Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the organization’s SEO and referral strategy, aligned with editorial, audience, and business goals
• Stay ahead of algorithm changes, platform updates, and industry trends, translating them into clear guidance for teams
• Act as the senior SEO voice in cross-functional conversations with Audience Engagement, Editorial, Product, ABC News, and other business stakeholders
• Establish and maintain SEO best practices for news, evergreen, and video content
• Partner closely with editors to integrate SEO thinking into daily workflows without compromising editorial integrity
• Lead optimization strategies for non-search referral platforms (e.g., Apple News, Reddit, newsletters, and other emerging sources)
• Define success metrics and KPIs for organic search and referral traffic, delivering regular reporting on performance, trends, opportunities, and risks newsroom partners
• Manage, mentor, and grow a team of SEO specialists and writers
• Serve as a trusted advisor, helping teams balance speed, quality, and optimization in a breaking-news environment

Requirements

• Minimum of 8 years of experience in SEO, audience development, or digital growth, preferably within a large media or content-driven organization; with a proven track record in SEO strategies for the AI age
• Minimum of 2 years of direct people management experience
• Understanding of technical SEO, on-page optimization, and content strategy in a newsroom context
• Strong experience working with analytics tools (e.g., Google Search Console, Adobe, SEMrush, or similar tools) and translating data into insights

Preferred

• Demonstrated success growing organic search and referral traffic at scale
• Experience partnering cross-functionally with product teams
• Comfort operating in a fast-changing, high-pressure news environment