Manager – Commerce Search

About WPP Unite

WPP Unite is a specialized unit within the WPP network, designed to deliver integrated, transformative marketing solutions for some of our most strategic clients. We bring together talent and capabilities across media, creative, strategy, commerce, and analytics to operate as one unified team.

Our focus is not only on delivering exceptional work, but on continuously evolving how we work. We build and scale modern operating models, workflows, and tools that drive efficiency, transparency, and measurable business impact.

Role Summary & Impact

We are seeking a Manager, Retail Media Search with deep retail search expertise and significant hands-on Walmart experience. This individual should be an experienced practitioner who has personally built, managed, optimized, and scaled retail search campaigns within Walmart Connect, with additional experience across Amazon and other retail media networks highly valued.

This is a hands-on activation and optimization role. The ideal candidate understands how consumers discover and purchase products across retailer environments and can translate search behavior, keyword and product-level performance, and retail signals into measurable sales growth.

Working closely with the Director, Commerce Search, you will own the day-to-day strategy and execution of complex retail search programs, with a particular emphasis on Walmart retail search. You will be responsible for campaign architecture, keyword and product targeting, bid and budget optimization, pacing, reporting, troubleshooting, and ongoing performance improvement.

Beyond campaign execution, you will help develop scalable optimization frameworks and retail search best practices while identifying opportunities to improve performance across brands, retailers, and product portfolios.

Key Responsibilities

Retail Search Strategy & Hands-On Activation

• Lead the day-to-day strategy, hands-on activation, management, and optimization of retail search campaigns, with a strong focus on Walmart Connect.
• Personally build, launch, manage, and optimize Walmart retail search campaigns from campaign setup through ongoing optimization and reporting.
• Develop sophisticated keyword, search term, product targeting, bidding, budget allocation, and campaign-structure strategies.
• Manage campaigns across Walmart Connect and Amazon Ads, with additional retailer experience across Instacart, Target, Kroger, or other retail media networks considered valuable.
• Own campaign setup, QA, pacing, budget management, bid changes, keyword optimization, product targeting, troubleshooting, and ongoing performance management.
• Analyze search-query and keyword performance to identify opportunities for expansion, negative targeting, bid adjustments, and improved efficiency.
• Identify opportunities to increase product discoverability, search visibility, conversion, sales growth, and return on advertising investment.
• Manage retail search across large product assortments while balancing brand, category, SKU, and business priorities.
• Translate client objectives into executable retail search strategies and optimization plans.

Walmart Retail Search Expertise

• Serve as a hands-on Walmart retail search practitioner, with the ability to directly manage and optimize campaigns rather than solely providing strategic oversight.
• Apply a strong understanding of Walmart's retail search environment to campaign architecture, keyword strategy, product targeting, bidding, budgeting, and optimization.
• Use Walmart campaign and product-level performance data to identify opportunities to improve efficiency, conversion, and sales.
• Monitor search-term and product performance to expand high-performing areas while reducing inefficient spend.
• Understand how retail fundamentals, including inventory, pricing, promotions, product availability, and product detail page readiness, can influence paid search performance.
• Diagnose campaign performance issues and independently recommend and execute corrective actions.
• Translate Walmart performance into clear, actionable recommendations for clients and internal stakeholders.

Performance Analysis & Optimization

• Optimize campaigns against metrics including ROAS, ACOS, TACOS, CPC, CTR, conversion rate, sales, and incremental performance where measurable.
• Translate search-term reports, keyword performance, product-level performance, and competitive insights into actionable optimizations.
• Identify opportunities to expand keyword coverage, capture incremental demand, reduce wasted spend, and increase share of relevant retail search placements.
• Develop structured testing roadmaps across bids, keywords, product targeting, campaign structures, and optimization approaches.
• Connect paid search performance with broader retail outcomes, including organic sales, product availability, pricing, promotions, profitability, and inventory.
• Provide clear reporting and performance narratives that explain not only what happened, but why and what action should be taken next.

Retail Media Platforms & Technology

• Demonstrate advanced, hands-on experience with Walmart Connect and a strong understanding of retail search campaign management.
• Manage campaigns across Amazon Ads and other relevant retailer platforms as business needs require.
• Use retail media management and optimization technology such as Pacvue, Skai, or comparable platforms to manage, analyze, and improve campaign performance.
• Leverage retailer reporting, marketplace analytics, search-term insights, and platform data to guide optimization decisions.
• Stay current on developments across Walmart, Amazon, and the broader retail media search ecosystem.

Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with the Director, Commerce Search to build retail search best practices, operating frameworks, and scalable activation methodologies.
• Collaborate across commerce, investment, analytics, planning, and client teams to connect retail search strategy to broader commerce objectives.
• Present search performance, insights, challenges, and optimization recommendations clearly to clients and internal stakeholders.
• Mentor junior team members while remaining actively involved in campaign execution and optimization.
• Promote analytical rigor, strong QA practices, and consistent retail search execution across accounts.

Required Qualifications

• 4+ years of retail media/search experience with significant hands-on responsibility for campaign activation and optimization.
• Deep, direct experience managing Walmart retail search campaigns within Walmart Connect.
• Demonstrated ability to personally build, launch, optimize, troubleshoot, and scale Walmart campaigns, rather than only supervising campaign teams.
• Strong experience with retail search campaign architecture, keyword and search-term strategy, product targeting, bidding, budget allocation, pacing, and optimization.
• Experience using retailer and SKU/product-level performance data to make campaign optimization decisions.
• Strong understanding of retail search performance metrics, including ROAS, ACOS, TACOS, CPC, CTR, conversion rate, and sales performance.
• Hands-on experience with Amazon Ads is strongly preferred, particularly for candidates who have managed retail search across both Walmart and Amazon.
• Experience working with retail media technology such as Pacvue, Skai, or comparable campaign management platforms.
• Ability to independently diagnose campaign performance issues and translate findings into specific optimization actions.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to turn complex performance data into clear client recommendations.
• Experience managing multiple campaigns, brands, product portfolios, or client accounts in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong communication, organization, problem-solving, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Analytics, Advertising, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing Walmart retail search at meaningful scale, including complex campaigns and/or large product assortments.
• Strong hands-on experience across both Walmart Connect and Amazon Ads.
• Experience with additional retail media networks such as Instacart, Target, Kroger, or comparable platforms.
• Experience managing Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, or equivalent retailer search formats at scale.
• Strong understanding of the relationship between paid retail search, organic visibility, retail readiness, product detail pages, inventory, pricing, promotions, and total sales performance.
• Experience analyzing retail media beyond last-click ROAS, including incrementality, profitability, and broader commerce outcomes.
• Experience mentoring junior activation talent while continuing to personally manage campaign strategy and optimization.
• Familiarity with broader commerce media, offsite retail media, and cross-channel measurement.

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

US Pay Range 60000 - 140000 USD