Search Director

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Job Description:

In this roleyoulldefine and lead the organic and AI-search vision for Capital One helping the brand earn visibility wherever consumers search discover compare and make financial decisions.

As Director of Search you are both a strategic leader and a hands-on innovator - able to translate a rapidly evolving search landscape into practical measurable opportunities across traditional SEO Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) AI Overviews and large language model experiences. You will lead an integrated SEO/GEO strategy informed by search behavior AI trends competitive intelligence and Capital One business priorities turning that strategy into prioritized roadmaps across technical content brand and experience considerations.

This role is embedded within Critical Masss broader Capital One performance program. You will connect organic and AI-search strategy to paid search media planning measurement content audience intelligence and cross-agency work - while partnering closely with Capital One teams to guide implementation measure performance and identify where search insights should influence future investment.

You Will

• Own the vision strategic roadmap and prioritized recommendations for Capital One SEO GEO and AEO across priority Retail Consumer Bank experiences

• Develop and continuously evolve an integrated SEO/GEO strategy informed by consumer search behavior AI-search trends competitive intelligence businessobjectives and the broader performance marketing plan

• Lead technical content and AI-search audits translating findings into clear optimization recommendations sequencing dependencies and expected business impact

• Guide ongoing optimization across priority Capital One content and digital experiences partnering with client and agency teams to support implementation rather thanoperatingas an isolated SEO workstream

• Serve as the senior Search lead within the Capital One account leadership team bringing a search-first perspective to strategy planning innovation and investment decisions

• Connect organic search and GEO/AEO insights with paid search - including emerging LLM-search opportunities - to improve coverage learning efficiency and customer journey visibility

• Define the role of search across the integrated performance ecosystem connecting search intelligence with media audience creative content measurement and experience teams

• Build a performance measurement approach for organic and AI-search visibility defining practical KPIs baselines benchmarks health ranges and reporting that ties search outcomes to Capital One business objectives

• Monitor traditional search AI Overviews LLMs answer engines and emerging search behaviors toidentifymaterial shifts risks and opportunities for Capital One

• Deliver executive-ready performance reporting and strategic updates that turn search and LLM data into clear recommendations and inform ongoing investment opportunities

• Develop testing and learning roadmaps for search including content technical experience and AI-search hypotheses; evaluate results and translate learnings into scaled recommendations

• Partner with Capital One brand product technology analytics legal/compliance and marketing stakeholders to ensure recommendations are actionable within enterprise and governance requirements

• Collaborate seamlessly with Critical Mass media strategy analytics creative PMO and other agency/consulting partners minimizing handoffs and creating a connected end-to-end search approach

• Lead competitive and category analysis across both traditional SERPs and AI/LLM environmentsidentifyingwhere competitors are earning visibility citations authority and consumer preference

• Define search-driven requirements for technical SEO structured data information architecture internal linking content quality accessibility indexability page experience entity signals and AI-citation readiness

• Translate customer intent and search demand into content and experience opportunities that support consumer needs across discovery consideration and decision journeys

• Establish clear processes quality standards documentation and governance for Search deliverables so recommendations are consistent traceable and easy for client teams to operationalize

• Lead coach and grow a high-performing Search team providing critical review andmaintaininga consistently high bar for strategy analysis storytelling and client delivery

• Represent Critical Mass as a senior search thought leader with Capital One bringing forward emerging capabilities platform changes AI-search implications and future-forward opportunities

You Have

• 10 years of SEO/search experience including 3 years leading high-performing teams and senior client relationships

• Deep hands-onexpertiseacross technical SEO content strategy organic search measurement and enterprise-scale SEO programs

• Demonstrated experience developing and executing GEO/AEO and AI-search strategies across AI Overviews and LLM ecosystems such as ChatGPT Gemini Perplexity AI Mode or comparable platforms

• A track recordof translating search and AI visibility data into measurable business outcomes prioritized roadmaps and investment recommendations

• Experienceoperatingwithin a large complex enterprise; financial services banking or another highly regulated category is strongly preferred

• Strong understanding of the factors that influence organic and AI-search visibility across technical content brand/entity authority structured data and digital experience considerations

• Experience conducting technical content competitive and AI-search audits and turning findings into actionable recommendations that client teams can implement

• Excellent written and verbal communication with executive-level presentation data storytelling and facilitation skills

• Strong organizational and project leadership skills with the ability to manage multiple workstreams stakeholders dependencies and deadlines in a highly matrixed environment

• Experience defining and documenting operating processes best practices QA standards and governance to improve implementation quality and consistency

• Proficiencywith enterprise SEO and research tools such as BrightEdgeAhrefsSemrush Screaming FrogBotify or comparable platforms

• Proficiencywith analytics and visualization tools such as Adobe Analytics Google Search Console GA4 Tableau Looker Datorama or comparable platforms

• Experience with GEO/AI-search measurement and monitoring tools such as Profound BrightEdge AI Catalyst Bluefish or comparable platforms

• Strong analytical skills and comfort working with large datasets toidentifypatterns diagnose performance and prioritize opportunities

• Working knowledge of paid search/SEM and the ability to develop integrated organic/paid search strategies and workflows including emerging LLM-search considerations

• Experience partnering with product engineering content UX brand analytics media and compliance teams to influence implementation without relying on direct ownership

• A proactive consultative leadership style with the judgment to distinguish between immediate optimization opportunities and longer-term strategic bets

• Experience testing and applying AI tools to research analysis content optimization and Search workflows withappropriate qualityand governance controls

• Ability to work from either the Chicago or New York office and travel consistently to New York for client meetings strategic planning presentations and key working sessions

What We Offer:

• Global maternity and parental leave

• Competitive benefits packages

• Vacation compassionate leavesick/personaldays

• Access to online services for families and new parents

• Early DismissalFridays(off at 3:00 PM local time every Friday)

• 12 affinity groups

• Internal learning and development programs

• Enterprise-wide employee discounts

Our new hires & employees are the future of our organization and we want to set you up for long-term success.In an effort todo so we expect our team to work from an office a minimum of 3 days a week.

Omnicoms 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 Omnicoms 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 were 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 uswe look forward to getting to know you. We will process your personal data in accordance with our Recruitment Privacy Notice.

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It is the policy of Omnicom and any of its affiliates to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race religion color ethnic origin gender gender identity age marital status veteran status sexual orientation disability or any other basis prohibited by applicable federal state or local law. EOE/AA/M/D/V/F.