Senior In-House SEO & Discovery Strategist

NOVUS Media LLC; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health benefits

Flexible spending accounts

Generous time-off allowances

Retirement savings plan

Job summary

A local media agency is seeking a senior-level In-House SEO & Discovery Strategist in Chicago. This hybrid role involves developing SEO strategies, hands-on optimization, and collaborating with clients. The ideal candidate has over 7 years of experience, strong communication skills, and a deep understanding of technical SEO. The position offers a competitive salary range of $100,000 – $150,000 and a comprehensive benefits package.

Qualifications

• Proven track record leading SEO or discovery strategy.
• Familiarity with major ad servers and tag managers.
• Experience in presenting to senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Shape SEO and discovery strategies for clients.
• Execute core SEO fundamentals and optimizations.
• Collaborate with various teams to integrate discovery.

Skills

Hands-on SEO experience

Strategic thinking

Technical SEO fundamentals

Strong written and verbal communication

Ability to work in ambiguity

Education

7+ years of SEO experience

Tools

SEO tools (schemas, meta optimization)

AI tools and workflows

Job description

We are seeking a senior-level In-House SEO & Discovery Strategist who can operate equally well at the strategic and executional levels. This role is designed for a practitioner with a strong point of view on how modern discovery works across traditional SEO, AI-powered/AEO discovery, and social-led discovery, and who can confidently represent that thinking in new business pitches and senior client meetings.

At the same time, this is a hands‑on role. The ideal candidate is comfortable writing schema, optimizing metadata, auditing technical foundations, and experimenting with AI-enabled workflows to scale and improve quality. This person will help define our long-term discovery roadmap while staying agile enough to adapt to shifting client needs, platforms, and technologies – without chasing every trend at the expense of traction and results.

This role is central to how we help clients win in an increasingly complex discovery landscape. You will shape not only how we execute SEO, but how we think about discovery as a whole – today and in the future.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Serve as the senior SEO and discovery authority across the agency, shaping points of view for SEO, AEO, and social discovery.
• Lead discovery strategy development for key clients, ensuring recommendations are grounded in business objectives and measurable outcomes.
• Participate in new business pitches, contributing strategic narratives, audits, and forward‑looking discovery frameworks.
• Represent the agency confidently in senior client meetings, translating complex discovery concepts into clear, actionable guidance.
• Balance innovation with discipline – helping clients invest in durable discovery initiatives rather than reactive trend‑chasing.

Execution & Hands‑On Optimization:

• Own and execute core SEO fundamentals, including:
• Writing and optimizing meta titles, meta descriptions, and headers
• Developing and implementing schema markup
• Conducting technical SEO audits and collaborating on fixes
• Supporting content optimization and internal linking strategies
• Identify opportunities to leverage AI tools and workflows to support and scale SEO tasks while maintaining quality and governance.
• Perform ongoing performance analysis and diagnostics to understand what is driving (or limiting) discovery.

Modern Discovery & Emerging Technology:

• Maintain a well‑informed, opinionated view of how discovery is evolving across:
• Search engines and AI‑driven answers (AEO)
• Social platforms as discovery engines
• Emerging search experiences and interfaces
• Evaluate and recommend emerging technologies, tools, and platforms that improve discovery performance or operational efficiency.
• Test and pilot new approaches responsibly, with clear success criteria and learning agendas.

Collaboration & Agility:

• Partner closely with media, content, analytics, and technology teams to integrate discovery into broader marketing strategies.
• Adapt strategies to changing client priorities, organizational dynamics, and market conditions while maintaining consistency in execution.
• Establish repeatable processes and best practices that enable discovery initiatives to compound over time.

REQUIREMENTS:

• 7+ years of hands‑on SEO experience, with increasing strategic responsibility.
• Demonstrated success leading SEO or discovery strategy for complex brands or organizations.
• Deep understanding of:
• Technical SEO fundamentals
• On‑page optimization and schema
• Content‑driven discovery
• The evolving role of AI in search and answers
• Experience presenting to senior stakeholders and participating in new business or pitch environments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate a clear point of view.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with major ad servers, tag managers, and verification tools.
• Familiarity with offline trafficking or cross‑channel activation workflows.
• Experience documenting and scaling operational processes.
• Strategic thinker who is still willing to get hands‑on.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and change, without losing focus or direction.
• Curious, pragmatic, and disciplined – excited by new ideas but grounded in results.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain technical QA or tracking issues to non‑technical stakeholders.
• Collaborative partner who elevates teams and clients through clarity and confidence.

PLEASE NOTE

This is a hybrid position requiring a combination of in‑office work at our Chicago location and remote work from home. The specific schedule will be finalized upon hire. We are only looking for candidates in/around the Chicago Metro Area and do not offer relocation assistance.

WHY WORK AT NOVUS:

We Bring Brands To Where People Live Their Lives.

NOVUS is an independent local media planning and buying agency dedicated to local media of all types including video, audio, OOH, digital, and print. With comprehensive data sets, proprietary tools, and top strategists, NOVUS builds and executes plans that achieve remarkable results.

NOVUS offers a collaborative work environment, career advancement potential, a variety of benefits, and generous time‑off allowances. As a mid‑sized agency, team members have direct exposure to senior management and the opportunity to work on assignments with significant responsibilities.

Position Salary

We are committed to providing salary ranges for all open positions. The salary range for this role is: $100,000 – $150,000 – reflecting the base salary for this position.

NOVUS Benefits

Full array of health care and wellness benefits, including medical, prescription, dental, vision, life and accidental death & dismemberment insurances, short and long‑term disability, pre‑tax flexible spending accounts, a health savings account, legal services, identity theft protection, and an employee assistance program. Eligible employees are full‑time salaried or part‑time salaried employees working 30 hours per week or more, as required by state law. A group retirement savings plan is available to all salaried employees.

A Word on Diversity

Novus Media is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee of the Company, on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, marital or family status, age, gender identity or expression, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. We embrace diversity in all its forms and strongly encourage people from a variety of backgrounds to apply.

Equal Opportunity Employer

This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.