Manager, SEM (12-month contract)

Job Description:

Here at Rakuten Kobo Inc. we offer a casual working start-up environment and a group of friendly and talented individuals. Our employees rank us highly in terms of commitment to work/life balance. We realize that for our people to be innovative, creative and passionate they need to feel valued and supported.
If you’re looking for a company that inspires passion, personal, and professional growth – join Kobo and come help us on our mission of making reading lives better.

The Role:

We’re looking for an experienced SEM Manager to join Rakuten Kobo on a 12-month contract as an independent contractor to help lead the day-to-day management and optimization of our global paid search program across Devices, Kobo Plus and Content.

This is a hands-on performance marketing role for someone who can step in quickly, operate independently and make an immediate impact. You’ll own campaign execution and optimization, manage investment across multiple markets, and continuously improve performance through smarter bidding, targeting, testing and budget allocation.

You’ll work closely with Media, eCommerce, SEO, Analytics, Creative and agency/platform partners to ensure paid search efficiently captures demand and delivers against clear commercial outcomes.

What You’ll Do

• Own day-to-day management and optimization of Kobo’s global paid search campaigns across Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising.
• Manage SEM across multiple lines of business, including Devices, Kobo Plus subscriptions and digital Content.
• Manage budgets and pacing across markets, products and campaigns, proactively reallocating investment based on performance.
• Optimize against key metrics including CPA/CAC, ROAS, revenue, conversion and contribution margin.
• Develop and optimize campaign structures, bidding strategies, keywords, audiences, match types and negative keyword strategies.
• Manage Search, Shopping/PMax and other relevant paid search campaign formats.
• Build and launch campaigns supporting promotions, product priorities and key commercial periods.
• Lead ongoing testing across ad copy, creative, audiences, bidding approaches and landing pages.
• Monitor performance closely, quickly identify issues or opportunities, and take action without requiring significant oversight.
• Partner with SEO to understand paid and organic search performance together and identify where paid investment is most incremental.
• Provide clear, concise reporting on performance, actions taken, risks and recommended next steps.

What You Bring

• 4-6+ years of hands-on SEM / paid search experience, ideally within ecommerce, subscription or consumer digital businesses.
• Deep expertise in Google Ads, including Search, Shopping/PMax, automated bidding and audience strategies.
• Experience managing meaningful paid search budgets across multiple products, markets or geographies.
• Strong understanding of performance marketing economics, including CPA, CAC, ROAS, LTV and contribution margin.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills, with the ability to quickly diagnose performance changes and translate data into action.
• Experience with GA4, conversion tracking, attribution and performance reporting.
• Understanding of SEO and the relationship between paid and organic search.
• Comfortable working both strategically and directly in-platform — this is not an agency-management or strategy-only role.
• Able to get up to speed quickly, work independently and deliver with limited onboarding.

What Success Looks Like

You’ll quickly become a trusted extension of the team, ensuring our paid search program remains well-managed, efficient and commercially disciplined. You’ll bring additional capacity where we need it most, while identifying opportunities to improve CPA, profitability and overall search performance.

This is initially an individual contractor engagement, with flexibility based on business needs.

The Perks:

• Hybrid-remote working environment
• Dog friendly office

About Rakuten Kobo Inc.

Rakuten Kobo Inc. is the world’s digital bookseller created by and for booklovers. Owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten Group, Inc. and headquartered in Toronto, Rakuten Kobo’s millions of worldwide users can read anytime, anywhere, and on any device. With a mission to make reading lives better for all, Rakuten Kobo connects readers to stories using thoughtful and personalized curation of eBooks and audiobooks, and the best dedicated eReaders and apps for reading. With the singular focus of making reading lives the best they can be, Kobo’s open platform allows people to fit reading into more moments in their busy lives. To learn more about Rakuten Kobo, visit www.kobo.com.

Rakuten Kobo Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Accessibility accommodations for candidates with disabilities participating in the selection process are available on request. Any information received related to accommodation needs of applicants will be addressed confidentially.  

Rakuten Kobo would like to thank all applicants for their interest in this role however only qualified candidates will be shortlisted.  

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