Director, SEO/AIO

Kepler executes engineered marketing, where every message and ad delivered helps create a more personalized and productive relationship between brands and their consumers. We do this by acting as clients’ agency of record, as their in-house team, or some hybrid of the two – and by harnessing data and technology across all paid digital media and data-driven CRM channels.

Kepler prides itself on being a great place to work. 

• We're transparent with our employees. You'll hear updates on company financials, how we're performing against bonus goals, and how we're responding to challenges we face. 
• We're growing. For you, that means unparalleled growth opportunities and a role in shaping the direction of the company. 
• We're fun. You'll work with and learn from the smartest people in the industry and have a blast doing it. 

AI Optimization (AIO) Director; Search+ Center of Excellent (COE)

The SEO/AIO Director at Kepler will be responsible for contributing to and executing on the Center of Excellence’s Search+ vision, specific to the impact of AI LLMs on organic search and AI-driven discovery. The role plays a critical part as a thought leader in support of Kepler’s Strategy team and our clients, often as a leading voice in agency strategy and capabilities, partnership development/management, business development, innovation, best practice implementation, standardization, product development, and more. 

This role reports directly to Kepler’s Search+ COE Associate Vice President and offers the opportunity to directly inform Kepler’s AI, SEO, and broader search strategy and products. At Kepler, we believe that integrated Search teams that have both paid and organic expertise on hand will drive the best success for clients.

Candidates should have 10+ years of organic search experience and have the ability to immediately add value for teams in need of search and SEO/AIO expertise and consultation.

About the Role:

We are seeking an innovative and results-oriented digital professional to spearhead AI Optimization (AIO) initiatives. This is a pivotal, newly defined role focused on strategically positioning our client’s brands, products, and services for optimal discovery, interpretation, and recommendation by artificial intelligence systems. As AI models increasingly influence consumer purchasing decisions, potentially through agentic AI assistants, ensuring our brand is accurately and favorably represented within these systems is critical.

A successful candidate will possess a unique blend of technical, hands-on-keys SEO knowledge and a clear stance on emerging thought leadership around AI in search. They will have a strong grasp of current and emerging AI technologies and have documented success in growing brands’ organic presence.

In this role, you will be responsible for developing and executing a comprehensive strategy alongside the Search+ COE lead to create and deploy a holistic Search+ approach for all client teams. There will be ongoing client allocations as the SEO Director.

This role supports Kepler’s client teams as a search marketing expert, driving strategy, optimization, and adherence to best practices through consulting, training, and 3p tool adoption. It involves collaboration with product and partnership teams to advance Kepler's search capabilities, including innovation in tools like the Kepler Intelligence Platform. The position also plays a key role in thought leadership, onboarding, standardization, and cross-functional initiatives to strengthen search performance across the organization. Additionally, it requires active participation in Culture and Inclusion efforts as part of leadership responsibilities.

Key Responsibilities:

• AI Ecosystem Intelligence: Actively monitor, research, and analyze the AI landscape, focusing on LLMs, recommendation algorithms, multimodal AI, and agentic systems relevant to our industry and customer discovery pathways. Understand how these models gather, prioritize, and present information.
• AIO Strategy & Roadmap: Develop, implement, and own the overarching AI Optimization strategy and roadmap, aligning efforts with business objectives and anticipating future AI developments. Advise on any 3P tools or partnerships needed to continue building Kepler’s Search+ practice.
• Content & Data Structuring for AI: Collaborate closely with content creators, marketing teams, and product managers to ensure our digital content and data are structured, accurate, unambiguous, and optimized for AI comprehension (including GEO and AEO) and factual recall.
• AI Perception Management: Analyze how online reviews, third-party data sources, and public knowledge bases shape AI's understanding and sentiment towards our brand and products. Develop proactive and reactive strategies to ensure accuracy and positive positioning.
• Cross-Platform Optimization: Extend AIO principles to mobile applications, ensuring data consistency and optimizing for discovery within app stores and AI systems that interact with app data.
• Measurement & Analysis: Define key metrics and establish methodologies to measure the effectiveness of AIO initiatives. Track visibility, accuracy, and sentiment within AI outputs and report on performance and insights.
• Internal Expertise & Advocacy: Act as the primary internal expert on AI Optimization, educating stakeholders across marketing, product, and technology on best practices and the strategic importance of AIO.
• Technical Foundation Optimization: Partner with technical SEO and web development teams to implement and refine website architecture, structured data markup (Schema.org, etc.), API accessibility, page speed, and other technical elements crucial for effective AI crawling and data interpretation.
• Experimentation & Innovation: Design and execute tests to evaluate different AIO tactics. Stay informed about cutting-edge AI research and proactively adapt strategies to maintain a competitive advantage.

The Search+ COE will partner with other Kepler COE leads where there is overlap (eg. Social, Video, Commerce), and will be trusted to delegate responsibilities as needed within their COE.

Desired Skills and Experience:

• Content and keyword optimization, local listing management, technical SEO expertise
• Experience leading high visibility efforts into developing strategic Search plans for both internal and external stakeholders
• Strong ability to create, build, and leverage internal client teams and external partner relationships
• Act as a leader and mentor for analysts and senior analysts on Kepler search teams
• Strong listening, presentation, and written/verbal communication skills
• Excellent time management skills; ability to prioritize and meet deadlines
• Comfortable training and teaching others at scale
• Experience in new business workstreams and pitches preferred

Transparency is fundamental to Kepler’s culture. Our compensation strategy is designed to attract, reward, and retain the talented employees that drive Kepler’s growth and success. We aim to offer competitive direct compensation and a rich indirect compensation program that demonstrates the value we place on our employees and their wellbeing.

Total Compensation:

• Base Salary: $140,000 - $160,000
• Target Annualized Discretionary Bonus: 10% ($14,000 - $16,000)
• Target Total Cash: $154,000- $176,000

Benefits:

• Healthcare/Dental/Vision
• Unlimited PTO
• 401k Contributions
• $75/mo Wellness Stipend
• $100/mo Mobile Phone Stipend
• $50/mo Internet Stipend
• $500/yr Annual Learning Stipend
• $2,000/yr Annual Tuition Stipend
• One-time $200 New Hire Home Office Equipment Stipend
• Parental Leave - 16 week primary caregiver / 6 week secondary caregiver leave
• Annual Work From Anywhere 4 weeks per year

Kepler is a people first organization. If this role piques your interest but you may not check every box, we still encourage you to apply! Studies show that imposter syndrome can prevent women and people of color from applying unless they meet every single qualification. We welcome all who are interested to apply, you just might be a great candidate for this role or others. 

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