Join the team as our Senior Search Specialist

Our paid search book is growing faster than one senior person can hold. We have a strong SEM Specialist running strategy, client relationships and account growth across our largest accounts, supported by an execution level specialist. The gap is at the top: we need a second person who can own accounts outright rather than one more pair of hands taking direction.

At the same time, our SEO practice has outgrown the person currently carrying it alongside an operations role. Rankings work, technical audits, content strategy and the fast moving AI search space all need a dedicated owner.

We’ve deliberately built this as one role across both. Search intent is search intent. The person who can read a search terms report and decide what to bid on is the same person who can read a keyword gap analysis and decide what to write. Running both channels for the same client makes each one better, and it makes you far more valuable to the client than a single channel specialist.

What level of experience do you need?

• 5+ years hands on Google Ads at an agency or in a multi-account environment, with real numbers you can talk to. This is non-negotiable.
• 3+ years SEO across technical, content and off page. Not a content writer who knows some SEO, and not a technical auditor who’s never briefed content.
• Direct client facing experience. You’ve run the meeting, presented the bad month, and had the budget conversation. We’d like the SEO person to be able to speak to a client without a translator.
• Fluent across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, GA4, Google Search Console, Merchant Centre, Looker Studio, and a major SEO platform (Semrush, Ahrefs or equivalent)
• Conversion tracking competence. You can set it up, audit it, and work out why a conversion action is double counting.

Bonus:

• eCommerce depth: Shopify, large product feeds, feed optimisation tools
• Experience across regulated or sensitive categories (health, NDIS, government, finance) where ad copy compliance matters
• Meta or paid social breadth
• HubSpot familiarity
• Google Ads and Microsoft Ads certifications
• Experience developing junior specialists

What will you be doing?

Roughly half your time on SEM, half on SEO. It will move month to month with client demand, and we’d rather you flex than pretend the split is fixed.

Own accounts, not tasks

• Be the named owner for a portfolio of search accounts. The client emails you, you run the meeting, you’re accountable for the result.
• Run monthly and quarterly reviews. Present performance in plain English, not platform jargon. Our clients don’t know what “tracked conversion value” means and shouldn’t have to.
• Set the strategy for each account against the client’s actual commercial goal, not the platform’s default definition of success.
• Find and make the case for growth: new campaign types, budget increases that will actually pay back, additional channels, competitor targeting, seasonal pushes. Bring the recommendation with the numbers behind it.
• Manage the account within its budget. Know what a client is paying for, know what the work costs, flag it early when those two things stop matching.
  
  

SEM

• Own Google Ads and Microsoft Ads strategy across Search, Performance Max, Shopping, Demand Gen and YouTube.
• Set and defend bidding strategy. Diagnose why a campaign is underspending or overspending rather than reaching for the daily budget slider.
• Own conversion tracking setup and integrity across Google Ads, GA4, Shopify, Merchant Centre and, where relevant, HubSpot. If the numbers are wrong, everything downstream is wrong.
• Build and restructure accounts: campaign architecture, keyword strategy, negative management, ad copy, asset groups, feed quality.
• Use Adalysis, Opteo and similar tools with judgement. They will confidently recommend excluding the age bracket that drives half the revenue. Knowing when to ignore the tool is the job.
• Review and lift the work of our execution specialists. Give feedback that develops people rather than just correcting output.
  
  

SEO

• Own SEO strategy across a portfolio of retainer and sprint based clients.
• Technical audits and remediation: crawl and indexation issues, site architecture, Core Web Vitals, structured data, migrations.
• Keyword and content strategy: research, mapping, briefs for writers, on page optimisation, internal linking.
• Rank tracking, Search Console analysis, and reporting that connects rankings to actual business outcomes.
• Answer engine and generative engine optimisation. AI assistant traffic is now a real acquisition channel for our clients and it’s growing. You’ll own citation analysis, content coverage against AI answers, llms.txt and the rest of the emerging stack. Nobody has ten years of experience in this, so we’re looking for someone who’s actively working in it and reading every week.
• Digital PR and link acquisition strategy, working with our content team.
• Contribute to pre sale audits and pitch work. Live audits win deals.
  
  

Team and agency

• Bring AI into your own workflow and share what works. Our SEM Specialist has already cut multi hour ad copy audits to ten minutes with Claude. We expect you to do the same in your patch and document it.
• Contribute to our SOPs, packages and pricing. If the way we deliver something is inefficient, say so and help fix it.
• Support and review our execution specialists on both channels.

A bit about Refuel…

Refuel Creative is a 10 year old digital marketing and revenue operations agency based in Port Adelaide, with a distributed specialist team across South East Asia. We connect CRM, advertising, email, SEO and web into one integrated engine for ambitious eCommerce and B2B brands.

We’re a HubSpot Solutions Partner, Google Premier Partner, Meta Business Partner, and one of a select few Global Canva Implementation Partners worldwide.

What sets us apart is the depth and length of our client relationships. Our average client stays with us for 3 years, several have been with us the entire time we’ve been in business, and our NPS is +84 with zero detractors. We don’t churn clients, because we don’t behave like a vendor. We behave like a strategic partner with skin in the game.

We’re an AI first, tech heavy agency. We use AI in our delivery, in our internal operations, and in how we support our team. Our search team already runs Claude workflows to audit ad copy at scale, catch expired promotions across hundreds of ad groups, and generate bulk edit files for Ads Editor. If you want to work from a spreadsheet and a gut feel, this isn’t the place for you.

We move fast and you’ll learn a lot. Professional development is real here, with a 40 hour annual self directed PD allocation. Our clients are diverse and demanding, and the people who thrive here treat that as the opportunity it is.

For South East Asia based candidates, you don’t need to work Port Adelaide business hours. We need meaningful daily overlap (typically 4 hours), but our long term goal is 24/7 client support, so candidates who prefer to work later in their local day are particularly welcome.

Some great reasons to work at Refuel include:

• Flexible working arrangements: work from home or remote as needed, work the hours you need. Our team works from different locations at times that suit their lives.
• Friday team lunch: share a meal and a drink at the end of the week with colleagues at one of the eateries around Port Adelaide.
• Room to grow: our fast growth creates genuine promotion and development opportunities for people who do the work.
• Professional development: 40 hours per year, dedicated PD time and access to training from our partners.
• Competitive base aligned with experience and location.
• Performance bonus tied to client retention and account growth.
• 4 weeks leave + birthday off.
• Hybrid working. Port Adelaide office for those local.
• Real ownership. You’ll run your accounts, not wait for permission.
• Direct working relationship with the GM and CEO.

Who should apply?

You should apply if you meet the experience and skills above, and you also:

• Have good commercial judgement. You understand that ROAS in isolation is a trap, that a low ROAS segment driving the most revenue is usually worth bidding down rather than excluding, and that the client’s goal is sales, not tidy metrics.
• Have excellent professional written English. You’ll be writing client facing reports and recommendations.
• Have genuine AI fluency in your workflow, and the honesty to check its output. We’ve had reports go out with invented numbers in them. That can’t happen.
• Are self-disciplined: honest time logging, proactive comms, flags risk early.
• Enjoy being competitive and accountable. This role has clear KPIs: client results, retention, account growth and utilisation. If you’re allergic to being measured, this isn’t your role.

Refuel Creative is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply.

Most importantly, we want someone who wants a place they can fit. Who wants to be part of a supportive team and wants to deliver awesome results for our clients. Someone who wants opportunities and a development path.

Who shouldn’t apply?

Not everyone is a good fit for our team, and that’s okay. We get it. So we’d rather cover it off early. Who shouldn’t apply for this position?

• Those looking for a short-term fling. Something temporary until the next big thing. We get attached to our people and we invest in our people. We want that respect in return for our people to become part of our growth.
• Someone looking for their big break, but have yet to break through for a senior role.
• People who don’t share our values. People who don't value their colleagues, think they're above the occasional admin task, or won't pitch in.
• People who find the I in team. You need to work with your teammates, not against them.

Ready to apply?

Ultimately, we work with our clients to grow their businesses. Do you want to help? Click to apply now, we would love to hear from you!

If you'd like to chat about the role before applying, book a time to talk to Ryan.

We’d rather have the right person on the right hours, than the wrong person full time. We’re willing to consider:

• Part time, either channel, minimum 3 days
• Job share across SEM and SEO between two candidates
• Compressed weeks

Tell us what you want in your application.

Applications are open until 27 October 2026.