Performance Marketing Manager

Performance Marketing Manager

Own channel execution of paid acquisition across Meta, Google, and programmatic turning Director-Growth strategy and budget into live, optimized, measurable campaigns. Acquire paying subscribers who return to watch, not vanity installs. This is a Manager-level seat: you own channel execution mostly with agentic systems with little human oversight.

Location: Noida, STAGE HQ

Company: STAGE OTT

Reports to: Director of Growth

What You Will Own (Non-Negotiable)

This is a Manager-level execution seat under Director of Growth. Strategy and budget allocation are set by the Director of Growth; you own getting the most out of every rupee assigned to your channels — with light oversight. You must build agentic AI systems which optimize for quality cohorts that convert to paying subscribers, return to watch, and renew, not cheap installs.

You are accountable for:

Building agentic AI first performance marketing systems.

Building, launching, and running paid campaigns across Meta, Google, and programmatic channels — owning day-to-day channel execution end-to-end

Hitting assigned CAC, ROAS, and CPI targets on your managed campaigns — with quality defined as convert-to-paying and return-to-watch, not install volume alone

Fast, structured input into the creative testing pipeline so winning creatives get identified and scaled quickly — within brand guardrails

Campaign hygiene: error-free setup, correct tracking/attribution, no wasted spend from misconfiguration

Your mandate: Channel Execution Ownership + Creative Testing Velocity + Quality Acquisition Read-outs + Agentic AI-Native Daily Ops under Director of Growth strategy.

The Mission

STAGE is an Entertainment Platform for India’s Regional Cultures.

We exist to celebrate, represent, and elevate the stories, emotions, and identities that define India — across regions, communities, and cultural worlds that mainstream entertainment has historically underrepresented.

The Growth function ensures this mission reaches the right audience, at the right cost, and converts into loyal, paying subscribers who return to watch. This role is the Manager-level execution engine of that mandate: every rupee you run should buy quality, not vanity.

We are looking for a Performance Marketing Manager — someone who owns channel execution with light oversight, catches issues before they burn budget, and turns data into fast, honest decisions. This is an AI-native role by default: you use AI tools and agents to move faster than a manual-only operator, not as a headline differentiator.

Scorecard (Practical)

CAC / LTV on managed campaigns, against assigned targets

ROAS on managed campaigns

Quality, not vanity — paying subscribers who return to watch; cheap installs that never convert are not wins

Campaign hygiene — error-free setup, correct tracking/attribution, no wasted spend from misconfiguration

Testing velocity — structured creative/targeting tests run and cleanly read out per month, with AI tools used to increase volume without sacrificing rigor

Reporting turnaround — how fast and clearly you can answer “how did this campaign do, and why”

Key Responsibilities

1. Channel Execution Ownership

Own setup and live management of campaigns on your channels — targeting, bid strategy, budget pacing, tracking — so optimization time isn’t spent fixing avoidable errors.

Manage live campaigns daily with Manager-level judgment; catch underperformance early and pause or reallocate spend before it burns budget, rather than waiting for a weekly review or Director escalation for every call.

Track downstream conversion, not just top-of-funnel cost — a cheap install that never converts to a paying subscriber who returns to watch isn’t a win.

Execute within brand creative guardrails set by Brand; escalate brand-risk creatives rather than shipping dilution for a short-term CPI win.

2. Creative Testing & Experimentation

Run structured A/B tests on creatives, copy, and targeting with a clear hypothesis — not random variation.

Feed fast, honest performance data back to Creative/Promo and Director of Growth so winning concepts scale and losing ones get killed quickly.

Test new ad formats (Reels, Advantage+, Performance Max, and equivalents) early rather than waiting for best practices to settle.

Use AI tools and agents (creative variant generation, copy drafting, ad-platform native AI features) to increase the number of structured tests you can run per week — more tests, not less rigor.

3. Analysis & Reporting

Translate performance data into specific, actionable next steps — not just “CTR is down.”

Deliver regular, clear reports to Director of Growth: what worked, what didn’t, what’s changing next — including quality signals (convert-to-paying, return-to-watch) where available.

Keep campaign documentation current so performance history isn’t lost when priorities shift.

Use AI tools to speed up first-pass analysis and report drafting — but the judgment on “why” and “what’s changing next” is yours, not a model’s.

4. Cross-Functional Collaboration

Align campaign timing and targeting with Content around releases, promotions, and regional/cultural moments.

Brief Creative/Promo based on what the data actually shows is and isn’t working.

Partner with Brand so paid creative stays inside brand guardrails while testing velocity stays high.

Flag tracking, attribution, or platform-policy issues immediately — don’t let a broken pixel run for a week unnoticed.

5. Market & Platform Awareness

Stay current on platform updates, bidding algorithm changes, and competitor moves in OTT/regional content.

Bring new channel or format ideas to Director of Growth with a rationale and a proposed test, not just “we should try X.”

Continuously adopt AI-assisted workflows that improve testing velocity, creative coverage, or analysis speed without lowering rigor.

Who You Are

You are obsessed with efficient, quality acquisition — paying subscribers who return to watch, not vanity install numbers.

You optimize daily; you don’t “set and monitor.”

You treat every test as a hypothesis with a clean read-out.

You are comfortable with fast-changing platforms, formats, and policies.

You use AI tools and agents as default speed, not as a substitute for understanding why a campaign performed.

You practice extreme ownership on the channels assigned to you — Manager-level ownership with light oversight.

You want to grow into broader growth judgment over time — starting with excellent channel execution.

Requirements

Experience: 4+ years in performance marketing, preferably in OTT, entertainment, or another high-volume consumer subscription business — with evidence you have owned channel execution (not only executed tickets under heavy supervision).

Proven ownership of:

Hands-on campaign management across Meta and Google (programmatic a plus), with Manager-level channel ownership

Structured creative and targeting tests with valid read-outs

Independent campaign analysis and clear reporting to a growth lead

Attribution/analytics fluency (GA4, AppsFlyer, or equivalent)

Must-have experience:

Ads Manager Proficiency — campaign-manager-level fluency in Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, and preferably programmatic tools

Channel Ownership — has owned day-to-day channel execution with light oversight, not only junior campaign ops

Analytical Rigor — comfortable pulling and interpreting campaign data independently

Valid Testing Discipline — practical experience running A/B tests with a clear read on what counts as a valid test

Attribution Fluency — working familiarity with GA4, AppsFlyer, or equivalent

AI as Default — comfort using AI tools/agents day-to-day for creative variants, copy drafting, and first-pass data analysis

Quality Mindset — understands that paying subscribers who return to watch matter more than cheap installs

Good to have:

Experience with regional/vernacular audience targeting or multi-language campaigns

Familiarity with subscription/mandate-based conversion funnels (vs. one-time e-commerce purchases)

Basic understanding of ASCI advertising guidelines for the Indian market

Cultural curiosity about regional India; fluency in any of India’s regional dialects or languages is a plus, not required

Why This Role Matters

Every efficient, quality campaign means more of STAGE’s acquisition budget reaches real regional-cultural audiences who convert and return to watch — instead of being lost to poor targeting, weak creative, or vanity installs.

This role will define whether STAGE’s growth spend:

Burns cash on cheap installs that never become subscribers who watch, or

Compounds into a precise, quality acquisition engine under Director of Growth.

Your work will directly impact:

CAC, ROAS, and campaign hygiene on managed spend

Creative testing velocity and kill/scale speed

Quality of acquired cohorts (paying subscribers who return to watch)

Director of Growth’s ability to reallocate budget with confidence

Why STAGE?

Shape Culture: We are building more than an OTT; we are preserving and celebrating India’s cultural identities through entertainment in regional context. Your work will have real-world impact.

Own Channels: Real Manager-level ownership of channel execution under Director of Growth — not a junior ticket queue.

Extreme Ownership: Real accountability from day one — you own outcomes on your channels, not just tasks.

Unmatched Growth: Get in on the ground floor of a high-growth startup and scale with us. We offer an unlimited leave policy because we trust you to deliver.