Senior Director, Generative & Answer Engine Optimization (GEO/AEO)

Lilly • Indianapolis, IN

6d • $166,500 - $244,200 • Onsite

About The Position

This role builds the function that determines how the enterprise is represented across AI-driven search. Generative AI platforms — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Google AI Overviews — are becoming a primary channel through which patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals find information. Most companies, including most competitors in this space, do not yet have a defined strategy for how their brands are surfaced, cited, or recommended inside these tools. This role builds that capability from the ground up. This is a newly created role inheriting an existing team of GEO practitioners. The mandate is to define the strategy, evolve the operating model, and scale the team and tools for one of the largest and most complex organizations in the industry. This role sets the standard for an emerging discipline, building on an established team rather than starting from zero. This role owns: Enterprise strategy and execution for AI/LLM visibility across commercial, medical, and communications functions, in the US and international markets. The measurement layer — evaluating and selecting the tools and platforms that track AI-surface performance, and building the dashboards that report performance to the business. Hiring, budget, and vendor decisions for the function. Cross-functional alignment across Search Capabilities, Medical Affairs Strategy, Evidence Intelligence, and Site teams — driving one unified enterprise approach rather than fragmented efforts. The team is built, not inherited. This role carries explicit mandate and budget to hire and develop a group of GEO practitioners as the function scales.

Requirements

• Bachelors degree
• 7–10+ years leading search or digital marketing.
• Hands-on experience building AI/LLM visibility, GEO, or AEO programs. Extensive tenure specifically in GEO is not expected, given the discipline's recency; direct execution experience is required
• Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization and visas for this role, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L-1.

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading and developing people, including running specialists through ambiguity in a fast-changing space
• Strong analytical skills — experience building and interpreting visibility dashboards and performance data to drive decisions
• Ability to communicate a new, technical topic clearly to senior leaders and align cross-functional teams without formal authority over them
• Experience in pharma, healthcare, or another regulated industry. Deep pharmaceutical experience is not required at the outset; onboarding includes direct partnership with Medical, Legal, and Regulatory teams, and the ability to learn a regulated environment quickly is expected.
• Direct experience with AI-visibility platforms (Semrush, Bluefish AI, Profound, Athena, Otterly) or major AI surfaces (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Google AI Overviews, Open Evidence)
• Experience implementing structured data, schema markup, or technical SEO at scale
• Experience scaling a marketing capability across global or international markets
• A clearly articulated point of view on Agentic Search and how brands should prepare for it
• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in ambiguity, as the discipline will continue to evolve

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the enterprise GEO/AI-visibility strategy. Set the operating model and governance for how this work is prioritized and resourced.
• Translate a broader search vision into a concrete roadmap.
• Track a fast-moving landscape and resolve implications for the business, in partnership with brand, medical, and communications leadership.
• Build and evolve the dashboards and reporting that give teams a real-time view of AI-surface performance.
• Set technical content standards that improve how content is surfaced and cited.
• Audit gated content to confirm high-value material is accessible to AI engines.
• Run pilots and scaled rollouts across international markets.
• Align with peer leads across Commercial, Medical, and International teams on a unified strategy.
• Partner with Technology and Site teams on structured data, schema markup, and site architecture that support AI crawlability.
• Own vendor relationships and tool evaluation in the AI-visibility space — platforms such as Semrush, Bluefish AI, Profound, or Athena.
• Represent this work in cross-functional AI strategy forums.
• Build a team of GEO practitioners.
• Set goals, provide direction, and establish clear development paths as the field matures.

Benefits

• company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance)
• company-sponsored 401(k)
• pension
• vacation benefits
• medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits
• flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts)
• life insurance and death benefits
• certain time off and leave of absence benefits
• well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior