We have an opportunity for a Growth & Performance Marketing Manager.
(This role is based in Cape Town )
About Travelstart
Travelstart is South Africa’s leading online travel agency, helping hundreds of thousands of travellers discover, compare, and book their journeys every day.
We’re entering a new phase of growth - scaling our app, expanding our acquisition channels, and building the performance marketing and measurement infrastructure that will power the next chapter of the business. It’s a moment of real momentum, with the opportunity to shape how millions of people experience travel.
About the role
This isn’t a role where you inherit a playbook - it’s where you build one.
As our Performance Marketing Manager, you’ll own the full paid media and tracking ecosystem, with a clear mandate: connect every rand spent to real business outcomes and drive sustainable, scalable growth.
You’ll play a central role in shaping how Travelstart grows - across web and app - influencing acquisition strategy, attribution, and performance for years to come.
What you’ll be doing
Paid Media & DSPs
- Plan, execute and optimise campaigns across Criteo and other DSPs with a performance-first approach
- Own Meta Ads and TikTok Ads — from strategy and audience architecture to creative iteration and budget management
- Run Google Ads campaigns end-to-end: YouTube, Display and PMAX
- Manage App Campaigns, including Google UAC and Apple Search Ads, with a focus on CAC efficiency and LTV
Tracking, Governance & Measurement
- Implement and maintain robust tracking infrastructure: Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, Meta/TikTok Pixels and Floodlight
- Own AppsFlyer tracking - event mapping, attribution windows, cohort analysis and SDK governance
- Build and maintain deep linking infrastructure to ensure seamless web-to-app and app-to-app journeys
- Lead offline conversion tracking and data integration to close the loop between ad spend and actual bookings
- Audit and enforce tagging governance across all digital touchpoints
Analytics & Business Strategy
- Go beyond platform-reported numbers - build your own view of true ROAS, incrementality and contribution margin
- Connect media performance to top-line business metrics: revenue, booking volume, app installs and repeat rate
- Identify growth opportunities through data and translate them into concrete channel strategies
- Report to senior leadership with clear, concise performance narratives — not just dashboards
Cross-functional Collaboration
- Partner with the tech and dev team on tracking implementation, deeplinking and feed/data infrastructure
- Work closely with the creative team to brief, test and iterate on ad creative across formats and platforms
- Collaborate with the broader marketing team to align paid media with CRM, SEO and brand campaigns
- Be the internal authority on performance marketing best practices - educate and upskill as needed
What we’re looking for
- 3-5 years of hands-on performance marketing experience in e-commerce or a high-volume transactional environment
- Proven track record running paid campaigns across Meta, Google, TikTok and programmatic DSPs like Criteo
- Deep understanding of mobile marketing - App Campaigns, Apple Search Ads, AppsFlyer and deeplinking
- Strong technical tracking skills: GA4, GTM, Pixels, Floodlight and offline conversion imports
- Analytical rigour - comfortable working with raw data, building your own models and challenging platform-reported metrics
- Ability to translate performance data into business strategy, not just optimisation tactics
- Excellent collaborator - you know how to work with engineers, designers and business stakeholders equally well
- Self-starter who can operate independently, manage budgets responsibly and escalate when needed
Nice to have
- Strong e-commerce background is highly valued — this role demands a conversion-focused mindset and comfort with high-volume transactional environments
- Experience at an OTA or travel tech company (anywhere in the world) is a significant advantage
- Familiarity with PPC/Search strategy beyond automated bidding
- Exposure to incrementality testing, media mix modelling or attribution modelling
- Experience working with data teams or BI tools (Looker, BigQuery, etc.)
Why join Travelstart
Travel is deeply embedded in South African culture - and at Travelstart, we’re building the platform that makes it simpler, smarter, and more accessible for millions of people to explore the world.
You’d be joining at a pivotal moment. The decisions we make now across performance marketing, app growth, and measurement will shape our trajectory for the next five years. This isn’t about incremental optimisation - it’s about building a best-in-class growth engine from the ground up.
You won’t be stepping into a rigid structure or inheriting legacy constraints. You’ll have real ownership, with the autonomy to build, test, and scale what works — supported by the right budget, tools, and a highly collaborative team across product, tech, and marketing.
Your work will be visible. Your impact will be measurable. And your thinking will directly influence how we grow.
We’re a team that moves fast, values ownership, and believes great marketing sits at the intersection of creativity and data. If you’re looking for a role where you can draw a straight line between your decisions and business outcomes, you’ll feel right at home here.