Senior Manager SEO/AEO

Upbound Group

Sr Manager SEO/AEO (Onsite-Plano, TX)

Upbound Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: UPBD) is a technology and data-driven leader in accessible and inclusive financial solutions that address the evolving needs and aspirations of underserved customers. The Company’s customer-facing operating units include industry-leading brands such as Acima, Brigit, and Rent-A-Center that facilitate consumer transactions across a wide range of store-based and digital channels, including over 2,300 company branded retail units across the United States, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Upbound Group, Inc. is headquartered in Plano, Texas.

JOB PURPOSE: We’re looking for a strategic yet hands-on Senior Manager of SEO & Organic Acquisition to lead our organic growth across traditional search and maps platforms, answer engines, and emerging discovery surfaces. This role sits within our Media (Acquisition) & Partnerships team or our Brand team, driving visibility and performance through technical excellence, high-impact storytelling, and advent GEO/AEO strategies.

The ideal candidate is equal parts search scientist and brand storyteller—someone who understands how algorithms, LLMs (large language models), and generative search are reshaping discoverability. You’ll partner closely with product, content, merchandising, social and analytics teams to shape how our brand shows up organically everywhere our customers are searching, browsing, or asking questions.

Key Responsibilities

• Establish, own and enhance our Discovery (DO) strategy as it relates to organic search customer engagement across traditional SEO, Google Maps/Local, and emerging Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) surfaces
• Lead technical SEO initiatives—schema markups, structured data, site architecture, crawling, indexation, and page performance optimization – upon an agile release cadence.
• Experiment with and optimize for LLM-driven experiences (e.g., ChatGPT, Google SGE (search generative experience)/Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity) to ensure our content is discoverable and trackable, and accurately represented in AI-generated results helping to educate and move from discovery to commerce
• Drive a formal testing roadmap in partnership with other members of the Growth team to validate discovery, content and UX hypotheses
• Collaborate with content and brand teams to ensure every story we tell aligns with what searchers—and algorithms—are seeking through thorough research and analysis
• Maintain a pulse on influence of social platforms in search results (i.e. Reddit, Meta) and how to impact change
• Participate in feedback loops with performance media (paid search) and brand (above the line) teams to share in insights
• Use enabling tech (e.g., Screaming Frog, SEMrush, Search Console, DeepCrawl, Ahrefs) to monitor, analyze, and enhance performance
• Partner with analytics and engineering to measure and evolve organic conversion paths, from awareness to acquisition. Report out on goals weekly to monthly.
• Stay ahead of evolving search behaviors, particularly how LLMs are changing query intent and information retrieval. Produce ongoing best practices documents and participate in Beta’s as available.
• Lead and mentor a junior team member(s) and educate cross-functional partners on the next generation of organic acquisition powered by AI and automation
• Partner with agency, service provider (i.e. local listings and reviews) and platform subject matter experts to form a group of trusted advisors
• Share out repeatable quantitative and qualitative progress updates

Job Requirements

• 6–8 years of hands-on SEO experience (in-house or agency), with proven results driving measurable organic growth
• Deep expertise in technical SEO, including structured data, crawl optimization, and site performance – candidate must be capable of executing here independently (despite possibly having agency support)
• Mobile-first mindset with attention to core vitals across all organic and campaign entry pages
• Working knowledge of GEO, AEO, and LLM-driven search environments, and experience testing visibility in generative results
• A storyteller’s mindset — you know what makes content resonate and how to align it with user and AI intent
• Familiarity with tools such as Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, SEMrush, Ahrefs, DeepCrawl, schema.org, and AI-enhanced SEO workflows
• Strategic thinker who connects organic visibility with larger marketing and brand goals
• Ability to pivot across a house of brands – understanding each’s unique brand and acquisition objectives
• Keep a pulse on competitors’ SWOTs
• A winning together mindset that excels in a collaborative and matrixed environment
• ASO – App Store Optimization experience in Apple App Store and Google Play is a plus

SPONSORSHIP: Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.

Upbound Group is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.