Associate Director, SEO/AEO

Read This Before Applying

This is a high-bar leadership role.

We are not looking for a traditional SEO manager who focuses on rankings, audits, or reactive execution.

We are looking for an AI-native operator who can own a portfolio like a business, drive revenue growth, and proactively lead clients through the next era of organic visibility including SEO, AEO, Reddit, and LLM-driven discovery.

Your job is to grow and retain a $1M book of business while building systems that make the team faster, smarter, and more proactive.

If your experience is primarily:

• Executing SEO tasks without tying them to revenue
• Reacting to client requests instead of leading strategy
• Managing deliverables rather than owning outcomes
• Avoiding AI or only using it at a basic level
  
  

This role is likely not the right fit.

Strong candidates for this role:

• Have owned or led a portfolio of high-value accounts
• Can connect organic visibility to pipeline, revenue, and business outcomes
• Are early adopters of AI and actively use it to increase leverage
• Operate proactively and take full ownership of results
  
  

Our portfolio includes:

Single Grain Agency

Enterprise digital marketing services including:

• SEO
• Paid media
• Creative
• CRO
• AI-driven growth strategy
  
  

Our clients include companies looking for serious, scalable growth, not basic marketing support.

ClickFlow

Our AI-powered content optimization platform. ClickFlow helps companies unlock hidden growth from their existing content by identifying high-impact SEO opportunities and improving rankings with AI insights.

Karrot

A LinkedIn advertising and landing page platform built specifically for B2B companies running demand generation programs. Karrot helps companies scale LinkedIn campaigns with better targeting and conversion infrastructure.

We are actively evolving into a tech-enabled services (TES) company where software, automation, and services combine to create leverage.

Our CEO Eric Siu hosts the Leveling Up podcast and co-hosts Marketing School with Neil Patel, reaching millions of marketers and founders every month. This brand ecosystem gives us reach most agencies don't have.

What You’ll Do

As Associate Director, SEO / AEO, you operate as a mini-GM of your portfolio.

You are responsible for growth, retention, and strategic direction across 4–6 high-value accounts.

Core responsibilities:

• Own and grow a $1M portfolio of strategic accounts
• Drive ≥20% portfolio growth through expansion and new business contribution
• Increase Net Revenue Retention to ≥110%
• Act as the primary escalation point, reducing Head of SEO involvement
• Build proactive account strategies with clear forward-looking roadmaps
• Identify risks and opportunities early and act before issues arise
• Lead expansion initiatives across AEO, Reddit, and LLM visibility
• Partner with sales on new business and revenue opportunities
• Build systems and workflows that improve team efficiency by ~50% using AI
• Elevate manager-level performance without becoming a bottleneck
  
  

Outcomes You’ll Be Responsible For

Primary KPI

• Grow portfolio revenue from $1M to $1.2M
  
  

Guardrails

• 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
• No unforced churn
• Act as the primary escalation layer for clients
• Close 2–3 revenue expansion or new business events
• Establish proactive account management across all accounts
• 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
• Systematize how opportunities are identified and converted
• Standardize AEO, Reddit, and LLM visibility monetization
• Deliver ~50% efficiency gains across the team
• Improve account margins and output per manager
• Eliminate reactive behavior across accounts
  
  

What We’re Looking For

Strategic Thinking

• You go beyond surface-level SEO and identify real business problems. You connect organic visibility directly to revenue and growth.
  
  

Influence

• You build trust with senior stakeholders and expand accounts through insight, not just execution.
  
  

Ownership

• You anticipate problems before they happen and take full accountability for outcomes.
  
  

EQ & Communication

• You create confidence with clients, handle pressure well, and communicate clearly and directly.
  
  

Talent Development

• You elevate the people around you and improve output without slowing things down.
  
  

Domain Expertise

You are an AI-native organic visibility operator with deep experience across:

• SEO
• AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
• Reddit and community-driven discovery
• LLM visibility and AI search
  
  

You actively use AI to:

• Increase speed and efficiency
• Improve quality of output
• Drive measurable business results
  
  

Apply

Submit your application at singlegrain.com/apply by completing our Beat Claude Challenge. Select the "seo-strategy-003" assessment.

Benefits

• Medical, dental and vision insurance after your first month of employment
• 401k with 100% match up to 4% 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, keyboard plus mouse
• $500 WFH Office Reimbursement