Associate Director, SEO

You own SEO agency-wide through expertise and standards rather than line management. You carry a commercial number for the discipline without owning the team that delivers it. You continue to own the discipline's most strategic client accounts directly. You set the direction of the agency's expertise in SEO and represent it externally.

EquivalentHead of SEO

How this role differs

You move from shaping the agency through expertise to owning a discipline agency-wide, including a commercial number, without owning the headcount that delivers it.

Both roles own the discipline agency-wide. The Associate Director holds it through expertise, standards and external standing. The Head of SEO holds it through the team, including resourcing, performance and succession.

Roles and responsibilities

Own the SEO offer: what we sell, how it is scoped, how it is priced, and how it stays ahead of the landscape.
Own a commercial number without owning the headcount that delivers it.
Set the methodology adopted beyond your own team, including what gets retired.
Build the agency's external authority in SEO.
Plan capability: what the discipline needs in twelve months, and where the gaps are.
Work with the Head of SEO to shape service scope, pricing and positioning.
Provide senior counsel on the agency's most complex SEO client challenges.
Develop senior SEO specialists, so expertise becomes practical guidance teams can apply consistently.
Support new business where the thinking is the differentiator.
Continue to own the discipline's most strategic client accounts directly, doing the expert work on them yourself.
Lead the specialist case in major pitches and senior client conversations, explaining the value of the proposed approach and setting realistic expectations.