Search Director

About the role

In this role, you'll define and lead the organic and AI-search vision for Capital One, helping the brand earn visibility wherever consumers search, discover, compare, and make financial decisions. As Director of Search, you are both a strategic leader and a hands-on innovator—able to translate a rapidly evolving search landscape into practical, measurable opportunities across traditional SEO, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), AI Overviews, and large language model experiences.

Responsibilities

• Own the vision, strategic roadmap, and prioritized recommendations for Capital One SEO, GEO, and AEO across priority Retail Consumer Bank experiences.
• Develop and continuously evolve an integrated SEO/GEO strategy informed by consumer search behavior, AI-search trends, competitive intelligence, business objectives, and the broader performance marketing plan.
• Lead technical, content, and AI-search audits, translating findings into clear optimization recommendations, sequencing, dependencies, and expected business impact.
• Guide ongoing optimization across priority Capital One content and digital experiences, partnering with client and agency teams to support implementation rather than operating as an isolated SEO workstream.
• Serve as the senior Search lead within the Capital One account leadership team, bringing a search-first perspective to strategy, planning, innovation, and investment decisions.
• Connect organic search and GEO/AEO insights with paid search—including emerging LLM-search opportunities—to improve coverage, learning, efficiency, and customer journey visibility.
• Define the role of search across the integrated performance ecosystem, connecting search intelligence with media, audience, creative, content, measurement, and experience teams.
• Build a performance measurement approach for organic and AI-search visibility, defining practical KPIs, baselines, benchmarks, health ranges, and reporting that ties search outcomes to Capital One business objectives.
• Monitor traditional search, AI Overviews, LLMs, answer engines, and emerging search behaviors to identify material shifts, risks, and opportunities for Capital One.
• Deliver executive-ready performance reporting and strategic updates that turn search and LLM data into clear recommendations and inform ongoing investment opportunities.
• Develop testing and learning roadmaps for search, including content, technical, experience, and AI-search hypotheses; evaluate results and translate learnings into scaled recommendations.
• Partner with Capital One brand, product, technology, analytics, legal/compliance, and marketing stakeholders to ensure recommendations are actionable within enterprise and governance requirements.
• Collaborate seamlessly with Critical Mass media, strategy, analytics, creative, PMO, and other agency/consulting partners, minimizing handoffs and creating a connected end-to-end search approach.
• Lead competitive and category analysis across both traditional SERPs and AI/LLM environments, identifying where competitors are earning visibility, citations, authority, and consumer preference.
• Define search-driven requirements for technical SEO, structured data, information architecture, internal linking, content quality, accessibility, indexability, page experience, entity signals, and AI-citation readiness.
• Translate customer intent and search demand into content and experience opportunities that support consumer needs across discovery, consideration, and decision journeys.
• Establish clear processes, quality standards, documentation, and governance for Search deliverables so recommendations are consistent, traceable, and easy for client teams to operationalize.
• Lead, coach, and grow a high-performing Search team, providing critical review and maintaining a consistently high bar for strategy, analysis, storytelling, and client delivery.
• Represent Critical Mass as a senior search thought leader with Capital One, bringing forward emerging capabilities, platform changes, AI-search implications, and future-forward opportunities.

Requirements

• 10+ years of SEO/search experience, including 3+ years leading high-performing teams and senior client relationships.
• Deep, hands-on expertise across technical SEO, content strategy, organic search measurement, and enterprise-scale SEO programs.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing GEO/AEO and AI-search strategies across AI Overviews and LLM ecosystems such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode, or comparable platforms.
• Track record of translating search and AI visibility data into measurable business outcomes, prioritized roadmaps, and investment recommendations.
• Experience operating within a large, complex enterprise; financial services, banking, or another highly regulated category is strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of the factors that influence organic and AI-search visibility across technical, content, brand/entity authority, structured data, and digital experience considerations.
• Experience conducting technical, content, competitive, and AI-search audits and turning findings into actionable recommendations that client teams can implement.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with executive-level presentation, data storytelling, and facilitation skills.
• Strong organizational and project leadership skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams, stakeholders, dependencies, and deadlines in a highly matrixed environment.
• Experience defining and documenting operating processes, best practices, QA standards, and governance to improve implementation quality and consistency.
• Proficiency with enterprise SEO and research tools such as BrightEdge, Ahrefs, Semrush, Screaming Frog, Botify, or comparable platforms.
• Proficiency with analytics and visualization tools such as Adobe Analytics, Google Search Console, GA4, Tableau, Looker, Datorama, or comparable platforms.
• Experience with GEO/AI-search measurement and monitoring tools such as Profound, BrightEdge AI Catalyst, Bluefish, or comparable platforms.
• Strong analytical skills and comfort working with large datasets to identify patterns, diagnose performance, and prioritize opportunities.
• Working knowledge of paid search/SEM and the ability to develop integrated organic/paid search strategies and workflows, including emerging LLM-search considerations.
• Experience partnering with product, engineering, content, UX, brand, analytics, media, and compliance teams to influence implementation without relying on direct ownership.
• A proactive, consultative leadership style with the judgment to distinguish between immediate optimization opportunities and longer-term strategic bets.
• Ability to test and apply AI tools to research, analysis, content, optimization, and Search workflows with appropriate quality and governance controls.
• Ability to work from either the Chicago or New York office and travel consistently to New York for client meetings, strategic planning, presentations, and key working sessions.

Pay

New York: $120,000–$150,000

Schedule

Our new hires & employees are expected to work from an office a minimum of 3 days a week. New York office location.

Benefits

• Global maternity and parental leave
• Competitive benefits packages
• Vacation, compassionate leave, sick/personal days
• Access to online services for families and new parents
• Early Dismissal Friday’s (off at 3:00 PM local time every Friday)
• 12 affinity groups
• Internal learning and development programs
• Enterprise-wide employee discounts