SEO and AI Search Optimization Manager

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa

23h

About The Position

At Seminole Hard Rock Support Services, the SEO and AI Search Optimization Manager leads how Hard Rock is discovered across traditional search, AI platforms, and emerging agentic experiences. The role develops strategies that help search engines, AI platforms, and agents discover, understand, recommend, and enable booking or purchasing of Hard Rock services. It partners closely with Web Product, Content, UX, Analytics, and Marketing teams to turn opportunities into measurable results.

The manager leads SEO, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and emerging AI and agentic search strategies. The role also improves AI discoverability and the path from discovery to transaction, owns measurement for organic and AI-driven discovery, and develops data-driven recommendations and experiments to improve search performance and guest conversion.

Requirements

• At least 7 years of experience in SEO, organic growth, search strategy, digital marketing, or a related discipline, including senior-level strategic experience.
• Deep expertise in technical SEO, content optimization, site architecture, structured data, and search analytics, with experience in AEO, GEO, or emerging AI search.
• Strong understanding of how search engines, AI platforms, and large language models discover, interpret, cite, and recommend information.
• Demonstrated ability to translate search and AI insights into clear recommendations for Product, Content, UX, Engineering, and Marketing teams.
• Strong analytical skills and experience managing metrics tied to traffic, engagement, conversion, bookings, revenue, or other business outcomes.
• Proactive, curious, collaborative, detail-oriented, analytical, and innovative approach to work.
• Comfort experimenting with new approaches, tools, and technologies in a rapidly evolving search and AI landscape.
• Strong communication skills for explaining complex SEO and AI concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in hospitality, travel, entertainment, retail, restaurants, or another consumer-facing digital ecosystem.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead Hard Rock’s strategy for SEO, AEO, GEO, and emerging AI and agentic search experiences.
• Develop and maintain a roadmap of search and AI optimization opportunities, coordinating with Web Product Managers and cross-functional partners to prioritize and implement them.
• Identify emerging guest search behaviors, intents, and opportunities, and translate them into recommendations across content, product, technology, and UX.
• Establish scalable SEO and AI search standards, best practices, and requirements for Hard Rock’s digital ecosystem.
• Develop strategies that help AI platforms and agents discover, interpret, recommend, and act on information about Hard Rock’s properties, products, services, and experiences.
• Partner with Web Product Managers and Engineering to improve technical foundations for AI discovery, including structured data, metadata, taxonomy, APIs, feeds, deep links, and other machine-readable signals.
• Identify ways to reduce the gap between AI discovery and transactions, working with Product teams on AI-driven journeys for hotel bookings, restaurant reservations, ticket purchases, shopping, and offers.
• Monitor Hard Rock’s representation across AI platforms and identify gaps in visibility, accuracy, citations, recommendations, and conversion.
• Own key metrics and the reporting framework for organic and AI-driven discovery, including qualified traffic, visibility, citations, engagement, conversion, bookings, transactions, and revenue.
• Work with Web Product Managers, Web Content Editors, and UX to identify opportunities to improve traffic and conversion across digitally available services.
• Provide data-driven recommendations on content, site architecture, technical SEO, page templates, internal linking, UX, and digital commerce to improve search performance and guest conversion.
• Establish measurement and experimentation frameworks to assess performance across traditional search, AI platforms, and emerging agentic experiences.
• Proactively identify opportunities and trends to improve Hard Rock’s search and AI visibility.
• Build relationships and influence teams across Product, UX, Content, Engineering, Analytics, and Marketing without direct ownership.
• Communicate complex SEO and AI concepts as clear priorities, recommendations, and actions for technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Benefits

• The company offers a comprehensive benefits package intended to support team members’ health, future planning, and work-life balance; benefits may vary by employment status. The posting refers candidates to the career site for the full benefits list.

What This Job Offers

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