Senior Search Engine Marketing Manager

KAYAK, part of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG), is the world's leading travel search engine. With billions of queries across our platforms, we help people find their perfect flight, stay, rental car and vacation package. We're also transforming business travel with a new corporate travel solution, KAYAK for Business.

As an employee of KAYAK, you will be part of a travel company that operates a portfolio of global metasearch brands including momondo, Cheapflights and HotelsCombined, among others. From start-up to industry leader, innovation is at our core and every employee has an opportunity to make their mark. Our focus is on building the best travel search engine to make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

KAYAK is looking for a Senior Search Engine Marketing Manager to join our Performance Marketing team in our amazing Cambridge Office (US). In this role you will own and drive the growth of our travel brands across North America on SEM, manage substantial advertising budgets and lead innovative projects that have a global impact on our international strategy. Joining one of the most advanced digital marketing teams in the world, you will be responsible for one of our most crucial channels, ensuring we meet ambitious growth targets through data-driven execution.

As a SEM Manager you will be a strategic driver of our SEM programs, exercising high autonomy to scale our brands across major search engines. You will lead high-stakes, cross-functional initiatives, partnering closely with Commercial, Analytics, and Engineering teams, to pioneer best practices and help shape the roadmap for our internal marketing platforms. This role requires a highly analytical expert who balances hands-on technical execution with the ability to influence our global growth strategy.

This role is required to work from our Cambridge, MA office 3 days per week.

• Define global guidelines and contribute to the development of our suite of in-house marketing technologies.

• Monitor industry shifts and emerging technologies, including AI and LLM-driven search, to design and execute rigorous testing frameworks that enhance the user journey.

• Lead high-impact projects from ideation to delivery, managing competing priorities and coordinating across multiple teams to ensure results are delivered.

• Communicate clearly with global teams, sharing optimization insights across the broader performance marketing team.

• Use advanced analytical skills to turn deep-dive performance data into clear, actionable recommendations for senior leadership and global teams.

• Provide day-to-day guidance and technical mentorship to junior team members, fostering a culture of excellence and training the team on advanced performance marketing processes.

• Act as a strategic partner to Engineering and Product teams, providing the domain expertise needed to develop and automate our in-house tools.

• Hands-on experience managing large-scale, high-budget campaigns across top search engines. Experience in the travel industry or a high-volume e-commerce environment is a plus.

• Fluency in both written and spoken English. Proficiency in another language relevant to our international markets is a plus.

• Strong knowledge of the search landscape, including attribution and tracking, with a proven ability to use advanced automation, scripting, and bidding technologies.

• Advanced proficiency in Excel/Google Sheets; experience with SQL and data visualization tools is a plus to facilitate deep-dive performance modeling.

• A high-ownership mindset with the motivation to lead complex projects from initial concept to final delivery, ensuring cross-functional alignment and measurable impact.

• Ability to translate complex datasets into strategic recommendations for global teams and senior leadership.

• Experience mentoring junior team members and contributing to a culture of technical excellence and continuous experimentation.

• Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year

• Focus on mental health and well-being:

  • Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth

  • Company-paid subscription to HeadSpace

  • Company-wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges (and returns without a pile-up of work!)

• No meeting Fridays

• Paid parental leave

• Generous paid vacation + time off for your birthday

• Paid volunteer time

• Focus on your career growth:

  • Development Dollars

  • Leadership development

  • Access to thousands of on-demand e-learnings

• Travel Discounts

• Employee Resource Groups

• Competitive retirement and health plans

• Free lunch 2 days per week

• Fun quarterly events such as boat trips, arcades, ski trips, Thursday happy hours, and more

Compensation

There are a variety of factors that go into determining a salary range, including but not limited to external market benchmark data, geographic location, and years of experience sought/required. The range for this Massachusetts based role is $105,000 - 115,000.00. This role is eligible to be considered for an annual bonus.

We offer a competitive base salary and benefits including: health benefits; flexible spending account; retirement benefits; life insurance; paid time off (including PTO, paid sick leave, medical leave, bereavement leave, floating holidays and paid holidays); and parental leave benefits.

At KAYAK, we want everyone to have the space to grow, share ideas and do great work. That’s why we’re focused on hiring the best talent from all walks of life and experiences, supporting them well and making sure no one feels like they have to fit a mold to belong here.

If you need accommodations during the application or interview process, or on the job, we’re here to support you. Please reach out to your recruiter to request any accommodations.

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