Associate Search Strategy Director

Adelphi Group; Toronto; On-site; CAD 125,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Critical Mass in Toronto is seeking an Associate Search Strategy Director to lead a world-class team of SEO/SEM marketers and craft data-driven strategies that meet clients' objectives across the digital landscape.

You will blend content strategy, UX, and technical SEO to drive measurable results, aligning paid and organic efforts and delivering insights through compelling reports.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of search experience
• Experience leading paid and organic search strategies
• Strong communication and presentation skills
• Experience leading and managing a team of search specialists
• Proven track record of developing and implementing search strategies
• Strong project management and organizational skills
• Experience defining cross-disciplinary internal processes
• Experience managing SEM budgets (> $100,000)
• Deep understanding of search engine algorithms and SEO best practices
• Proficiency in data analytics and visualization tools
• Strong Excel skills
• Analytical skills for data-driven decisions
• Experience developing and executing content strategies
• Proactive, self-starter attitude
• Experience with AI tools for search tasks
• Experience with GEO and AI search optimization
• Passion for staying current in a rapidly evolving digital environment

Responsibilities

• Own the creation, definition, execution, and optimization of integrated SEO/SEM strategies
• Represent the Search practice within the agency as a strategic leader
• Hire, manage, and grow a high-performing team of search strategists
• Advise on strategy and approach to drive innovation and performance
• Use search data to understand user intent and identify business opportunities
• Pitch and implement new search projects and service offerings
• Define success metrics and translate SEO/SEM results to business objectives
• Align paid and organic search strategies to reduce costs while maximizing activity
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to incorporate SEO & SEM best practices
• Deliver actionable insights and strategic recommendations through reports
• Optimize social search channels to maximize brand visibility
• Conduct regular SEO/SEM audits and competitive analyses
• Develop and implement AI Search Optimization/GEO strategies
• Convey SEO/SEM concepts clearly to stakeholders
• Develop frameworks to track and improve search performance
• Advise on technical website development for indexability and accessibility

Skills

7+ years of search experience

Experience leading paid and organic-

Tools

SEMrush

Ahrefs

ScreamingFrog

Google Analytics

Google Data Studio

Adobe Analytics

Google Search Console

Tableau

Excel

Job description

Agency:

Critical Mass

Job Function:

Strategy and Planning

Job Subfunction:

Account Planning and Brand Planning

Job Description:

In this role, you’ll lead a high-performing team of SEO and SEM marketers in driving best-in-class search strategies for some of the world’s biggest brands.

As Associate Search Strategy Director, you know how to unlock the stories found in data and translate those stories into opportunities to meet customers wherever they’re searching across the evolving digital landscape. You’ll use search insights to craft data-driven strategies that demonstrate a deep understanding of our clients’ businesses, objectives, and customers. You’ll also develop strategic search roadmaps and processes to drive measurable results through content strategy, user experience, and a strong technical foundation.

You’ll play a critical role in shaping our search services and capabilities, building a high-performance team, and helping our clients achieve top-tier performance.

You Will

• Own the creation, definition, execution, and optimization of integrated SEO/SEM strategies
• Represent the Search practice within the agency, serving as a strategic thought leader, entrepreneur, advocate, and educator
• Hire, manage, and grow a high-performing team of search strategists
• Serve as an integral part of the account leadership team, making recommendations on strategy and approach to drive innovation and performance
• Use search data (in conjunction with other research sources) to understand user intent, drive content strategies, and identify business opportunities for clients
• Pitch and implement new search projects and service offerings
• Define success metrics and translate SEO/SEM results to business objectives
• Align paid and organic search strategies to reduce costs while maximizing key business activities
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to incorporate SEO & SEM strategies and best practices
• Deliver actionable insights and strategic recommendations to clients through insightful, visually compelling reports
• Optimize social search channels (e.g. YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, etc.) to maximize brand and content visibility across the digital landscape
• Conduct regular SEO/SEM audits and competitive analyses
• Develop and implement AI Search Optimization/GEO strategies
• Effectively convey SEO/SEM concepts and success stories in a concise and easy-to-understand manner
• Develop frameworks and processes to systematically track and improve search performance
• Advise on technical website development to maximize search indexability and visibility, including JavaScript SEO and accessibility considerations for both users and LLM crawlers
• Define search-driven guidelines and requirements for page content, copy, page speed, accessibility, indexability, structured markup, site architecture, URL structure, page titles, meta descriptions, headings, anchor text, internal linking, site maps, etc.
• Monitor, analyze, and report on search results and performance to both internal and external stakeholders
• Keep current with the latest digital trends and changes in the search marketing landscape, identifying new opportunities for clients (e.g. AI search, ML-driven automation, visual search, voice search, social search, etc.)

You Have

• 7+ years of search experience
• Experience leading both paid and organic search strategies, and the integration of both
• Strong communication and presentation skills, with an emphasis on crafting compelling visual stories in slide format
• Experience leading and managing a team of search specialists
• Proven track record of developing and implementing search strategies that successfully drove performance and conversion growth
• Strong project management and organizational skills, with the ability to drive progress and manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously
• Experience defining and documenting cross-disciplinary internal processes to improve search implementation and best practices
• Experience managing SEM campaigns with large budgets (>$100,000)
• Deep understanding of search engine algorithms, ranking factors, SEO best practices, and technical SEO
• Proficiency in third-party SEO/SEM tools, such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, ScreamingFrog, etc.
• Proficiency in data analytics and visualization tools, such as Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, Adobe Analytics, Google Search Console, Tableau, etc.
• Strong Excel skills, including pivot tables, vlook-ups, and comfort working with large datasets
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret data, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions
• Experience developing and executing content strategies that improve brand visibility, traffic and engagement through content creation and optimization
• A proactive, self-starter attitude
• Experience managing large-scale website migrations and redesigns
• Excellent business acumen, results-orientation, and written communication skills
• Experience with testing and leveraging AI tools (ChatGPT, etc.) for search tasks
• Experience with GEO and AI search optimization for both AI Overviews and LLMs (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Mode, etc.)
• Passion for staying current in a rapidly evolving digital environment, leveraging new tools, and digital marketing channels to gain a competitive edge$125,000-$135,000

Omnicom’s policy requires employees to work in the office for a minimum of three days a week, unless additional in-office days are directed by their agency or manager. Our objective is to increase this requirement over time, and many of our agencies as well as Omnicom’s corporate group already require five days of in-office attendance.

Omnicom is committed to hiring and developing exceptional talent. We agree that talent is uniquely distributed, and we’re focused on developing inclusive teams that can bring the best solutions to everything we do. We strongly believe that celebrating what makes us different makes us better together. Join us—we look forward to getting to know you. We will process your personal data in accordance with our Recruitment Privacy Notice.

Link to Recruitment Privacy Notice: https://www.omc.com/privacy-notice/