Head of SEO

Gateshead Source: WhatJobs

£60,000–£70,000

I’m working on a confidential search for an established digital business in the North East that is looking for an experienced SEO leader to take ownership of its Organic Search function.

This isn’t a role for someone who simply wants to manage a team and review reports.

They’re looking for someone with genuine technical SEO depth who can set the direction of the function, raise the standard of delivery, develop people and work closely with clients to turn organic search into something that genuinely contributes to commercial performance.

The business works with a range of established and enterprise-level brands, so you’ll be dealing with complex websites, competitive markets and SEO strategies that need to go considerably further than publishing a few blog posts and watching rankings move.

What you'll actually be doing

You’ll take a senior role across the Organic Search function, with responsibility for both strategy and the quality of the work being delivered.

That includes:

Leading and developing a team of SEO specialists, helping them become better technically, strategically and commercially.
Setting the SEO strategy for larger and more complex client accounts, including technical SEO, information architecture, content, topical authority and digital PR.
Getting properly stuck into technical SEO when required, rather than being purely removed from delivery.
Challenging existing approaches and introducing better ways of working across the SEO function.
Creating frameworks, processes and standards that make SEO delivery more consistent without turning it into a tick-box exercise.
Working alongside Client Services and senior stakeholders to make sure SEO recommendations are understood, commercially relevant and actually deliver against client objectives.
Collaborating with content, paid media, digital PR and other teams where those disciplines can strengthen the overall search strategy.
Supporting new business and pitches, helping develop SEO propositions that are commercially strong and genuinely differentiated.
Keeping the team ahead of how search is changing, including developments in AI search, SERPs, search behaviour, content quality, technical architecture and the increasing overlap between SEO and wider digital strategy.
Helping shape the future direction of the Organic Search offering rather than simply inheriting an existing playbook.

What we’re looking for

You’ll ideally have:

Strong hands-on experience across technical SEO, content strategy and authority building.
Experience developing SEO strategies for larger, complex or enterprise-level websites.
A strong understanding of technical architecture, crawling, indexing, internal linking, migrations, international SEO and the wider technical factors that influence organic performance.
A genuine understanding of how content, topical authority and digital PR contribute to organic growth.
Experience using SEO and analytics platforms to interrogate data, identify opportunities and make strategic decisions.
Previous experience leading, mentoring or developing an SEO team.
The ability to move comfortably between the detail and the bigger picture. You should be able to spot a technical issue in a crawl one minute and explain the commercial implications of an SEO strategy to a senior client the next.
Strong stakeholder and client-facing skills.
A commercial mindset. Rankings are useful, but ultimately we're interested in what organic search does for traffic, leads, revenue and the wider business.

The kind of person this will suit

You’ll probably be someone who has reached the point where you want more influence over how SEO is done, rather than simply owning another set of accounts.

You might currently be an SEO Director, Head of SEO, Organic Search Lead, Senior SEO Manager or an experienced Technical SEO leader.

You don't need to have spent your entire career managing people either. If you're a seriously strong SEO who has naturally become the person others turn to for technical and strategic direction, this could be a good step.

The important thing is that you can combine technical credibility, strategic thinking and leadership.