Director of Paid Search (Hybrid)

GEICO • Bethesda, MD

13d • $140,425 - $229,600 • Hybrid

About The Position

GEICO is hiring a Director of Paid Search to own paid search strategy and execution for its MOAT (Home, Renters, and other Property) and Specialty lines of business, including emerging AI-driven paid search experiences. The director will lead in-house practitioners and agency partners, manage the search budget across a diverse product portfolio, and be accountable for quote volume, conversion quality, and efficient acquisition costs. The position reports to the Senior Director, Search & Partner Marketing and works closely with product and line-of-business leaders, underwriting, data science, and analytics.

This is a hands-on leadership role combining detailed campaign oversight with strategic communication to business and product leaders. The director will develop approaches suited to each product's economics, seasonality, availability, and customer intent, and build measurement and testing practices to support growth and efficiency.

Requirements

• At least 10 years of digital marketing experience, including significant hands-on paid search experience and experience leading search teams.
• Background in a conversion-driven service business such as financial services, insurance, SaaS, or banking; CPG or physical-product marketing alone is not a substitute.
• Experience leading practitioners and managing a hybrid model of in-house teams and agency partners.
• Deep hands-on knowledge of Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising, including bid strategies, automation, AI-driven campaign types, and their effects on targeting and control.
• Experience managing search across multiple products or lines with different seasonality, margins, and availability, and allocating budgets among them.
• Knowledge of SEM bid-management platforms, conversion tracking, and web analytics, and a strong understanding of data privacy.
• Experience with attribution beyond last click, incrementality testing, and forecasting for seasonal or uneven demand.
• Ability to present to senior leadership, communicate performance insights, manage up, and incorporate feedback to sharpen strategy.
• Hands-on comfort with AI tools such as Claude and Copilot, and a working understanding of how AI-driven search is changing ad formats, targeting, and buyer research.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and resources in a fast-paced, growth-oriented organization.

Nice To Haves

• Paid search experience in insurance or other regulated financial services.
• Experience with home, powersports, recreational, or other specialty insurance or consumer lines with seasonal demand.
• Experience driving cross-sell and bundling from an existing customer base through search.
• Experience managing search where product availability varies by state or region.
• Experience with AI search ad formats and early measurement of those formats.
• Experience leading an in-housing effort or restructuring an agency model.

Responsibilities

• Set the paid search strategy and roadmap for MOAT and Specialty lines in alignment with growth, profitability, and lifetime-value objectives.
• Lead and develop in-house practitioners and agency partners, fostering an accountable, collaborative, high-performing team.
• Prioritize search investment across products based on economics, seasonality, and strategic importance.
• Serve as paid search lead for the lines and align the approach with the broader search and partner portfolio.
• Evaluate and pilot new search capabilities, including AI-driven search ad experiences, and recommend investment priorities.
• Own and allocate paid search budgets across products, states, and campaigns; monitor pacing and forecasts against quote and sales goals.
• Adjust investment in response to seasonal demand, underwriting appetite, state availability, weather, and market events.
• Oversee account structure, keyword and audience strategy, bidding, ad copy, and landing-page alignment for each product's intent.
• Capture demand from existing GEICO customers and auto shoppers where cross-sell and bundling opportunities exist, coordinating with the teams that own those relationships.
• Ensure advertising content and landing experiences are accurate, on-brand, and compliant in a regulated category.
• Optimize toward completed quotes, sales, and other quality outcomes rather than lead volume alone, ensuring bidding reflects product value.
• Build and document a test-and-learn program covering ad copy, landing pages, bidding strategies, audiences, and match types.
• Develop measurement plans covering CPA, LTV, and incrementality while accounting for differences in conversion volume and cycle length.
• Use platform-native AI and automation with guardrails that keep results aligned with each line's goals.
• Partner with product, line-of-business, and underwriting leaders to align targeting, availability, and growth priorities.
• Work with data science and analytics on attribution, forecasting, and the value of cross-sell and bundled customers.
• Collaborate with site, UX, creative, and compliance teams on landing pages, ad content, and quote flows.
• Coordinate with organic search and site conversion teams so paid and organic presence work together.
• Manage relationships with search platforms and agency partners, including Google and Microsoft.
• Represent paid search for these lines with senior leadership through performance reviews, points of view, and strategic recommendations.

Benefits

• Market-competitive compensation.
• 401(k) savings plan vested from day one with a 6% match.
• Performance- and recognition-based incentives.
• Tuition assistance.
• Mental healthcare.
• Fertility and adoption assistance.
• GEICO Flex program offering up to four weeks of remote work per year.
• Personalized development programs, industry-leading training, certification, career mentorship, and coaching.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed