Interim PPC Manager

• Contract Type:
  Fixed Term Contract / Temporary
• Portman Dentex
  
  Location:
  
  The Port - Cheltenham
• Vacancy Type:
  Central Functions
• Department:
  Marketing

Interim PPC Manager

The role

We are a growing dental group with a large portfolio of practices across the UK. Paid search is a primary driver of new patient acquisition across our estate, and we are investing in stronger in‑house oversight to sharpen performance, improve commercial accountability and get more from our agency partnerships.

We are looking for an experienced interim PPC Manager to take ownership of our paid search activity and lead our external agency relationships. This is a commercially‑minded, hands‑on role for someone who understands multi‑account PPC at scale, knows how to connect paid media investment to real business outcomes, and can bring rigour and direction to agency delivery from day one.

The role sits within the Digital Marketing team, reports to the Digital Marketing Team Lead, and is engaged on a 12‑week Fixed‑Term Contract inside IR35, with a view to extend.

Act as the primary day‑to‑day contact for all external PPC agencies, providing clear briefs, direction and performance feedback.

Define KPIs, reporting cadences and performance benchmarks for each agency relationship.

Hold agencies accountable to deliverables; challenge output quality and escalates where performance falls short of expectation.

Own the PPC retainer scope and ensure agency resource is deployed effectively against business priorities.

Lead regular agency review meetings and present findings and recommendations clearly to internal stakeholders.

Develop and maintain a PPC strategy that reflects the multi‑account, multi‑location structure of the business.

Oversee campaign structure, bidding strategy, budget allocation and audience targeting across the full account estate.

Lead local PPC activity: geo‑targeting, location extensions, local intent keywords and radius‑based campaign management.

Ensure campaigns are structured to capture demand across all relevant paid channels – Google Ads, Microsoft Ads and any applicable display or social paid formats.

Work collaboratively with the SEO function to align paid and organic strategies, avoid keyword cannibalisation and share audience and intent insight.

Develop a strong working understanding of the lead management ecosystem across the practice portfolio – including form, phone and chat conversion sources.

Work with lead management platforms to ensure accurate attribution and tracking across all paid touchpoints.

Define and monitor conversion events at each stage of the patient enquiry journey, from ad click through to booked appointment.

Identify and act on conversion rate optimisation opportunities across landing pages, ad copy and audience targeting.

Liaise with internal teams to ensure lead volumes are matched to practice capacity and CRM workflows.

Own PPC reporting: build and maintain dashboards that give clear visibility of paid performance across the estate.

Report regularly to the Digital Marketing Team Lead and wider stakeholders, translating data into clear next best actions and forward plans.

Frame PPC metrics in commercial terms – cost per lead, cost per acquisition, return on ad spend and contribution to new patient targets.

Monitor budget pacing, identify waste and proactively recommend reallocation to maximise return.

Stay ahead of platform changes (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads), algorithm updates and competitor activity, adapting strategy accordingly.

Take hands‑on ownership of Meta (Facebook and Instagram) paid social campaigns — this role requires direct execution capability, not just agency oversight.

Build, test and optimise Meta campaigns across prospecting and retargeting audiences, with a clear focus on driving patient enquiries and booked appointments.

Lead the development of paid social creative — briefing, building and iterating on ad creative in collaboration with the Practice Marketing Team, with an understanding of what drives performance in a healthcare and…