Associate Director, SEO

WPP Media•New York, NY

2d•$75,000 - $180,000

About The Position

EssenceMediacom is seeking an Associate Director, SEO & Generative Search Optimization, to join the Organic Search team and lead the strategy, recommendations, and delivery of SEO and GSO across a portfolio of Google products and services in the U.S., in partnership with global team members across EMEA and APAC. As search behavior continues to evolve beyond traditional results pages, this role will define how brands and products build visibility across Google Search, AI-powered search experiences, LLM platforms, and answer engines. In line with MFG's expectations for Associate Director-level talent, this role is responsible for navigating complexity to transform the 'how' and 'why' of SEO/GSO into a clear vision, ensuring technical, content, measurement, and cross-channel strategies are connected to client business priorities and delivered to a consistently high standard. The ideal candidate combines deep organic search expertise with strong client leadership, commercial judgment, and people management skills. This person will serve as the primary owner of the client partnership for their assigned business area, build trust across complex stakeholder groups, and translate technical and strategic recommendations into compelling business narratives. They will guide Supervisors and junior team members, own bespoke scopes and operational frameworks, shape measurement approaches for emerging AI visibility, and formalize collaboration across SEO, SEM, Analytics, Content, Product, Engineering, and other agency partners. The role requires confidence leading senior client conversations, driving decisions through ambiguity, and maintaining accountability for strategy, delivery quality, team performance, and account growth.

Requirements

A minimum of 5 (five) years of organic search experience, with a proven record of leading high-performance SEO strategies for large or complex organizations; agency or media agency experience is highly desirable.
Advanced expertise in technical SEO, content strategy, structured data, entity optimization, topical authority, international search, site migrations, and the signals that support discoverability across traditional and AI-assisted search.
Strong understanding of AI Search, LLM platforms, answer engines, and emerging discovery behaviors, with the ability to translate market change into practical client strategy, measurement, and operating approaches.
Demonstrated ability to define a strategic vision and convert complex technical, content, and data challenges into clear business cases, prioritized roadmaps, and client-ready recommendations.
Strong client leadership and executive communication skills, including experience owning senior stakeholder relationships, leading strategic presentations, navigating difficult conversations, and securing alignment across functions.
Advanced analytical and storytelling skills, with experience designing measurement frameworks, maintaining data integrity, interpreting complex datasets, and connecting SEO/GSO performance to broader business KPIs.
Experience creating scopes of work, estimating resources, designing operating models, identifying growth opportunities, and managing delivery against commercial and operational expectations.
Proven people management and mentorship experience, including coaching managers or Supervisors, improving quality through others, providing actionable feedback, and supporting team development and retention.
Experience formalizing ways of working across SEM, Analytics, Content, Product, Engineering, Social, PR, and other cross-functional partners to advance integrated Total Search strategies.
Proficiency with relevant analytics, search, crawling, reporting, and productivity platforms, including Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Keyword Planner, Data Studio, Lumar, Screaming Frog, Google AI Studio and Workspace products.
A consultative, proactive, and learning-oriented mindset, with the judgment to operate effectively through ambiguity, anticipate industry shifts, improve processes, and contribute to agency innovation, automation, and thought leadership.

Responsibilities

Own the SEO and GSO vision for assigned Google products or product areas, connecting technical readiness, content strategy, entity authority, and AI-led discovery to measurable business priorities.
Define strategic roadmaps for complex site environments, anticipating evolving search and AI standards and translating infrastructure needs into persuasive business cases for Product, Engineering, Marketing, and other stakeholders.
Direct long-term content strategy across traditional and generative search, balancing audience intent, topical authority, brand representation, source inclusion, and emerging AI visibility goals.
Own the narrative of SEO and GSO performance by ensuring measurement frameworks, dashboards, and reporting connect search outcomes to broader business KPIs and drive clear stakeholder action.
Serve as the primary client partner for the assigned product area, maintaining strong rapport, navigating complex stakeholder landscapes, managing expectations, and ensuring seamless delivery of the overarching search vision.
Lead senior client presentations and strategic discussions, translating complex technical, content, and measurement findings into clear recommendations, decisions, and prioritized investment opportunities.
Create bespoke scopes, operating frameworks, roadmaps, and delivery plans mapped to client business goals, while proactively identifying strategic growth opportunities and future areas of expansion.
Drive operational excellence through expert project management, resource planning, timely task activation, rigorous quality control, and clear accountability across team-led delivery.
Formalize integrated Total Search workflows across SEO, SEM, Analytics, Content, Product, Engineering, Social, PR, and other partners so organic insights influence cross-channel planning and optimization.
Lead cross-channel analyses, testing roadmaps, and performance validation initiatives that demonstrate the business impact of integrated paid, owned, earned, and generative search strategies.
Elevate team performance by coaching Supervisors to act as the primary quality filter, providing strategic feedback that strengthens their leadership, judgment, attention to detail, and ability to develop junior talent.
Maintain a high bar for client-ready work, taking accountability for the accuracy, strategic depth, persuasiveness, and commercial relevance of final deliverables.
Develop and evolve AI Search POVs, GSO methodologies, operational playbooks, process documentation, and thought leadership that strengthen the account and contribute to the agency's broader search product.