Associate Search Manager (SEO/GEO)

Lever; Downers Grove (IL); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Lever seeks an Associate Search Manager to translate SEO and GEO strategies into hands-on implementation across technical SEO, content, and generative search optimization. You’ll work inside a pod, aligning organic initiatives with paid campaigns and client goals while growing toward independent ownership.

Embedded with a pod, you’ll handle organic work day to day, reporting to the Director of SEO & Generative Search.

Qualifications

• One to three years of experience in SEO or organic search.
• Foundational understanding of technical SEO, keyword research, and content optimization.
• Familiarity with SEO tools (SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz) and GA4.
• Analytical skills to interpret organic search performance data.
• Strong organizational and communication skills for cross-functional work.
• Willingness to develop across GEO, landing pages, and lifecycle marketing.

Responsibilities

• Execute SEO and GEO strategies across client accounts.
• Perform technical SEO analysis including crawlability, indexing, site architecture, and Core Web Vitals.
• Optimize content and support generative search readiness.
• Conduct market and competitive research that informs your pod's accounts.
• Collaborate with your pod to align organic initiatives with paid media and client goals.
• Monitor organic and generative search performance and support reporting.

Skills

SEO strategy

GEO

Technical SEO

Content optimization

Keyword research

Analytics

Cross-functional collab

Communication

Landing page support

AI-generated assets

Tools

SEMrush

Ahrefs

Moz

Screaming Frog

Job description

The Associate Search Manager executes and supports strategies that improve organic discoverability across both traditional search engines and emerging generative search environments. This is a developing specialist role: you translate search strategy into hands‑on implementation across technical SEO, content, generative search optimization (GEO), research, and landing page support, while growing toward independent account ownership.

You are embedded in one of our delivery pods and work closely with that pod's account and media leaders, so that organic initiatives align with paid media campaigns and overall client objectives. Depending on your strengths and client needs, you may lean more heavily into areas such as content, GEO, technical SEO, research, or organic lifecycle channels.

The Associate Search Manager reports to the Director, SEO & Generative Search, who sets discipline standards and supports your growth.

How This Role Works Within Our Pod Structure

Lever delivers client work through cross-functional pods. Each pod owns a group of client accounts and brings account, media, project, and now embedded search talent together on one team.

As an Associate Search Manager, you sit inside one pod and handle that pod's organic and search work day to day. You take direction on client priorities from your pod's Account Director and Media Director, and you partner with them and the account strategist to keep organic and paid working together.

Your daily work lives in your pod, while your official manager is with the Director, SEO & Generative Search. The Director owns discipline standards, quality, methodology, capacity across pods, and your development. This structure keeps search close to account strategy, so organic supports paid performance and new opportunities surface early.

Primary Ownership Areas:

• Execution of SEO and GEO strategies across your pod's client accounts
• Technical SEO analysis and implementation, including crawlability, indexing, site architecture, and Core Web Vitals
• Content optimization and generative search readiness, produced to the team's editorial standard
• Market and competitive research that informs your pod's accounts
• Landing page and creative support, including managing AI-generated assets and landing page design and curation
• Collaboration with your pod to align organic initiatives with paid media and client goals

What You'll Do:

Execute SEO and GEO Strategies

• Implement SEO and generative search optimization across client websites and digital properties.
• Ensure content, site structure, and technical elements support strong visibility in both traditional and AI-driven search environments.
• Follow the agency's search frameworks and current best practices.

Conduct Technical SEO Analysis

• Perform technical audits to find issues affecting visibility, including crawlability, indexing, site architecture, and performance.
• Run migration risk checks such as redirects, URL mapping, and indexation, and help protect rankings through site changes.
• Collaborate with internal teams or client development resources to resolve technical issues.

Support Content and Messaging

• Conduct keyword and topic research to find organic opportunities.
• Optimize existing content and produce new content to the team's editorial standard.
• Support messaging and content structures that improve discoverability across traditional and generative search.

Provide Research and Creative Support

• Deliver market and competitive research the pod can act on, including SERP and generative visibility analysis and audience insights.
• Diagnose landing page quality and conversion issues that affect both organic and paid performance.
• Manage and quality-check AI-generated creative assets, and support landing page design and curation.

Collaborate Within Your Pod

• Work with your Account Director, Media Director, and account strategist so organic and paid reinforce each other.
• Surface SEO and GEO opportunities within the pod's book of business.
• Support integrated campaigns and shared client objectives.

Monitor Performance and Support Reporting

• Track organic and generative search performance using SEO tools and analytics platforms.
• Analyze trends across rankings, traffic, engagement, and visibility.
• Support client reporting that highlights meaningful insights and improvements.

Contribute to Where Search Is Heading

• As the agency builds toward cross-channel orchestration, contribute to audience journeys and channel-messaging, drawing on organic and lifecycle experience.
• Help extend the team's messaging and content capability across evolving search and discovery experiences.

What You'll Bring:

• One to three years of experience in SEO or organic search, including strong internship or early‑career experience.
• A foundational understanding of technical SEO, keyword research, and content optimization.
• Familiarity with SEO tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, or Screaming Frog, and with analytics platforms such as GA4.
• Analytical skills to interpret organic search performance data.
• Strong organizational skills to support multiple client initiatives at once.
• Strong communication skills for collaborating with cross-functional pod teams.
• An eagerness to develop across search, content, and adjacent organic disciplines such as GEO, landing page support and lifecycle marketing.