Performance Marketing Manager New Palo Alto, CA

AppLovin makes technologies that help businesses of every size connect to their ideal customers. The company provides end-to-end advertising solutions for businesses to reach, monetize and grow their global audiences. For more information about AppLovin, visit: www.applovin.com .
To deliver on this mission, our global team is composed of team members with life experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives that mirror our developers and customers around the world. At AppLovin, we are intentional about the team and culture we are building, seeking candidates who are outstanding in their own right and also demonstrate their support of others.
About Gist Gist is a new social media platform for people who want substance — practical, thoughtfulcontent that spans philosophy debates, city-specific recommendations, seasonal gift guides,and wellness tips. Across categories like travel, food, career, and family, we describe it as "ahandbook for the curious."
Gist is built by AppLovin Corporation — a company that hit $5.3B in revenue last year and sitsalongside Google and Meta as one of the world's leading ad tech platforms. Fortune recognizesAppLovin as one of the Best Workplaces in the Bay Area, and the company has been a CertifiedGreat Place to Work for the last four years (2021–2024).
The Role We're hiring a founding Performance Marketing Manager to own all of paid growth for Gist —every channel, every dollar, every partnership. You'll set the performance marketing strategy,build the measurement foundation, and run the testing loops across Meta, TikTok, Google, andprogrammatic that give us real control over CAC from day one. No team to delegate to, noplaybook to inherit. You are the expert in the room, and everything paid runs through you.
What You'll Own Every paid channel. You are the channel manager across the full performance marketing mix:Meta, TikTok, Google, programmatic, ad networks, and any emerging channel worth testing. Youdecide where we spend, how much, and why — and you live with the results.
Off-platform partnerships. Beyond self-serve ad platforms, you will identify, negotiate, andmanage relationships with external partners — media companies, OEM and on-devicedistribution partners, ad networks, affiliate and performance platforms, publisher direct buys,and other non-standard acquisition channels. You own these relationships end-to-end: partnerevaluation, deal structure, execution, and ongoing performance management.
Budget and efficiency. Own the monthly performance marketing budget with full accountabilityto CAC, CPI, LTV, and ROAS. Allocate across channels and partners dynamically based onperformance, scale what works, cut what doesn't, and report spend decisions clearly toleadership.
Measurement and analytics. Work on tracking setup to extract meaningful signal —diagnosing performance shifts, identifying what's working and what isn't, and translating datainto clear actions. You are comfortable going deep into the numbers independently, spottinganomalies before they become problems, and working cross-functionally with product, data, andengineering teams to investigate and resolve issues collaboratively.
Creative and channel testing. Run structured tests across audiences, creatives, biddingstrategies, ad formats, and partner inventory. Treat every campaign and partnership as ahypothesis. Document what you learn and build a compounding playbook over time.
The full funnel. You are accountable not just for installs but for quality users. Partner withproduct and growth teams to understand post-install behaviour, feed those insights back intoperformance marketing strategy and creative direction, and optimise toward activation andretention, not just volume.
New distribution thinking. A new social platform lives or dies by how it finds its first millionusers. Beyond standard channels, you will proactively explore non-obvious distribution:influencer/KOL paid amplification, content seeding partnerships, cross-platform distributiondeals, incentivised install ecosystems, and anything else early data suggests is worth testing.
What We’re Looking For 3-7 years of brand-side performance marketing experience, with direct ownership ofbudgets and outcomes for a consumer app, marketplace, or digital product
Proven experience driving growth from cold start — you have launched performancemarketing for a new product or market from zero, not just optimised an existing system,and you know what it takes to find the first users before there is any data to work with
Hands-on fluency across Meta Ads Manager, TikTok Ads Manager, and Google Ads;programmatic and ad network experience a strong plus
Demonstrated experience managing off-platform or non-self-serve partnerships — adnetworks, OEM or device partnerships, media direct buys, affiliate or performanceplatforms, or similar; you have negotiated deals and managed these relationshipsindependently
Mobile attribution tooling experience with Adjust or equivalent; able to set up and ownmeasurement infrastructure end-to-end, not just read reports someone else configured
Thinks in the right metrics: CAC, CPI, LTV, ROAS, Day 7/30 payback, and funnelconversion rates — and can diagnose when numbers move and why
Strong negotiation and partner management skills; comfortable building and managingexternal vendor and partner relationships independently
Senior individual contributor mindset — you thrive working independently, go deep onexecution without needing a team beneath you, and bring enough seniority to setstrategy and defend decisions to leadership without hand-holding
Nice to Have Experience running performance marketing specifically for a social, entertainment, orconsumer app
Exposure to influencer or KOL-driven paid amplification as an acquisition channel
Familiarity with incrementality testing, geo-splits, or media mix modelling
SQL or BI tool fluency (Looker, Tableau, Metabase) for self-serve analysis
What We Offer Top-of-market compensation
Full ownership of a critical function from day one, inside a company with theinfrastructure, ad tech depth, and platform relationships to back you up
A lean, high-trust environment where decisions move fast and your impact is direct andvisible
AppLovin provides a competitive total compensation package with a pay for performance rewards approach. Total compensation at AppLovin is based on a number of factors including market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Depending on the position offered, equity, and other forms of incentive compensation (as applicable) may be provided as part of a total compensation package, in addition to dental, vision, and other benefits.
Other Types of Pay: Equity eligible
Paid Time Off: Unlimited Discretionary Time Off
Paid Holidays: 10 paid holidays per year
Paid Sick Leave: 80 hours per year
All questions or concerns about this posting should be directed to peopleops@applovin.com.
CA Base Pay Range
$119,000 - $179,000 USD
AppLovin is proud to be an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about EEO rights as an applicanthere .
If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or recruiting process, please send us a request at jobs@applovin.com
AppLovin will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable law. If you’re applying for a position in California, learn morehere .
To support an efficient and fair hiring process, we may use technology-assisted tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), to help identify and evaluate candidates. All hiring decisions are ultimately made by human reviewers.

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