Associate Director, SEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

VML; Kansas City (MO); Hybrid; USD 75,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Job summary

VML is seeking an Associate Director, SEO to drive discovery and AI-visibility for a major enterprise client. You will lead strategy workshops, craft prompt sets, and coordinate post-launch optimization across products and markets.

This role requires hands-on platform work, deep GEO and technical SEO expertise, and leadership to guide multi-disciplinary teams. We offer a hybrid work model supporting collaboration and client success.

Qualifications

• 6-8 years experience in SEO, agency background preferred.
• Demonstrable GEO or AI-visibility experience including prompt set design.
• Experience facilitating client-facing workshops with senior stakeholders.
• Hands-on demo environment work and client reference training ability.
• Proficiency with enterprise brand visibility platforms and SEO tooling.
• Management and leadership experience with direct reports.

Responsibilities

• Lead client workshops with senior stakeholders to set categories and content frameworks.
• Translate frameworks into actionable content briefs for client teams.
• Build scalable prompt sets across products, languages and markets.
• Manage post-launch GEO optimization and uplift reporting with the client.
• Deliver hands-on platform work and facilitate in-session reviews with clients.
• Collaborate with Paid Search and Performance Content teams to align tactics.

Skills

Facilitation

Presentation skills

Communication

Leadership

Collaboration

Adaptability

Tools

Profound

Screaming Frog

MOZ

SEMrush

Job description

Who We Are

VML is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brandsto drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and award-winning human-first work for clients including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy’s. In 2026, VML was namedCampaign’s Global Network of the Year and ranked #2 Creative Network of the Year at Cannes Lions. VML’s global network spans 55+ markets with principal offices in Buenos Aires, Kansas City, London, New York, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore.

For more information, please visit www.vml.com and follow along on LinkedIn WeAreVML.

Associate Director, SEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

As the Associate Director, SEO, you will help deliver cutting-edge, high-quality search and generative engine optimization (GEO) work that is customized to specific goals. Working within our Discoverability group in support of a major enterprise client, the focus will be to drive brand visibility inside AI-generated answers as well as traditional search results, using the client’s brand visibility platform. The ability to manage multiple workstreams across products, sub-brands, languages and markets in a complex enterprise environment will be critical to the success of this role. This includes facilitating strategy workshops, building and expanding prompt sets, briefing content gaps, and running the post-launch optimization loop to ensure VML delivers a holistic, inclusive approach for all client needs.

What you’ll do

• Workshop facilitation. Lead structured strategy sessions with client marketing and product stakeholders to set categories, map content frameworks to their product and launch calendar, and produce an initial prompt set ready for import into the brand visibility platform. You must be comfortable running this both solo and as a co-facilitator alongside the client’s own team.
• Content gap briefing. Translate the content framework output into actionable content briefs the client’s own team can execute, identifying what owned content already exists, what is missing, and what must be created for each product launch. You will need to write a brief engineered for LLM visibility, not just SEO hygiene.
• Prompt strategy development and expansion. Build and structure prompt sets that scale, growing prompt depth across products, languages, sub-brands and markets over time. Apply the distinction between branded and unbranded prompt coverage, funnel mapping, and intent balance as defined by the content framework matrix.
• Post-launch optimization loop management. Return after deployment to review uplift in the platform, refresh the prompt set, identify new gaps, and coach the client through an ongoing GEO optimization cadence. Success is measured by prompt list growth and CDN page activation, not deliverable count.
• Product fluency and platform credibility. Complete hands‑on work in the platform environment and the client’s reference training sessions before any client-facing engagement. Be credible enough in the platform to facilitate a live in‑session gap review with the client, and confident enough in GEO fundamentals to hold the room in a co‑branded facilitation context without misrepresenting the tool’s native capabilities.
• Foundational SEO expertise. Bring expert‑level understanding and application of technical, on‑page, off‑page, mobile, local, international and e‑commerce SEO, and use it as the substrate for GEO recommendations. Common supporting deliverables include SEO and content audits, keyword and entity research, competitive analyses, technical SEO consultation, on‑page optimization, content development workflow support, off‑page asset optimization, and analysis and reporting.
• Strategic leadership. Think beyond tactical execution to deliver high‑level strategic recommendations for custom‑tailored, best‑in‑class discoverability work, and develop and consult on efforts that provide tangible results against previously defined goals. Lead projects of all sizes and take an active role in growing the business within the engagement.
• Category currency. Stay current on the latest SEO and GEO tooling, evolving LLM retrieval and citation behavior, reporting capabilities, and industry voices to help keep VML at the forefront. Proactively keep clients, client counterparts and internal VML teams informed on current trends and changes.
• Cross‑discipline collaboration. Work with Paid Search and Performance Content team members to support Discoverability initiatives and maximize overall impact. Maintain a solid understanding of holistic integrated media tactics alongside organic search, including paid search, social media, mobile marketing, PR and analytics, and be prepared to leverage these disciplines to benefit clients.

Who you are

• A strong facilitator who can run a room of senior marketing and product stakeholders, keep a working session on track, and leave with a usable output rather than a list of open questions
• Excellent presentation skills, including presentation building, storytelling and delivery
• Clear, confident and direct communication style
• Willing to make confident, educated judgment calls
• Careful and accurate when representing partner technology, and able to say what a platform does and does not do without overselling
• Dedicated to championing the vision of the practice and the agency
• Committed to exceptional client service with a relentless pursuit of successful and satisfied clients
• Flexible in the face of change, able to think on your feet and adapt quickly, which matters in a discipline where the underlying models and best practices shift month to month
• Eager to collaborate across disciplines for a more holistic approach to serving our clients’ needs
• Values collaboration, continuous learning, organization, adaptability and self‑motivation

What you’ll need

• 6-8 years experience working in SEO, agency experience required
• Demonstrable GEO or AI-visibility experience, including prompt set design, LLM-oriented content briefing, or measurement of brand presence in AI-generated answers
• Experience facilitating client-facing workshops or strategy sessions with senior stakeholders
• Willingness and availability to complete hands‑on demo environment work and the client’s reference training before any client-facing engagement
• Hands‑on experience with enterprise brand visibility platforms, like Profound, Peec, Adobe, etc. or the ability to reach working fluency in a demo environment quickly. You will use the client’s platform for prompt set import, gap review and uplift reporting, including live in‑session reviews with the client
• Experience with SEO tools such as SEMRush, Deepcrawl, STAT, Screaming Frog, MOZ, and comparable AI visibility tracking platforms, preferred
• Management and leadership experience with direct reports
• Strong client facing abilities, including comfort operating in co‑branded settings alongside a partner’s own team

The base salary range for this position at the time of this posting is indicated below. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications. We offer a competitive benefits package,

$75,000—$180,000 USD

We believe the best work happens when we’re together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That’s why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.