DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

To learn more about WFP, visit our website: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

WHY JOIN WFP?

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.

• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.

• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.

• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

POSITION TITLE:

Global Marketing Specialist – Search

ORG UNIT:

Private Partnerships Division (PSP)

DUTY STATION:

Rome HQ

CONTRACT TYPE:

Regular consultant

DURATION:

11 months

LINE MANAGER/SUPERVISOR:

Supporter Acquisition Lead

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the largest humanitarian organization saving and changing lives worldwide. In 2023 alone, WFP supported more than 150 million people by delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Work as hard as we might, through drought and floods, conflict and peace, disasters natural or man-made, the needs are immense and growing. To achieve a world with Zero Hunger, the Private Partnerships Division (PSP) is investing in fundraising from individuals. WFP’s individual fundraising programme is the fastest growing among our peer set (IFL Forum) and with ambitious plans for the next strategy period, we aim to reach a cumulative income of USD 1.4 billion from 2020-2030. Unique in the sector, WFP fundraises globally from a centralized team that reaches hundreds of millions of people in 180+ countries. Our strategy is digital-first; we recruit supporters primarily through Meta, Google and TikTok, and provide a world-class supporter experience via email, SMS, What’s App, outbound telephone and social media. The programme is currently expanding to support six core languages: English, French, Arabic, German, Korean and Chinese.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The Global Marketing Specialist – Search position sits within the Global Supporter Acquisition Team – a team of eight that is primarily responsible for recruiting supporters through global paid media campaigns. Collectively across paid and organic, search is the second largest driver of income from individuals after Meta. Currently we invest in paid search across Google, Bing and Naver. The primary purpose of this role is to manage and optimise paid search activity globally, with a secondary focus on maximising income from organic search.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Roles cover a wide range of tasks as required to deliver on the team’s evolving needs and ambitious fundraising targets. The list below is not exhaustive but great care will be taken to ensure a balanced workload.

Monitor, analyze and report on paid search performance

• Monitor paid search performance daily across all financial and funnel metrics.
• Identify, investigate, explain, and resolve any search performance issues.
• Analyze performance metrics over various timeframes to identify trends and opportunities.
• Regularly present and report on search performance against agreed targets.
• Contribute to data and attribution initiatives to understand channel performance.

Set up and manage large-scale search campaigns across multiple platforms, languages and countries

• Create, launch, and optimize global search campaigns for sudden-onset emergencies.
• Develop and execute seasonal search campaigns e.g. Ramadan, tax time and GivingTuesday.
• Manage the launch of search activity in new markets as required e.g. Korea, China.
• Manage the launch of new search platforms/products as required e.g. Naver, Baidu, PMax.
• Explore opportunities for country-specific search campaigns where appropriate.
• Implement a QA process to ensure all new campaign setups are proofread and error-free.

Optimise search campaign budgets and ensure continuity of search ad spend

• Regularly calibrate advanced, automated bid strategies in SA360 to maximise fundraising income.
• Ensure the optimal allocation of budgets across paid search campaigns and platforms.
• Coordinate with the Communications (COM) division regarding WFP’s Google Grants account.
• Collaborate with Google and WFP USA on any pro bono initiatives during emergencies.
• Monitor POs and invoicing for search platforms to ensure continuity of ad spend.
• Request and manage ad platform refunds e.g. in cases of invalid clicks.

Analyze and optimize always-on search campaigns, creative and assets globally

• Perform account health checks, leveraging automation scripts wherever possible.
• Review and optimize search assets e.g. sitelinks, image extensions, structured snippets, callouts.
• Explore asset localisation and other localisation initiatives where appropriate.
• Continually analyze keywords in all languages to expand coverage or negative match as needed.
• Review and optimize audience strategies, including geotargeting, use of customer match lists.
• Review, analyze and advise on search landing pages and ad creatives.

Define and ensure implementation of our policies and best practices across search platforms

• Define and ensure search best practices e.g. bid strategies, landing pages, campaign structures.
• Define, document, and ensure implementation of our targeting policies e.g. country exclusions.
• Develop and drive our learning agenda for search, including AB experiments where appropriate.
• Coordinate and present in quarterly reviews of search performance and learnings.
• Review and evolve our search account structures as needed to maximise performance.

Provide technical platform expertise across Google Ads and SA360

• Lead on technical projects e.g. Consent Mode v2 and Google Enhanced Conversions.
• Keep the team updated on new Google policies, products, features, and best practices.
• Manage user access and permission levels across our Google Ads and SA360.
• Perform regular audience file uploads, finding automated solutions wherever possible.
• Liaise with our partners at Google to resolve any platform issues.
• Work with the Tech team to ensure proper implementation of tracking pixels and tags.
• Leverage automation tools and scripts to improve efficiency and performance.

Drive SEO to maximize search income holistically across paid and organic efforts

• Collaborate with partner agencies, communications and product teams on SEO initiatives.
• Implement and coordinate SEO processes and keyword mapping within and across teams.
• Ensure alignment and integration of SEM and SEO workstreams.
• Collaborate on website and landing page content to support paid and organic search.
• Monitor and analyze organic search performance alongside paid search.
• Ensure SEO best practices are documented and implemented across indexed landing pages.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT

·Paid and organic search channels have performed in line with agreed fundraising targets.

·The latest SEM and SEO best practices are defined and followed across all relevant platforms.

·Any search performance issues have been propmtly identified, analysed and addressed.

·Any technical issues affecting search platforms have been propmtly identified and addressed.

·Experimentation has been used appropriately to deliver on an agreed learning agenda for search.

·Strong relationships are in place with our partners at Google and other platforms or agencies.

·All team members are learning and contributing to improved search performance.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Education

• University degree, preferably in a relevant discipline e.g. marketing.

Work history

• At least 4 years of professional experience in the hands-on execution and optimization of search marketing campaigns in Google Ads and SA360.
• At least 2 years of media agency experience in a PPC or SEO role.
• Experience with large-scale search campaigns, ideally across multiple countries and languages with annual spends over USD 1 million.
• Experience in working with Google account representatives.
• Experience in optimizing spend across multiple search campaigns.
• Experience in using paid search for fundraising is preferred.

Technical skills

• Expertise in Google Ads, SA360, and GA4.
• Expertise in bid strategies and optimizing spend across campaigns.
• Expertise in analyzing paid search metrics and performance.
• Familiarity with Tableau or Looker Studio dashboards.
• Familiarity with other SEM platforms e.g. Bing Ads, Naver, Baidu.
• Familiarity with automation scripts.
• Ability to troubleshoot technical and data issues.
• Knowledge of SEO fundamentals.
• Knowledge of CRO and AB testing tools.
  

Soft Skills

• Analytical thinking: ability to analyze performance data to identify issues, trends, ands opportunities.
• Attention to detail: ability to ensure campaign setups are error-free and to optimize performance thoroughly, with a high level of precision.
• Organization: ability to manage and prioritize tasks across multiple campaigns, platforms, and projects simultaneously.
• Collaboration: ability to build strong, collaborative relationships with other team members, external partners, and agencies.
• Communication: ability to develop and present clear roadmaps and reports.
• Adaptability: willingness to learn new platforms, cover new tasks, work out of hours when required (e.g. sudden-onset emergencies), and adapt to shifting plans or performance.
• Creativity: ability to generate data-driven ideas e.g. for campaigns, content, copy, experiments, and areas of growth.

Languages

• Excellent command (C1 minimum) of English and, preferably, at least one of our other fundraising languages: French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Korean, Chinese.

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact: global.inclusion@wfp.org

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).

• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.

• Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language

• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter

• Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time

• Please contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org in case you face any challenges with submitting your application

• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.