Associate Director, SEO/AEO

About the role

Single Grain is a Revenue Marketing agency focused on building pipeline-focused systems that compound. We've helped 500+ companies drive measurable growth, influencing billions in revenue with a 3.2x average ROI. Our portfolio includes Single Grain Agency, ClickFlow, Karrot, and Single Brain. Our CEO, Eric Siu, hosts the Leveling Up podcast and co-hosts Marketing School with Neil Patel.

Responsibilities

• Own and grow a $1M+ portfolio of strategic accounts, driving ≥20% portfolio growth through expansion and new-business contribution.
• Achieve Net Revenue Retention across the portfolio to ≥110%, with ≥95% client retention.
• Serve as the primary escalation layer for clients, reducing Head of SEO firefighting to ≤10% of their time.
• Partner with sales on new business — bring strategic insight into deal cycles, contribute to pitches, and shape scopes that win.
• Develop proactive, forward-looking account roadmaps across SEO, AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), Reddit, and LLM-driven discovery — surfacing risks and opportunities before they escalate.
• Design and roll out AI workflows that improve team efficiency by ~50%, and codify them into reusable playbooks.
• Mentor and elevate the managers on your pod, raising their output without becoming a bottleneck.
• Contribute to function-level strategy by surfacing portfolio insights that shape how the broader SEO team operates.
• Proactively surface strategic shifts and insights to clients and communicate effectively to build trust.
• Collaborate with sales team on new client pitches.

Outcomes You'll Be Responsible For

• Primary KPIs: Net Revenue Retention ≥110%, Client retention ≥95%, Reduce Head of SEO firefighting to ≤10%, Improve operational efficiency by ~50% through AI.
• 6-Month Expectations: Fully own 4–6 strategic accounts and oversee team’s book of business with no unforced churn, establish proactive account management across the portfolio, close 2–3 expansion or new-business events, deliver clear roadmaps with no reactive surprises, improve client confidence and trust.
• 12–18 Month Expectations: Grow portfolio to $1.2M+, build a repeatable expansion engine, standardize AEO, Reddit, and LLM visibility monetization, deliver ~50% efficiency gains across the team, improve account margins and output per manager.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in SEO / organic visibility, and 3+ years owning multi-account client portfolios at $1M+ in scale (agency, in-house, or consulting equivalent).
• Connect organic visibility directly to pipeline, revenue, and business outcomes.
• Build trust quickly with senior client stakeholders and expand accounts through insight, not just execution.
• Anticipate problems early and take full accountability for outcomes.
• Communicate clearly and directly under pressure, creating confidence with clients and internal partners.
• Develop the people around you, enabling faster growth for managers and analysts.
• Think in systems, preventing issues from recurring.
• Use AI to increase speed, output quality, and leverage, and demonstrate specific workflows you've built or improved.
• Have working fluency across SEO, AEO, Reddit and community-driven discovery, and LLM visibility / AI search.

What This Role Is Not

• Executing SEO tasks without tying them to pipeline or revenue.
• Reacting to client requests instead of leading strategy.
• Managing deliverables and timelines rather than owning outcomes.
• Operating as a strong individual contributor without enabling a wider team.
• Avoiding AI or using it only at a basic prompt level.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance on the 1st of the month after you join.
• 401(k) with 100% match up to 3% of your salary.
• $50K life insurance policy, paid 100% by the company.
• 12 weeks of paid family leave, effective after the first year of employment.
• Flexible Unlimited Paid Time Off.
• $100 utilities stipend, paid out as an extra $50 per paycheck.
• $60 UberEats credit each month.
• A MacBook.
• $500 WFH office reimbursement.
• Fully remote — work from anywhere.