Find and hire a senior
Our senior paid search specialist recruiters brings operator-level judgment to your team. Retained search for paid search and paid social specialists. We place the hands-on individual contributors who run the ad accounts day to day, manage keywords, audiences, and bids, test ad creative, and optimize to the numbers, the craft-level operators who do the work themselves. Short list in 30-45 days.
Our senior paid search specialist recruiters brings operator-level judgment to your team
A paid media specialist is judged on what they do in the ad accounts: the keywords and audiences they build, the bids they manage, the creative they test, and the results they optimize to. We assess each short-list candidate on the accounts they personally ran and the numbers they moved, because the seat is hands-on craft, not coordination.
Some specialist seats are pure paid search, some pure paid social, and some run both. We calibrate to the platforms your seat actually owns, Google and Microsoft Ads, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, and assess candidates on genuine hands-on fluency with them rather than a generic paid-media label.
Our search practice includes recruiters whose specialty is performance and media talent. They can tell a specialist who genuinely ran the accounts and hit the targets from one who assisted on them, which is exactly the distinction that matters at the IC level.
We run retained search for the hands-on individual contributors who execute paid campaigns. Paid Search Specialist, Paid Social Specialist, and Paid Media Specialist. These searches open when a team needs a dedicated craft operator in the ad accounts: a DTC brand scaling paid search beyond a generalist, a company that needs a specialist to run paid social hands-on, or a team that wants one strong IC to own daily optimization across both.
Every retained search starts with a 60-minute working session that ends in a written scope. For a specialist seat the scope is concrete: whether this is paid search, paid social, or both, the platforms the operator will run (Google and Microsoft Ads, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn), the budgets and accounts they'll own, the reporting and optimization cadence, and who they report to. We calibrate to the day-to-day craft, not a title.
Specialist search turns on craft a resume hides behind team results. We assess each short-list candidate on the accounts they personally ran, the keywords and audiences they built, the creative they tested, the bids and budgets they managed, and the numbers they optimized to. The written candidate document maps each candidate's hands-on work to your seat.
Specialist-level paid talent is the deepest pool in the discipline, so the search surfaces strong candidates from our direct-placement network quickly, then expands via targeted outbound. Short list lands at roughly 6-8 named candidates with a written assessment per name.
Our retained agreements carry a no-fee replacement if the placement leaves or is asked to leave within 12 months. We calibrate hard on hands-on craft so the specialist we place can run the accounts, not just describe them.
Most retained specialist searches bundle these workstreams.
| Feature | Chameleon Collective | Traditional retained search firm | Contingency recruiter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to short list | 14-21 days | 30-45 days | Variable, volume-driven |
| Hands-on craft assessment | Yes, written per short-list candidate | Variable, often a polite glance | Rarely, resume-keyword driven |
| Search / social / platform calibration | Written scope to your platforms | Job-description-driven | Job-description-driven |
| Dedicated performance / paid recruiting depth | Yes, recruiters who read the real work | Generalist | Generalist |
| Engagement fee structure | Retained, fixed cap | Retained, % of comp (typically 20-25%) | Contingency, % of comp on placement |
| Replacement guarantee | 12 months, no fee | 6-12 months variable | 30-90 days typical |
| Interim specialist bridge | Yes, from internal collective | No | No |
| Onboarding support | 90-day post-placement bridge | Limited to start date | None |
Common questions from paid-media managers, growth leaders, and founders hiring a paid search or paid social specialist.
Our paid search specialist recruiters advises: Yes. This search covers both: paid search specialists (Google and Microsoft Ads) and paid social specialists (Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn), plus generalist paid-media specialists who run both. We calibrate to the platforms your seat actually owns and assess candidates on hands-on fluency with them.
Our paid search specialist recruiters advises: A manager runs the program and often a team or agency. A specialist is the individual contributor in the ad accounts: building keywords and audiences, testing creative, managing bids, and optimizing daily. We assess specialists purely on hands-on craft, the accounts they ran and the numbers they moved, because that is the whole seat.
Our paid search specialist recruiters advises: Most retained specialist searches close in 30-45 days from kickoff to signed offer, with the short list in 14-21 days. Specialist-level paid talent is the deepest pool in the discipline, so these typically move fast.
Most Chameleon retained searches at the specialist level run $20K-$45K with a fixed cap, depending on the platform mix and seniority within the IC band. We quote a fixed number after calibration, not a percentage of comp.
Both. We screen against the platform-and-seat calibration first, then you review every short-list candidate yourself with our written hands-on craft assessment as a reading aid.
Yes. Our collective includes Fractional and Interim paid operators who can keep the accounts optimized while the search closes, then hand off cleanly to the permanent hire.
Our retained agreements carry a 12-month no-fee replacement guarantee. If the placement leaves or is asked to leave within 12 months, we run the search again at no fee.
Directly. The engagement partner runs your search end to end, with no junior researcher layer between you and the recruiter.
The ad accounts still need daily optimization while you hire. Our collective includes Fractional and Interim paid operators who can keep the campaigns optimized while the search closes, then hand off cleanly to the permanent specialist.
Get In Touch
Tell us whether you need paid search, paid social, or both, and the platforms and budgets the specialist will run. We'll tell you what kind of search fits and what the fixed cap will be.
Paid search and paid social specialist placements across DTC brands, growth companies, and agencies, where the individual contributor runs the ad accounts hands-on: keyword and audience research, bid and budget management, ad copy and creative testing, daily optimization and QA, and the campaign reporting.
Tell us whether this is paid search, paid social, or both, and the platforms and budgets the specialist will run. We'll tell you what kind of search fits.
Schedule a conversationSpotlight
A deeper read on a few of the operators above: who they are and what they bring.
Featured Case Study
DailyLook
Retail & eCommerce
DailyLook, a rising star in the subscription box industry, was in rapid growth mode when we started working with them. Being a digitally native brand, the company required specialized talent in Social Media and Retention Strategy to maintain their pace of acquiring new subscribers.
We have been collaborating closely with DailyLook CEO/ COO ever since to comprehend their hiring requirements. We have worked with them through their acquisition by Victoria Secret. Leveraging our robust network, we swiftly placed a Social Media Sr Manager and a Head of Growth. Encouraged by this success, we were asked to find a Head of Retention & Loyalty Marketing. We recently placed an Operations lead to focus on the Victoria Secret integration. Once again, our wide-ranging connections helped identify an exceptional candidate in minimal time.
Our recruiting efforts significantly bolstered DailyLook marketing team, equipping them with crucial skills in social media and retention marketing. The rapid placement of these critical roles has helped DailyLook in sustaining its growth momentum. As the company continues to expand and became profitable, we remain a trusted recruitment partner, ready to support their future growth needs.
“When a team needed a craft operator who could run the ad accounts and move the numbers, Chameleon ran the search calibrated to hands-on paid execution, placing a specialist who could do the work rather than one who had only assisted on it.”
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