Director, Enterprise SEO & AEO

Covista•Chicago, IL

17h•$120,206 - $210,914•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a strategic and forward-thinking Director of Enterprise SEO & Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). This role will define how our brands are discovered across the full search and discovery ecosystem; including traditional search engines, AI-powered answer engines, and high-trust platforms such as YouTube and Reddit that increasingly shape AI-generated visibility. This leader owns the enterprise SEO and AEO strategy end-to-end and is accountable for performance outcomes, including organic growth, visibility, and KPI delivery across search and AI-driven discovery. This is a player-coach role; someone who can set strategic direction while also engaging directly in problem-solving, analysis, and execution when needed. The role will also lead, develop, and scale a team of SEO and AEO specialists as the Center of Excellence evolves. This leader will bring cross-functional teams together around shared growth goals in a highly visible, matrixed environment requiring influence, curiosity, and strong leadership. The ideal candidate is energized by constant change, understands where search is heading, and is excited to help shape the future of discovery at scale.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Advertising, IT or related field required.
8-10 years experience leading SEO and organic growth for large, complex websites or digital ecosystems required.
Deep expertise in technical SEO, content optimization and analytics, with fluency in modern SEO platforms and methodologies.
Experience expanding SEO beyond owned web properties, with an understanding of how platforms like YouTube and Reddit shape discovery, brand authority and AI-generated answers.
Strong foundational understanding of AI-driven search and answer engines, with demonstrated ability and curiosity to build expertise in this rapidly evolving space.
Proficiency with core SEO and analytics platforms (e.g., Google Search Console, GA4, Semrush, BrightEdge), along with emerging AI search and answer engine visibility platforms (e.g., Profound, Peec AI) used to analyze brand presence, citations and performance across AI‑powered search experiences.
Experience operating within heavily matrixed organizations, influencing without direct authority.
A builder who enjoys creating teams, frameworks and processes from the ground up.
Naturally collaborative, with a proven ability to break down silos and align teams around shared outcomes.
Data-driven, curious and always learning, with a strong appetite for experimentation and innovation.
Comfortable operating at executive altitude while diving into technical details when needed.
Clear communicator who can turn complexity into clarity.

Nice To Haves

Master's Degree preferred.
Background in higher education, regulated industries, or complex brand portfolios is a plus, but not required.

Responsibilities

Lead Enterprise Search Strategy & Vision: Identify priority degree programs and topic areas and lead strategies to grow organic share and visibility within an increasingly competitive search and AI discovery landscape.
Define and own the enterprise SEO and AEO strategy, setting a clear vision for how our brands appear across search engines, AI overviews, and answer engines.
Build and maintain a unified roadmap that balances near-term performance with long-term innovation and evolving discovery behaviors.
Establish success metrics and reporting that reflect both current organic performance and emerging AI-driven visibility.
Own Technical SEO & Platform Enablement: Partner with Engineering, Product, IT and Web teams to embed SEO best practices into platform architecture, including crawlability, indexation, internal linking, site architecture, performance, UX, accessibility compliance, AI bot analysis and retrieval methods that power modern search and answer engines.
Guide structured data, schema strategy, semantic SEO and entity modeling to support both traditional and AI-driven search.
Influence platform and CMS decisions to ensure discoverability, scalability and speed to market.
Directly evaluate and troubleshoot technical SEO issues, using data and platform insights to identify root causes and drive resolution.
Advance AI Search & Answer Engine Visibility: Develop frameworks for answer engine optimization (AEO) and AI search readiness, including structured content, authoritative signals and entity-based visibility.
Drive content strategy in partnership with editorial and content teams, with a focus on entity optimization, topical authority, and structured content that improves visibility across search engines and AI‑generated answers.
Define LLM visibility KPIs, track citation presence in AI summaries and monitor semantic authority and brand recognition across emerging platforms.
Lead ongoing testing and learning as AI-powered discovery continues to evolve.
Activate the Full Discovery Ecosystem: Ensure SEO/AEO strategies align with brand building, product, CRO, UX, social, media, and analytics to support holistic visibility and growth.
Partner with Brand teams on narrative consistency and authority positioning.
Collaborate with the Corporate Communications team to strengthen earned signals, citation authority and reputational visibility.
Enable Social and Media teams with search-informed and AI-enhanced distribution strategies.
Influence and Align the Organization: Act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders across Marketing, Product, Engineering, Analytics and Communications.
Translate complex data and trends into clear, actionable recommendations for executive audiences.
Rally cross-functional teams around shared goals, helping move the organization from siloed execution to integrated growth.
Measure What Matters: Own enterprise reporting across SEO and AEO, tying performance to meaningful business outcomes.
Provide regular insight into KPIs, trends, testing outcomes, risks and opportunities.
Manage SEO budgets, resource planning, agency partnerships and vendor relationships to support scalable impact.
Performs other duties as assigned.
Complies with all policies and standards.