Associate Director, SEO

WPP Media · Chicago, United States; New York, United States

  • Junior
  • Full-time
  • $75,000 – $180,000
  • Posted 2026-09-24
  • Confirmed live on 25 September 2026

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Job description

About WPP Media

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth. 

WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working.

For more information, visit wppmedia.com.

About the Role

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.

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 l

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