SEO Lead

SmartRecruiters, Inc.; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 2,500,000 - 4,200,000; Full time

Job summary

PhonePe Limited seeks an SEO Lead to build and scale our central SEO function from zero, driving the organic growth roadmap and aligning product and tech teams. You will govern agency output, perform audits, and fix critical bottlenecks, while expanding the team as needed.

You will champion GEO/AEO approaches, oversee site architecture, and ensure robust technical governance across search engines and AI discovery platforms.

Qualifications

• 5–8 years of experience leading SEO strategy for high-traffic brands.
• Strong understanding of traditional SEO plus AEO/GEO concepts (LLM search behavior).
• Ability to translate metrics into business outcomes and secure cross-functional buy-in.

Responsibilities

• Define central organic roadmap across web properties and align with business goals.
• Lead agency partnerships for technical execution, AI-optimized content, and link building.
• Identify high-impact opportunities and deploy quick-win strategies with agencies.

Skills

SEO strategy

Agency management

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical SEO

AEO/GEO concepts

Tools

Screaming Frog

Ahrefs

Google Search Console

Job description

PhonePe Limited (Formerly PhonePe Private Limited) is a technology company that builds digital platforms for Payments, Digital Distribution Services and Financial Services. Headquartered in India, the PhonePe digital payments app was launched in 2016. As of April 2026, PhonePe has over 70 Crore life-till-date registered users and a digital payments acceptance network spread across over 5 Crore merchants. PhonePe’s products and services include Consumer Payments (including Digital Distribution Services), Merchant Payments, Lending and Insurance Distribution services, and New Platforms, which comprise Share.Market (stock broking and mutual funds distribution platform), and Indus Appstore (Android-based mobile app marketplace). Culture:

At PhonePe, we go the extra mile to make sure you can bring your best self to work, Everyday!. And that starts with creating the right environment for you. We empower people and trust them to do the right thing. Here, you own your work from start to finish, right from day one. PhonePe-rs solve complex problems and execute quickly; often building frameworks from scratch. If you’re excited by the idea of building platforms that touch millions, ideating with some of the best minds in the country and executing on your dreams with purpose and speed, join us!

Job Description

About The Role

We are looking for an SEO Lead to build and scale our central SEO function from zero. This is a strategic thinker-plus-doer role (70% strategy and alignment, 30% tactical capability). You will design our organic growth roadmap, manage external agency execution, and navigate cross-functional alignments with product and tech teams. You will also spearhead our transition into the AI era ensuring our brand dominates both traditional search engine results and AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude). While you will rely on agency support and internal hires for day-to-day execution, you must have the deep technical capability to step in, run audits, validate agency output, and fix high-priority bottlenecks yourself when needed.

Focus Area 1: Strategy, Architecture & Agency Leadership

SEO & AEO/GEO Blueprint: Define the central organic roadmap across web properties, aligning traditional search strategy and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) with core business and acquisition goals.

Agency Management: Brief, guide, and hold agency partners accountable for technical execution, AI-optimized content production, entity building, and link acquisition.

Early Wins & Strategy: Identify high-impact, low-hanging organic opportunities and deploy quick-win strategies with agencies to demonstrate early ROI.

Team Scaling: Map out resource requirements and selectively hire internal specialists (technical SEOs, AI/content strategists) as the SEO unit grows.

Cross-Functional Integration: Partner directly with Product Managers and Tech Leads to build SEO/AEO requirements (site architecture, structured data/schema for AI crawlers, dynamic rendering) into development sprints.

Stakeholder Enablement: Help non-SEO stakeholders across marketing, product, and leadership understand search and AI discovery priorities and business impact.

Brand Protection & Entity Visibility: Ensure site migrations, platform redesigns, and new product launches maintain search authority, clear entity signals, and structural integrity across search engines and AI models.

Focus Area 3: Technical Governance & AI-Age Quality Control

AEO & GEO Optimization: Build frameworks to monitor brand citations, sentiment, and visibility across LLM platforms, ensuring our products are correctly recommended in generative AI answers.

Tactical QA & Audits: Periodically dive into the details using tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, Google Search Console, and AI monitoring platforms to audit agency deliverables and verify technical site health.

Performance Systems: Set up reporting dashboards to track keyword visibility, AI citation share of voice, organic acquisition funnels, and technical performance metrics.

Qualifications

What We Are Looking For

Strategic Experience: 5 to 8 years of experience leading SEO strategy, managing agencies, and driving organic growth for high-traffic digital brands.

Modern Search & AI Fluency: Deep understanding of traditional technical SEO alongside a strong grasp of AEO/GEO concepts (LLM search behavior, entity mapping, vector retrieval, and schema structured data).

Stakeholder Management: Strong ability to translate search and AI metrics into business outcomes and get cross-functional buy-in.

Mindset To Succeed

High Agency: You don't wait for ideal conditions or perfect dev bandwidth; you find creative paths to move projects forward.

Strategic with Execution Depth: You operate comfortably at the 30,000-foot strategy level, but retain the tactical skills to inspect agency work and debug complex technical or AI citation issues.

Forward-Thinking Builder: You stay ahead of search shifts, proactively adapting strategies to ensure the brand wins in both traditional search engines and AI discovery platforms.