VP, Search Engine Optimization

New York City, NY (On-site)

$204K/yr – $254K/yrSenior Level10+ years expFull time

Posted 2 weeks ago

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Job Summary

You will own the discovery strategy and lead a cross-functional team to optimize Paramount's AI-enabled visibility, guiding editorial, product, and engineering to grow AI citation share and trusted brand presence across news, sports, and entertainment.

  • Own and evolve a portfolio-wide discovery program including GEO, AEO, and AI readiness.
  • Partner with Editorial, Product, Engineering, Data, Legal, and Business Affairs to align with business goals.
  • Drive measurement of AI-driven visibility, citations, and brand presence to inform strategy and executive decisions.

Job Description

Responsibilities

  • Define and execute a portfolio-wide discovery strategy spanning traditional SEO, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and agentic AI readiness.
  • Set the vision for how Paramount's news, sports, and entertainment brands maintain authority and visibility as AI mediates more of the user-to-content relationship.
  • Manage and grow a team of SEO and discovery professionals, including developing new specialist roles as the discipline evolves.
  • Partner with senior leadership across Editorial, Product, Engineering, Data, Legal, and Business Affairs to align discovery strategy with business objectives.
  • Provide regular performance updates and forward-looking recommendations to executive stakeholders, including impact narratives that translate AI-era metrics into business outcomes.
  • Lead optimization of website content, on-page elements, internal linking, and technical SEO across all properties — these foundations remain a major input into AI visibility.
  • Develop best practices for keyword research, topical authority, and competitive analysis across news, sports, and entertainment verticals.
  • Provide real-time guidance to editorial teams competing for Top Stories, Discover, and time-sensitive organic search results.
  • Build the capability to track and grow Paramount's share of citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, and Microsoft Copilot.
  • Establish content patterns — direct answers, structured comparisons, original reporting, expert quotes, data and statistics — that increase the likelihood of being selected as a cited source by generative engines.

Requirements

  • 10+ years of digital media experience in SEO, organic discovery, or audience development, with a proven track record of facilitating organic growth — preferably in the publishing industry.
  • Demonstrated experience adapting strategy to AI-driven search (AI Overviews, ChatGPT search, Perplexity, etc.) and guiding measurable outcomes in that environment.

Preferred

  • Deep knowledge of SEO best practices, search engine algorithms, structured data and schema.org, and the technical mechanics of how generative engines retrieve and cite sources.
  • Robust working knowledge of AI/LLM behavior as it relates to retrieval, citation, and answer generation — and a clear point of view on what this means for publishers.
  • Hands-on fluency with SEO and AI-visibility tools (Google Search Console, crawlers, log analysis, keyword tools, AI citation trackers, schema validators).
  • Experience managing and scaling a team of SEO professionals, including coaching team members through skill expansion into GEO/AEO and agentic AI.
  • Experience with content management systems and modern web analytics platforms.
  • Exemplary verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to translate technical discovery concepts for editorial, product, and executive audiences.
  • Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with editorial, product, engineering, data, legal, and business teams.
  • Experience with content licensing or partnership conversations involving AI companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Perplexity, etc.).
  • Familiarity with bot management, edge/CDN configurations (e.g., Cloudflare, Akamai), and how they affect AI crawler access.
  • Experience with App Store / Play Store optimization and other non-web discovery surfaces.

Benefits

  • Attractive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages. Check out our full list of benefits here: https://www.paramount.com/careers/benefits
  • Generous paid time off.
  • An exciting and fulfilling opportunity to be part of one of Paramount’s most dynamic teams.
  • Opportunities for both on-site and virtual engagement events.
  • Unique opportunities to make meaningful connections and build a vibrant community, both inside and outside the workplace.
  • Explore life at Paramount: https://www.paramount.com/careers/life-at-paramount
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CBS Sports

3.7 Glassdoor

CBS Sports, a year-round leader in cross-platform sports coverage, broadcasts a portfolio of events on the CBS Television Network, including THE NFL ON CBS; college football, including the BIG TEN ON CBS; college basketball, including the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship; golf, including The Masters®, PGA Championship and PGA TOUR; soccer, including the UEFA Champions League and NWSL; and CBS SPORTS SPECTACULAR. In addition, the division includes CBS Sports Network, the 24-hour cable home of CBS Sports which televises live sports programming throughout the year, including college football and basketball games, soccer matches from UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Serie A, and NWSL, as well as a full slate of original programming and studio coverage. CBS Sports also delivers an extensive lineup of global soccer coverage on Paramount+, including every UEFA club competition match, all Serie A matches as well as English Football League competitions. CBS Sports’ multi-platform offerings include CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports apps for mobile and connected TV devices; the 24/7 streaming sports news network CBS Sports HQ; the free 24-hour soccer streaming network CBS Sports Golazo Network; 247Sports; CBS Sports fantasy games; and SportsLine.

Founded in 1994
New York, New York, USA
1.8K employees (1,004 in marketing)
80% recommend to a friend
90% CEO approval

Traffic Signals

Monthly Visitors
68.1M
Monthly Google Ads Budget
$138K
Traffic Source Mix
Search
43.5%
Direct
51.8%
Referral
3.5%
Social
1.1%
Paid
0.1%

Headcount Trend

Current headcount: ~1.8K

Marketing Team

Marketing Team Size
622 (35% of company)
Marketing Roles Posted (Last 30 Days)
5

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