Senior Digital Design Manager – Paid Media (All Genders)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Digital Design Manager – Paid Media

Company: zooplus SE

Location: Madrid, Spain

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Marketing Operations / Creative Operations / Performance Marketing Design

Date Posted: April 21, 2026

Experience Level: 5-10 years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• This role demands a Senior Digital Design Manager to take full ownership of creative performance within paid media campaigns, bridging conceptual creativity with operational leadership and data-driven optimization.

• The position requires a proactive individual to drive improvements in creative quality, speed of execution, and overall effectiveness through structured workflows and confident decision-making.

• A core focus will be on leveraging automation platforms, specifically Smartly.io, to enhance scalability, efficiency, and creative output for META, Google Ads, Affiliate, and App campaigns.

• The successful candidate will translate brand objectives and performance insights into scalable creative concepts, ensuring brand consistency while adapting designs across diverse platforms, audiences, and markets.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned within the broader GTM (Go-To-Market) and Marketing Operations functions, emphasizing the critical link between creative execution and measurable marketing performance. The "All Genders" designation is a standard inclusion for inclusivity. The emphasis on structure, decision-making, and scalable impact indicates a high degree of operational maturity expected from the candidate.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Creative & Conceptual Ownership: Lead conceptual development for paid media campaigns from initial brief through to final execution, defining creative directions, frameworks, and scalable solutions.

• Performance-Driven Design: Ensure consistently high quality across both creative concept and execution for META, Google Ads, Affiliate, and App campaigns, driving A/B testing and iteration based on performance data.

• Creative Operations & Workflow Management: Take ownership of planning, prioritizing, and structuring creative projects, reducing complexity through simple, scalable processes and frameworks to ensure clear, consistent, and outcome-focused deliverables.

• Automation & Smartly.io Management: Own and evolve the creative automation setup in Smartly.io, building and maintaining modular Figma templates aligned with automation logic, and managing feeds/conditional rules for improved efficiency and scalability.

• Innovation & Collaboration: Proactively identify opportunities for innovation, AI integration, and process improvement, experimenting with new tools and collaborating closely with Paid Media, Brand, and cross-functional stakeholders to provide clear direction and structured feedback.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities clearly delineate a role that is both highly creative and deeply operational. The emphasis on "ownership," "anticipate needs," and "proactively drive improvements" suggests a senior-level individual contributor or team lead with significant autonomy and impact on GTM strategy.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Degree in Graphic Design, Media Design, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience: 5+ years of experience in digital design, paid media, or creative operations, with a proven track record in creative work for performance marketing channels.

Required Skills:

• Digital Design Expertise: Advanced proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and strong Figma skills for creating high-quality visual assets and modular templates.

• Paid Media Design: Proven experience in developing and executing creative assets specifically for performance marketing channels like META, Google Ads, Affiliate, and App campaigns.

• Automation Platform Proficiency: Hands-on experience with Smartly.io or similar creative automation platforms is essential for managing dynamic ad creation and optimization.

• Conceptual Thinking & Portfolio: A strong portfolio demonstrating conceptual development, creative execution quality, and a clear understanding of performance-driven design principles.

• Performance Analysis & Iteration: Ability to drive A/B testing, analyze performance data, and iterate on creative concepts to achieve campaign objectives.

• HTML5 Ads Familiarity: Understanding of HTML5 ads and other performance-driven digital formats.

• English Fluency: Fluent in English, essential for communication within a multinational team.

Preferred Skills:

• Creative Operations & Workflow Optimization: Experience in structuring creative workflows, planning, and prioritization to enhance efficiency and scalability.

• Data Analysis & Insights: Ability to translate performance data and insights into actionable creative strategies.

• Stakeholder Management: Effective communication and collaboration skills to work with Paid Media, Brand, and other cross-functional teams.

• Strategic Planning: Capacity to anticipate campaign needs and proactively prepare solutions and assets.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Ownership Traits" listed under qualifications are crucial. They highlight the need for a candidate who is not just skilled but also possesses a strong sense of responsibility, proactivity, and strategic thinking, which are hallmarks of successful operations professionals.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Performance Creative Showcase: A portfolio that clearly demonstrates experience in creating digital assets for paid media campaigns, with a focus on measurable results (e.g., CTR, conversion rates, ROAS).

• Conceptual Frameworks: Examples of how you've translated campaign briefs or strategic objectives into scalable creative concepts and frameworks.

• Automation Implementation Examples: Visual or documented examples of how you've utilized automation platforms (like Smartly.io) to streamline creative production and testing.

• Brand Consistency & Adaptation: Proof of ability to maintain brand consistency while adapting creative across different platforms, audiences, and markets.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Showcase experience in designing, documenting, and optimizing creative workflows for paid media, emphasizing efficiency and scalability.

• Automation Logic & Template Development: Demonstrate understanding of building modular design systems and automation logic (e.g., using Figma templates and feed-based data) for dynamic creative optimization.

• Performance Measurement & Iteration: Examples of how you've integrated performance data into creative feedback loops and iterative design processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the role's emphasis on Smartly.io and structured workflows, candidates should prepare to showcase their process for managing creative production, testing, and automation. A portfolio that highlights structured problem-solving and measurable impact will be highly valued.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for a Senior Digital Design Manager with 5-10 years of experience in a major European city like Madrid, and considering the specialized skills in paid media design and automation, the estimated salary range would be €55,000 - €75,000 annually. This range accounts for the hybrid work model, the company's international presence, and the required technical expertise.

Benefits:

• Hybrid Working Model: Flexibility to work 60% in the office and 40% from home, promoting work-life balance.

• Annual Vacation: 28 Annual Vacation Days, offering ample time for rest and personal pursuits.

• Health Insurance: Private Medical Health Insurance, providing comprehensive healthcare coverage.

• Commuting Support: Subsidised transport or bike leasing options to ease daily commutes.

• Employee Discount: A generous 20% discount across all zooplus products.

• Professional Development: Opportunities for career shaping, including excellent training and support, fostering continuous learning and skill enhancement.

• Wellbeing Programs: Access to wellbeing offers designed to support employee health and happiness.

• International Work Option: Possibility to work remotely from approved countries for up to 20 days per year.

Working Hours: Standard full-time working hours, likely around 40 hours per week, with a hybrid arrangement allowing for flexible allocation between office and home.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on typical compensation for senior design and marketing operations roles in Spain and other European tech hubs, factoring in the specific responsibilities and required tool proficiency. The benefits package is comprehensive, reflecting zooplus's commitment to employee well-being and development.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Pet e-commerce, a rapidly growing and passionate sector. zooplus SE is a market leader with over 25 years of experience, dedicated to making pet owners' lives easier through innovative online solutions.

Company Size: Part of a larger organization with offices across multiple European locations (Munich, Madrid, Krakow, Wroclaw, London, Vienna), indicating a robust, established company with significant resources and a global reach within its niche. This size implies opportunities for structured career paths and cross-functional collaboration.

Founded: Founded over 25 years ago, zooplus SE has a long-standing history and deep expertise in the pet e-commerce industry, suggesting stability, a strong market position, and a culture that evolves with market demands.

Team Structure:

• The role likely sits within a Marketing or Sales & Marketing department, specifically focusing on Paid Media and Creative Operations.

• Collaboration will be key with Paid Media specialists, Brand Managers, and potentially other design or content teams.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Creativity: The role emphasizes translating performance insights into creative concepts, indicating a data-driven approach to creative decision-making and optimization.

• Process Optimization: A strong focus on structured workflows, automation, and efficiency suggests a methodology geared towards scalable and repeatable processes.

• Agile Collaboration: The hybrid model and emphasis on cross-functional work imply an agile and collaborative environment where teams adapt quickly to changing needs.

Company Website: https://careers.zooplus.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's long history in a niche but growing market like pet e-commerce suggests a stable yet innovative environment. The "power of plus" slogan and emphasis on collaboration and continuous adaptation indicate a forward-thinking culture that values both individual contribution and teamwork.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior Digital Design Manager role, indicating a position of significant responsibility and expertise. It's beyond a junior or mid-level designer, requiring leadership in creative strategy, operational execution, and stakeholder management within the paid media domain.

Reporting Structure: The role likely reports to a Head of Paid Media, Marketing Director, or a Creative Lead within the Marketing department. The emphasis on "ownership" suggests autonomy in managing their specific area of responsibility.

Operations Impact: The role directly impacts revenue by optimizing creative performance in paid media channels, which are critical for customer acquisition and sales conversion in e-commerce. Effective creative operations and design can lead to lower customer acquisition costs (CAC) and higher return on ad spend (ROAS).

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization Advancement: Deepen expertise in creative automation, performance marketing design, and potentially explore AI-driven creative tools.

• Leadership Development: Potential to move into a broader Creative Operations Lead role, managing a team or expanding responsibilities across more marketing channels.

• Cross-Functional Expansion: Opportunities to contribute to broader marketing strategy, brand development, or even product design integration based on performance insights.

• International Mobility: With offices in multiple countries, there may be opportunities for international assignments or collaborations.

📝 Enhancement Note: The senior title, combined with the specific focus on performance and automation, points to a growth path that balances creative excellence with operational effectiveness. This is a key area for candidates looking to advance their careers in GTM operations and performance marketing.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The company operates a hybrid working model, with employees expected to spend approximately 60% of their time in the office and 40% working from home. This suggests a modern office setup designed for collaboration and focused work.

Office Location(s): Offices are located in Madrid (Génova 17, 5plta, 28004), Krakow, London, and Munich, offering flexibility for candidates. The Madrid office is centrally located.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The office environment is designed to foster collaboration, team interaction, and knowledge sharing, essential for a role that bridges creative and performance teams.

• Resource Availability: Access to necessary design software, automation tools, and potentially dedicated project management systems will be available to support efficient workflow.

• Team Integration: The hybrid model encourages intentional in-office time for team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and building strong working relationships with paid media specialists and brand teams.

Work Schedule: A standard full-time work week (likely 40 hours) with the flexibility of the hybrid model, allowing for a balance between structured office presence and remote work flexibility.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model is a significant aspect of the work environment. Candidates should consider how they best thrive in such a setup, balancing focused individual work with collaborative in-office time. The specified office locations offer geographical flexibility.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a review of your resume and portfolio to assess alignment with required skills and experience, particularly in paid media design and automation.

• Technical/Creative Interview: A discussion with hiring managers or senior team members where you'll present your portfolio, discuss your approach to creative strategy, performance optimization, and automation workflows. Expect deep dives into your experience with Smartly.io and Figma.

• Case Study/Challenge: You may be given a practical exercise or case study to assess your problem-solving skills, creative thinking under pressure, and ability to articulate a structured approach to a paid media creative challenge.

• Team/Cultural Fit Interview: An opportunity to meet potential colleagues and assess cultural alignment, focusing on collaboration style, ownership mindset, and communication skills.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Performance Impact: For each project, clearly articulate the objective, your role, the creative solution, and the measurable results (e.g., increased CTR, reduced CPA, improved ROAS). Use data visualization where possible.

• Showcase Automation Experience: Include examples of how you've used or built automation workflows, modular templates, or feed-based designs. If possible, show the before-and-after impact on efficiency or creative output.

• Demonstrate Structured Thinking: Organize your portfolio logically. For each case study, explain your process from brief to execution, highlighting how you approached planning, prioritization, and problem-solving.

• Tailor to the Role: Emphasize projects relevant to paid media, e-commerce, and digital design. Showcase your proficiency with Figma and Adobe Creative Suite, and mention any experience with Smartly.io or similar tools.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Paid Media Metrics: Be ready to discuss key performance indicators (KPIs) for paid media channels (e.g., CTR, CPC, CPA, ROAS) and how creative impacts them.

• Articulate Automation Benefits: Prepare to explain the advantages of using creative automation for scaling campaigns, personalizing ads, and improving efficiency.

• Process Mapping: Practice outlining a simplified creative workflow for a paid media campaign, from brief to launch and optimization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a "strong portfolio demonstrating conceptual thinking and execution quality" and "hands-on experience with Smartly.io" means candidates should prepare to present specific, tangible examples of their work and process. The interview process will likely test both creative acumen and operational rigor.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for building modular templates, design systems, and collaborative design workflows, particularly those integrated with automation.

• Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects): Standard tools for creating high-quality visual assets, graphics, and potentially motion graphics for paid media.

• Smartly.io: A key platform for creative automation, campaign management, and performance optimization in paid social and display advertising. Proficiency is a must.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Performance Marketing Platforms: Experience with the native analytics dashboards within META Ads (Facebook/Instagram), Google Ads, and potentially other affiliate or app campaign platforms.

• Data Visualization Tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Looker): While not explicitly mentioned, familiarity with how creative performance data is visualized and reported will be beneficial for optimization.

CRM & Automation:

• Google Sheets / Excel: Likely used for managing feeds, conditional rules, and data inputs for automation platforms like Smartly.io.

• Project Management Tools (e.g., Asana, Jira, Trello): May be used for task management, workflow tracking, and team collaboration, though not explicitly stated.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Smartly.io, Figma, and Adobe Creative Suite highlights the core technical requirements. Candidates should be prepared to discuss their practical experience and proficiency in these specific tools, focusing on how they leverage them for performance optimization and automation.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Ownership & Proactivity: A core value that drives individuals to take initiative, anticipate needs, and confidently steer projects towards successful outcomes.

• Structure & Clarity: Emphasis on simplifying complexity, establishing clear processes, and communicating effectively to ensure alignment and efficient execution.

• Data-Driven Improvement: A commitment to using performance data to inform creative decisions, optimize campaigns, and drive continuous improvement.

• Efficiency & Scalability: A focus on building repeatable processes and leveraging automation to achieve greater impact with available resources.

• Collaboration & Growth: A culture that values teamwork, open communication, and a continuous learning mindset, encouraging experimentation and skill development.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Proactive engagement with Paid Media, Brand, and other marketing teams to ensure creative aligns with strategic goals and performance objectives.

• Structured Feedback: Providing and receiving clear, constructive feedback on creative work, informed by performance data and strategic priorities.

• Knowledge Sharing: A willingness to share best practices, learnings from experiments, and insights from automation tools to elevate the entire team's capabilities.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Ownership Traits" and "Collaboration Style" described in the job posting strongly suggest a culture that values proactive contribution, clear communication, and a results-oriented approach within a team-based setting. Candidates should prepare to illustrate how they embody these values.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Creativity and Performance: The primary challenge is to maintain high creative quality and conceptual innovation while rigorously optimizing for conversion metrics and ROI in fast-paced paid media campaigns.

• Scaling Creative Production: Effectively managing the volume and variety of creative assets required for diverse paid media channels, audiences, and markets, often under tight deadlines.

• Leveraging Automation Effectively: Ensuring that automation tools like Smartly.io are not just utilized but strategically evolved to maximize efficiency, personalization, and creative impact.

• Navigating Ambiguity: Turning complex campaign requirements or performance data into clear creative strategies and actionable plans.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Automation Techniques: Deepen expertise in creative automation, exploring new features, integrations, and advanced logic within Smartly.io and similar platforms.

• Performance Analytics & Creative Insights: Enhance skills in analyzing campaign data to derive actionable insights that directly inform creative strategy and optimization.

• Emerging Creative Technologies: Opportunities to experiment with and integrate new tools or AI-driven solutions for content creation and optimization.

• Cross-Functional Skill Development: Gain a deeper understanding of paid media strategy, brand management, and other marketing disciplines through close collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a unique opportunity to specialize at the intersection of creative, operations, and performance marketing. The challenges are significant but directly tied to growth opportunities in a high-impact area of GTM strategy.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you translated complex campaign goals into a clear creative strategy for paid media. What was your process, and what were the results?" (Focus on structured thinking, strategic alignment, and impact).

• "How have you used creative automation (e.g., Smartly.io) to scale campaigns or improve efficiency? Walk me through a specific example and the outcomes." (Highlight practical automation experience and measurable benefits).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about zooplus and the pet e-commerce industry? How do you see your role contributing to our mission?" (Showcase genuine interest and understanding of the business context).

• "This role requires strong ownership. Can you give an example of a time you took initiative to improve a process or solve a problem proactively?" (Illustrate your proactive and responsible mindset).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each project, start with the objective, your role, the challenge, your solution, and the quantifiable results.

• Focus on Process & Impact: Don't just show the final creative; explain your design process, how you leveraged data or automation, and the specific impact on campaign performance.

• Highlight Smartly.io/Automation: If possible, include visuals or descriptions of how you've implemented automation, template systems, or feed-based creatives.

• Be Ready for Technical Questions: Be prepared to discuss your technical skills in Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, and your experience with Smartly.io in detail.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates should prepare to speak in detail about their portfolio, focusing on how their creative work directly contributed to business objectives and how they managed processes and leveraged technology for efficiency and scalability.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Digital Design Manager – Paid Media position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on jobs.smartrecruiters.com.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 3-5 of your strongest projects that best showcase your paid media design, performance optimization, and automation experience. Ensure each project clearly outlines the brief, your role, creative execution, and measurable results.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight keywords from the job description, such as "Paid Media," "Digital Design," "Creative Operations," "Smartly.io," "Figma," "Performance Marketing," and "Automation." Quantify your achievements whenever possible.

• Prepare Your Case Study: Anticipate a potential interview challenge or request to present a specific case study. Practice articulating your process, decision-making, and the impact of your work, focusing on how you drive efficiency and performance.

• Research Zooplus SE: Understand their brand, their market position in pet e-commerce, and their overall marketing approach. Consider how your skills can contribute to their growth and success.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.