South helps growing companies find, hire, and pay top Latin American talent. Build high-performing teams in 21 days or less.
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When you hire a performance marketing manager, you get the person who owns paid acquisition and is accountable for the numbers: the spend, the return, the cost per acquisition, and the growth that comes from channels you can actually measure. South places full-time, pre-vetted performance marketing managers from Latin America who work in your US time zone, cost roughly 53% less than a US hire, and start in about two to four weeks. You get a dedicated owner of your paid channels who lives in the data, not an agency that bills you for a dashboard you never see behind.
A performance marketing manager is a marketer who owns paid acquisition channels and is accountable for measurable return, planning and managing campaigns across Google Ads, Meta, and other platforms, optimizing toward ROAS and CAC, and running the testing and tracking that turn ad spend into efficient, scalable growth. They make every dollar of spend accountable.
The role exists because paid acquisition is both a powerful growth lever and an easy way to burn cash, and the difference comes down to disciplined management. Anyone can launch a campaign and spend money. A performance marketing manager is the person who structures the account properly, builds the tracking so the numbers are real, tests relentlessly, kills what does not work, and scales what does, all while holding to a target cost per acquisition or return on ad spend. They are judged on outcomes, not activity, which is what separates the role from generic digital marketing.
Day to day, they manage campaigns across the channels that fit the business: Google Ads for search and shopping, Meta for prospecting and retargeting, and often LinkedIn, TikTok, or programmatic depending on the audience. They own the full mechanics of an account, audience targeting, bidding strategy, creative testing, landing page alignment, and budget pacing. They live in conversion tracking and attribution, because a performance program is only as good as the data underneath it, and they coordinate closely with whoever owns landing pages and conversion rate, often a CRO specialist. They overlap with a paid media buyer and a PPC manager, and at the strategic end with a growth marketer.
The defining toolset is the ad platforms and the measurement around them. Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, and platform-specific managers anchor the work, surrounded by Google Analytics 4, conversion APIs, tag managers, and attribution tools that keep the data honest. They measure ROAS, CAC, cost per lead, click-through and conversion rates, and ultimately payback period and contribution to pipeline or revenue. Many also work in bid management and creative testing tools to operate at scale.
What makes one great is the combination of analytical rigor and creative judgment, plus the discipline to act on the numbers. They read the data clearly, they understand that creative is now the biggest lever on most platforms, and they have the spine to cut a campaign that is not working even when someone is attached to it. Companies in SaaS, e-commerce, and marketing agencies rely on performance marketing managers to turn an advertising budget into predictable, efficient growth.
The clearest trigger is that you are spending real money on ads without an accountable owner. If paid spend is run by an agency you cannot see inside, by a generalist as a side task, or by nobody in particular, you are almost certainly leaving efficiency on the table. A performance marketing manager takes ownership of the accounts, fixes the tracking, and drives spend toward a target return instead of toward whatever the platform's auto-bidding decides.
The second trigger is that paid is becoming a core growth channel and the stakes are rising. When ad spend grows to the point that a few points of efficiency translate into real money, when you need predictable acquisition to hit growth targets, or when leadership wants a clear read on CAC and payback, you need a dedicated owner who lives in the numbers. This is often the moment to bring paid in-house from an agency, where a paid media buyer and a performance manager can run the program with full transparency.
The third trigger is channel and account complexity. Once you run multiple channels, many campaigns, and serious budget, manual or part-time management leaves money on the table. You need someone who can structure accounts, manage creative testing at volume, and keep attribution honest across channels.
Who should not hire yet: a company with no product-market fit or no repeatable funnel to pour spend into. If you cannot yet convert traffic or do not know what a customer is worth, more paid spend just accelerates losses, and the lever is the offer and the funnel, not the ads. A demand generation manager or a generalist can handle light, early paid experiments until the economics justify a dedicated owner. The honest test is whether paid is a real channel with meaningful budget and clear economics that nobody is fully accountable for. If you are spending seriously and the return is murky, hire. If you are still finding the funnel, a performance marketing manager is premature.
Evaluate performance marketing managers on the balance of analytical rigor and creative judgment, because the best ones are strong at both and most lean one way. Give them a real scenario: here is our product, our budget, and our target CAC, how would you structure the program and what would you test first. A strong candidate asks about your economics and funnel, proposes a clear channel and account structure, prioritizes creative testing, and explains exactly how they would measure return. A weak one talks about clicks and impressions without ever connecting the work to cost per acquisition or revenue.
Test channel depth directly, since it is load-bearing. They should walk through real Google Ads and Meta accounts they have managed, including how they structured campaigns, what they tested, and how they drove CAC down, from experience rather than theory. Probe measurement specifically, because broken tracking invalidates everything: ask how they would set up and verify conversion tracking and how they think about attribution across channels. And probe discipline, because the job is as much about cutting as scaling: ask them to describe a campaign they killed and why.
Green flags: real account experience they can walk through, fluency in CAC, ROAS, and unit economics, a testing-first mindset, and the discipline to reallocate spend ruthlessly toward what works. Someone who talks about payback period, creative as the main lever, and tracking integrity is thinking like the role demands.
Red flags: a candidate who reports vanity metrics with no line to revenue, who has only ever managed campaigns inside an agency template without owning strategy, or who cannot explain how they would verify their own tracking. Be wary of anyone unwilling to cut an underperforming campaign, since attachment to losing spend is how budgets bleed.
Use these to test channel depth, analytical rigor, and discipline:
A US-based performance marketing manager typically costs around $8,500 per month in base salary, and more once you add benefits and recruiting fees. Strong operators who can manage paid accounts at scale, keep tracking honest, and drive CAC down command the top of that range, because the role directly controls a large budget. Through South, a comparably skilled performance marketing manager from Latin America runs closer to $4,000 per month, a savings of roughly 53%.
For a US hire, expect about $8,500 a month in base, plus benefits, with a search that often takes six to ten weeks to find someone genuinely strong across channel management, measurement, and creative testing rather than just one of the three. Through South, the same caliber of performance marketing manager from Latin America comes in around $4,000 a month, fully dedicated, working in your US time zone, with placement in roughly two to four weeks and no large upfront fee.
The gap reflects geography, not capability. Latin America has a deep pool of paid acquisition specialists fluent in exactly the platforms the role requires: Google Ads, Meta, and the broader measurement stack, many of whom have run paid programs for US e-commerce and SaaS brands and agencies. They bring the same analytical and creative skill their US peers do, earn strong local wages, and still produce major savings for a US employer. Because a performance marketing manager controls a budget directly and a few points of efficiency on real spend is meaningful money, the return on a strong one is high and the lower cost makes it an easy call.
Performance work is fast-moving and real-time, and time zone overlap makes it run smoothly. Campaigns need watching during the business day, spend needs reallocating when something spikes or tanks, and a broken conversion tag needs fixing before it corrupts a day of data. A performance marketing manager in Sao Paulo, Bogota, Mexico City, or Buenos Aires works your business hours, joins your marketing standups live, and catches the runaway campaign the same afternoon rather than the next day after it has wasted budget. For a role that manages live spend, that overlap directly protects the budget.
The talent depth is strong and well matched to the role. Latin America has produced a generation of paid acquisition marketers who learned on the same English-first platforms US teams use and have managed real budgets for international brands and agencies. English proficiency is high among these marketers, which matters for a role built on coordination with US leadership and clear reporting on where the money went and what it returned.
Retention is a real advantage, because a paid program improves with continuity. A manager who knows your accounts, the history of what has been tested, your seasonality, and what your audience responds to is far more valuable in year two than a replacement who has to relearn the accounts from scratch. A full-time, dedicated manager who is well compensated locally and embedded in your team tends to stay, so your CAC keeps trending down and your tests build on each other rather than restarting. South places marketers for long-term, full-time roles for exactly this reason, the same logic that makes Latin America strong for a PPC manager or a growth marketer.
South recruits, vets, and places full-time performance marketing managers from across Latin America so you get a dedicated, accountable owner of your paid channels, not an agency that bills you for a black box. Every candidate is screened for what the role actually requires: hands-on expertise in Google Ads and Meta, real conversion tracking and attribution skill, fluency in CAC and unit economics, and the testing discipline to drive efficient growth. We test with real scenarios, because the blend of analytical rigor, creative judgment, and the spine to cut losing spend is exactly what separates a performance manager who scales growth from one who just spends a budget.
The process is fast. Most roles are filled in about two to four weeks, versus the six to ten weeks a domestic search typically takes to find someone strong across all the dimensions the role demands. There are no large upfront fees and the pricing is straightforward, so you get an excellent operator at a fraction of US cost rather than a recruiting markup. You own the relationship. Your performance marketing manager works on your team, in your time zone, inside your ad accounts and your analytics, reporting to you. South handles sourcing and vetting and supports the placement, but the manager is yours.
If you are spending real money on ads without an accountable owner, or paid is becoming a core growth channel and the stakes are rising, a performance marketing manager is the hire that turns a budget into predictable, efficient growth, and hiring from Latin America makes it affordable. Book a call with South and we will place a vetted performance marketing manager on your team in weeks.
A performance marketing manager through South typically runs around $4,000 per month for full-time, dedicated work, compared to roughly $8,500 per month for a comparable US hire, plus benefits. That is about 53% in savings, with no large upfront recruiting fees. Because the role controls a real budget and a few points of efficiency is meaningful money, the return easily justifies the cost.
Yes. South places performance marketing managers from countries like Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Mexico whose business hours overlap with US time zones. This matters because paid is real-time: you need someone available to watch live campaigns, reallocate spend, and fix a broken conversion tag the same day rather than overnight.
South screens for hands-on expertise in Google Ads and Meta Ads Manager, plus conversion tracking, GA4, attribution, and creative testing. Many also bring LinkedIn, TikTok, or programmatic experience, certifications like Google Ads and Meta Blueprint, and fluency in CAC and ROAS. We match for your specific channels and business model.
Most South placements happen in about two to four weeks, compared to the six to ten weeks a domestic search commonly takes to find someone genuinely strong across channels, measurement, and creative. South maintains a vetted pipeline of LatAm paid acquisition talent, so you interview strong, pre-screened candidates right away.
Yes, and it is a common reason to hire one. A strong performance marketing manager takes ownership of your Google and Meta accounts, fixes the tracking, and runs the program with full transparency and a target return, rather than the opacity of an agency. We screen for the ownership and account depth that this transition requires.
Full-time and dedicated. South does not place gig or freelance workers. Your performance marketing manager is a long-term member of your team, which matters because a paid program improves with continuity: knowledge of your accounts, your seasonality, and what your audience responds to compounds over time.
The region has the perfect mix of everything you want in remote employees: English skills, shared time zones, hard-working, and depth of talent. They are already accustomed to working remotely for top US startups and Fortune 500 companies.
Absolutely! The US and Latin America have basically the same time zones. No Latin American city is more than two hours ahead of EST.
Every hire is sourced based on your exact needs. They will arrive ready to support your business right away. They can do basically any tasks done remotely, but we recommend starting them as support so your team has more bandwidth for high-value strategic tasks.
All types of roles - customer service, executive assistant, sales, accounting, email marketing, lead generation, content writers, operations, social media marketing, and more!
You can pay directly through us (most popular) or we can connect you with one of our payroll partners.
You don't have to deal with any American labor laws / taxes when hiring full-time remote contractors. They aren't US-based, so no visas or sponsorships to deal with either.
We recommend market pay which varies for each role. See our salary guide and success stories for some ideas.
Then, we have two different models:
Staffing (most popular) - We charge a small monthly fee for each employee's monthly salary to make the process hassle-free. The fee covers sourcing, recruiting, admin, payroll, compliance, ongoing support, and a free replacement if necessary at any point. There are no cancellation fees or minimum commitments. You only pay if you make a hire.
Headhunting - A one-time simple fee once we've found the perfect candidate. This comes with a 120-day replacement guarantee.
For both options, you only pay something if we find you someone great that you want to hire.
Yes, we only recruit for full-time and we strongly recommend full-time hiring if you can. Stability (full-time & long-term) is highly sought after abroad. The top caliber candidates are only looking for full-time work.
You're also going to spend time training and getting them up to speed on your processes. It would be a waste to do that over and over again with new people all the time.
We recommend training new hires on one thing at a time.
For example, once they get up to speed on lead generation, you can add the next role writing blog posts or whatever you'd like. You can definitely overlap roles until you have enough work for multiple people.
The cost of living is much less in Latin American countries. Many of our employees are able to own homes, raise families, provide for their parents, and have in-home help of their own with their salaries.
If you aren't happy with your hire in the first 120 days, we will work with you to conduct a second round of search for the same role for free.
Just email us at Hello@HireInSouth.com and we will get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.
