Álvaro
Data Scientist
“In a climate this uncertain, Shakers gives you a layer of reassurance and confidence. What I like most, without a doubt, is the flexibility and getting to work on top-tier projects.”
Join ShakersShakers for expert talent
Build your career as a Paid Media Specialist
Projects where the engagement is the ad investment itself: which channel receives budget, which campaign gets switched off and which conversion sustains the spend. Companies splitting spend across Google, Meta and TikTok Ads and needing judgement, not another course to finish.
Certify your practice, join a collective of vetted talent and let companies with a live budget choose you for the campaigns, not for the CV.
The English-language paid media conversation is shared out among definitional guides, schools and rate comparison sites. The project-by-engagement route, with its vocabulary in order, barely had a written door from the talent side.
This is not another guide: it is what gets executed in a real engagement, and what you are asked to prove before anyone hands you the budget.
- Higher-paying projects
- More continuity between projects
- Greater recognition for your experience
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Join ShakersThe decisions a Paid Media Specialist owns
A paid media specialist runs advertising investment across paid channels: plans the budget, structures campaigns in Google Ads, Meta Ads or TikTok Ads, mounts conversion measurement and adjusts spend against cost per acquisition. As a freelance, you carry that engagement from project to project.
Their boundary: the SEM consultant goes deep on search; the social media manager grows the networks without ad spend; the paid media specialist orchestrates every paid channel.
You decide the budget split across channels, which campaigns switch off and which audiences get built. You execute in Google Ads, Meta Ads and TikTok Ads, mount pixels and conversions and hold up the ROAS and CPA reporting in Looker Studio. You also decide what does not get done: scaling spend without measurement stops, with an argument.
Pirate metricsAcquisitionActivationRetentionA/B experimentsWeb analyticsGA4Tag ManagerLooker StudioSQLPythonAutomationCRMLanding pagesTechnical SEOEmail marketingFunnelsDashboards
Google AdsMeta AdsBudgetPixelsAudiencesReporting
Free to join, no hidden fees
How Shakers works for talent
Create your profile
Tell us who you are, what you can do, the projects you want to work on and what your availability and rate are.
Get your certification
We certify your experience and your use of AI so companies understand and trust what you bring.
Match with projects
We connect you with well-paid projects that fit your expertise and your preferences.
Projects that live up to your expectations
Work on real projects, with teams that need your expertise, without wasting time looking for opportunities.
Projects that fit you
Work with companies that need your stack and experience to take their projects to production.
Opportunities that come to you
Our AI matching connects your profile with the projects that fit your preferences.
You build. Shakers handles the rest
Set your own terms based on your seniority. We manage contracts, payments and paperwork.
What you execute as a Paid Media Specialist at Shakers
The engagement arrives with a budget
The company already splitting spend across paid channels and needing judgement: accounts, pixels and the goal on the table, with the scope defined.
Accounts and pixels, read
Spend by channel, inherited structures and broken measurement located before any budget moves: the diagnosis decides the plan.
Campaigns across every channel
Google Ads, Meta Ads and TikTok Ads with audiences, remarketing and landing pages inside one campaign plan.
Campaigns told, not courses
Having moved budget with real consequences and knowing how to tell it: which channel, which campaign, which cost per acquisition.
Reporting that survives review
GA4 and Looker Studio with ROAS and CPA per channel: what was spent, what it brought and what was decided, in writing.
How far your engagement goes
You orchestrate the paid multichannel; search in depth and organic social each have their own page. If the engagement crosses over, it gets declared.
Frequently asked questions
Any other questions? Write to us and we will reply.
What does a Paid Media Specialist do per project?
They run the ad investment: plan the budget, structure campaigns in Google Ads, Meta Ads or TikTok Ads, measure conversions and adjust spend by channel. One owner, every channel.
How do I go independent handling other people's budgets?
With campaigns you can tell, channel by channel and number by number. Guides and schools tell one story; the alternative is engagements with certification and a closed scope.
Trafficker, media buyer or Paid Media Specialist?
One craft, several names: trafficker, as the profile that buys media is known in some markets, and media buyer are searched by the same buyer. Title yourself with your market's term and keep it.
How much should a freelance Paid Media Specialist charge?
The mechanism sets it: channels managed, budget moved and whether you bill a flat fee, a share of ad spend or a retainer. Published bands never line up; close yours per engagement.
One profile per channel or one orchestrating them all?
The market mostly buys orchestrators: accounts split across Google, Meta and TikTok prefer a single criterion. Extreme search depth is the SEM consultant's craft.
How do I join Shakers as a Paid Media Specialist?
Create your profile, pass the certification with campaigns you can name and join the collective. The AI then matches you with companies holding a paid budget and execution pending.
The day to day of the orchestrator
The split nobody decides, the pixel that stopped measuring and the audience that burned out quietly. Less guide, more decisions: which channel receives, which campaign switches off, which number backs each call.
Five terms, one craft
SEM consultant, Google Ads specialist, paid media, trafficker, as the media-buying profile is known in some markets, media buyer: one buyer types them at different doors. Choosing vocabulary is choosing a door.
From moving budgets to your portfolio
Going independent is usually told through guides and schools. The alternative: engagements with certification and a closed scope, where what counts is the campaign you tell.
How far your engagement goes
You orchestrate the paid channels; search in depth and organic each have their own row. When the project crosses over, the border gets declared and the engagement splits.
Who you share the funnel with
Paid investment does not travel alone: whoever goes deep on search, whoever holds up organic and whoever creates the pieces all cross your engagement.
Growth Hacker
The experiment as a system beyond the channel: acquisition, activation and retention. When the engagement is the full funnel, their page comes in.
Social Media Manager
Networks without ad spend: content, community and editorial calendar. Your border with paid social starts where your bidding stops.
SEO Consultant
The visibility that is not bought: content and authority for the search engine. Projects wanting both halves link that page here.
Graphic Designer
The creatives your campaigns need: pieces and short video that feed your ads when copy stops carrying itself. Their page opens that door.
Data Analyst
The measurement behind every bid: the analyst reads what each channel spends and converts.
The borders between specialities get agreed per project: orchestrator, consultant and creator are roles, not fixed titles.
Take the next step with Shakers
Want to decide where the investment goes?
Pass the Shakers certification and choose which campaigns get your judgement.
