that drive revenue and improve media effectiveness
• Identifying incremental revenue opportunities through strategic media planning and investment optimisation
• Partnering with internal Very channel teams across Criteo, Social, CRM, App, and Offsite to improve activation and performance
• Building a more joined-up approach to cross-channel media planning and delivery
• Using data and insight to inform planning, optimisation, and strategic decision-making
• Improving tools, processes, and ways of working to make performance activity more efficient, scalable, and consistent
• Overseeing performance reporting frameworks, making sure outputs are clear, actionable, and focused on continuous improvement
• Managing and developing four direct reports, while raising capability and confidence in performance media across the team
• Building strong relationships across VMG, The Very Group, and external platform and media partners
• Spotting new channels, approaches, and growth opportunities to evolve VMG’s performance offering

Our Values

Stay honest. Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Have fun.

Explore what that means to us here

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