Digital Paid Media Contractors – Talent Pool (Global) At UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Contract type: Individual Contractor
Engagement type: Retainer basis (on-demand)
Duration: Jan – Dec 2025 (with possibility of extension)
Location: Home-based (globally)

1. PROJECT DETAILS

Are you passionate about driving impact through digital campaigns? Are you a Digital Paid Media professional with specialization in one or more of the following channels: Social Media, Paid Search, Google Marketing?

The Digital Marketing and Regional Engagement (DMRE) team at UNHCR is planning to establish a talent pool of talented digital paid media specialists to provide support to our headquarters, regional, and country offices. By joining this roster, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Contribute to impactful global and regional fundraising initiatives.
• Support market growth and innovation in digital fundraising strategies.
• Collaborate with a diverse team, optimizing campaigns for maximum results in various regions.
• Play a key role in enhancing UNHCR’s ability to respond quickly to market demands while maintaining the quality of our work.

2. DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT, DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ENGAGED INDIVIDUAL CONTRACT HOLDER

The contractor(s) will be based within the Paid Media function of UNHCR’s Supporter Engagement Section (SES), part of the Private Sector Partnerships Service. The team supports departments within the Division of External Relations (DER), PSP, and the broader UNHCR organization.

UNHCR has made significant investments to recruit new individual donors and deepen engagement to achieve ambitious annual and long-term targets. A core objective is to accelerate public engagement and audience growth through digital channels by providing expert advice and hands-on support for in-house digital media buying.

Under the supervision of the Digital Paid Media Marketing Officer, the Digital Paid Media Contractors will be engaged on a retainer basis, allowing for flexible deployment based on needs and availability within the contract period for a pre-agreed fee.

The contractors will be ideally based across the different regions and time zones (Europe/Africa/MENA, Asia Pacific, and Americas) to ensure balanced support across channels, goals, and platforms (Google Ads, paid social, Display, Video, Programmatic).

3. PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

We are looking for enthusiastic Digital Paid Media professionals with specialization in one or more digital channels: Social Media, Paid Search, Google Marketing.

Please specify your expertise area in your application.

The contractor will work with key stakeholders to advise, develop, and implement digital paid media buying services as needed. S/he will be responsible for managing paid digital marketing campaigns for the designated market, including paid search, display, and social advertising. S/he may also provide training, capacity building, and share digital marketing best practices across global markets.

The duties and responsibilities for the contractor will typically include:

• Manage, test, and execute web, SEO/SEM, performance marketing, and lead generation campaigns across digital channels, including but not limited to Google PPC and YouTube, Meta, TikTok, Microsoft ads, LinkedIn, Display, GMP, Programmatic, Connected TV, audio, podcast, etc.
• Review, preparation and adjustment of creative assets, including images, videos, and copies, for digital ads in close collaboration with other teams, with a focus on driving conversions; brand awareness and advocacy campaigns.
• Track, analyse, and report on cross-platform performance using GA4, leveraging insights to optimize and improve campaign performance and ROI.
• Support SEM projects surrounding keyword generation, keyword optimization, brand reach, ad copy performance, and SEM reporting. Set up and manage paid search campaigns via Google ads and Microsoft ads and optimising towards positive ROI. Provide guidance and ensure SEO/SEM best practices and techniques are properly implemented.
• Audience research, analysis of user behaviour and overall digital performance using Google Analytics, Campaign Manager and 3rd party tools to determine the most effective approach to define and reach our target audience.
• Create media plans for digital marketing activities.
• Utilize both first-party and third-party data to define and effectively reach target audiences.
• Collaborate with the internal analytics and reporting team to develop campaign performance reports with strategic insights.
• Identify trends and insights to maximize ROI in paid marketing campaigns.
• Plan, execute A/B and multivariate tests on creative assets, audiences, landing pages, placements, bidding strategies and other optimisation tactics on digital platforms, analysing and actioning results and learnings.
• Design and deliver capacity-building and specialist digital marketing training across the organization.
• Offer advice on implementing SEO best practices including optimising keywords, improving on-page elements (meta tags, headers, and content structure), and ensuring technical SEO aspects are sound.
• Identify key influencers and manage influencer marketing campaigns to meet fundraising objectives
• Perform other related duties as required.

4. CANDIDATE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Business Administration, Communication, Social Sciences or any other relevant fields

Experience

• Minimum 3 years of experience with a bachelor’s degree (or 2 years with master’s degree) in creating and managing full-funnel digital performance marketing campaigns, with a proven track record of optimizing substantial budgets of over $1M annually across large and small ad networks, resulting in improved KPIs.
• Proven experience and deep knowledge across one of the following areas and platforms:
• Social media advertising platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and X, with expertise in paid campaign types such as conversion, offline conversion, lead generation, and video campaigns.
• All major paid search advertising platforms, including Google and Microsoft, with expertise in campaign types such as search ads, performance max, DemandGen, video ads, and conversion-focused campaigns.
• The Google Marketing Platform including SA360, DV360, and CM360. Proven experience in managing programmatic display campaigns on 3rd party platforms.
• Ability to analyse large data sets, pull meaningful insights and make recommendations, using analytics tools including Google Analytics 4 as well as 3rd party tools. Data-driven decision-making capabilities.
• Proven experience and expertise in paid media marketing in one or more of the following regions: APAC, MENA, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Each contractor should be able to leverage their in-depth knowledge of their respective region, drawing on previous digital marketing and fundraising experience, to provide recommendations for audience targeting, campaign creatives, performance media planning, and new channels.
• Strong project management skills including planning and schedule creation for digital marketing campaigns.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English including copywriting, with precise attention to detail.

Desirable:
• Deep knowledge of SEO techniques and how to integrate with PPC.
• Proven experience in delivering training and capacity-building programmes.
• Knowledge of individual giving, fundraising, and donor retention.
• Strong preference for experience with direct response campaigns, including expertise in attribution and conversion tracking.
• Experience with TikTok for paid and non-paid user-generated content marketing.
• Experience working in a cross-cultural environment.
• Knowledge of GDPR, CCPA, and other data privacy laws affecting digital
advertising and fundraising.
• Experience with tools like Tableau, Power BI, or Google Data Studio for
creating insightful dashboards.

Languages
• Fluency in English is required.

5. CONDITIONS

Please note that the application is intended only to express interest in joining the Digital Paid Media talent pool. Candidates must indicate their area(s) of expertise in the application: Social Media, Paid Search, Google Marketing.

A competitive assessment process will be conducted to evaluate the suitability of the candidates’ profile. Being part of the talent pool doesn’t imply or guarantee the hire of the candidate.

As part of the roster, the vetted candidate may be directly approached with an offer for an assignment. Such engagement will typically be on a retainer type of contract and on a flexible working schedule. The specific scope and workload will be determined on an ongoing basis according to the needs of the requesting UNHCR operation.

Furthermore, the contract will specify the duration of the engagement, maximum number of working days and amount payable to the contractor.

The remuneration level will be set based on the complexity of the engagement, the degree of specialization required and the local market rates.

6. LOCATION

The contractors will be home-based and are expected to use their own equipment and ensure a stable internet connection to fulfill their tasks.

Standard Job Description

Required Languages

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Desired Languages

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Additional Qualifications

Skills

Data Analysis, Google Marketing Platform, Paid Media, Paid Search Campaigns, Paid Search Marketing, Paid Social Campaign Management, Project Management, Social Media Advertising

Education

Bachelor of Arts (BA) (Required), Bachelor of Science (BS) (Required)

Certifications

Work Experience

Other information

This position doesn’t require a functional clearance

Home-Based

Yes