Associate Director, SEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

Who We Are VML is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brands to drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and award-winning human-first work for clients including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy's. In 2026, VML was named Campaign’s Global Network of the Year and ranked #2 Creative Network of the Year at Cannes Lions. VML’s global network spans 55+ markets with principal offices in Buenos Aires, Kansas City, London, New York, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore. VML is part of WPP, the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. Powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform WPP Open, WPP unites cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, creativity, production, enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel. For more information, please visit and follow along on LinkedIn #WeAreVML. Associate Director, SEO (Generative Engine Optimization) As the Associate Director, SEO, you will help deliver cutting-edge, high-quality search and generative engine optimization (GEO) work that is customized to specific goals. Working within our Discoverability group in support of a major enterprise client, the focus will be to drive brand visibility inside AI-generated answers as well as traditional search results, using the client's brand visibility platform. The ability to manage multiple workstreams across products, sub-brands, languages and markets in a complex enterprise environment will be critical to the success of this role. This includes facilitating strategy workshops, building and expanding prompt sets, briefing content gaps, and running the post-launch optimization loop to ensure VML delivers a holistic, inclusive approach for all client needs. What you'll do Workshop facilitation. Lead structured strategy sessions with client marketing and product stakeholders to set categories, map content frameworks to their product and launch calendar, and produce an initial prompt set ready for import into the brand visibility platform. You must be comfortable running this both solo and as a co-facilitator alongside the client's own team. Content gap briefing. Translate the content framework output into actionable content briefs the client's own team can execute, identifying what owned content already exists, what is missing, and what must be created for each product launch. You will need to write a brief engineered for LLM visibility, not just SEO hygiene. Prompt strategy development and expansion. Build and structure prompt sets that scale, growing prompt depth across products, languages, sub-brands and markets over time. Apply the distinction between branded and unbranded prompt coverage, funnel mapping, and intent balance as defined by the content framework matrix. Post-launch optimization loop management. Return after deployment to review uplift in the platform, refresh the prompt set, identify new gaps, and coach the client through an ongoing GEO optimization cadence. Success is measured by prompt list growth and CDN page activation, not deliverable count. Product fluency and platform credibility. Complete hands-on work in the platform environment and the client's reference training sessions before any client-facing engagement. Be credible enough in the platform to facilitate a live in-session gap review with the client, and confident enough in GEO fundamentals to hold the room in a co-branded facilitation context without misrepresenting the tool's native capabilities. Foundational SEO expertise. Bring expert-level understanding and application of technical, on-page, off-page, mobile, local, international and e-commerce SEO, and use it as the substrate for GEO recommendations. Common supporting deliverables include SEO and content audits, keyword and entity research, competitive analyses, technical SEO consultation, on-page optimization, content development workflow support, off-page asset optimization, and analysis and reporting. Strategic leadership. Think beyond tactical execution to deliver high-level strategic recommendations for custom-tailored, best-in-class discoverability work, and develop and consult on efforts that provide tangible results against previously defined goals. Lead projects of all sizes and take an active role in growing the business within the engagement. Category currency. Stay current on the latest SEO and GEO tooling, evolving LLM retrieval and citation behavior, reporting capabilities, and industry voices to help keep VML at the forefront. Proactively keep clients, client counterparts and internal VML teams informed on current trends and changes. Cross-discipline collaboration. Work with Paid Search and Performance Content team members to support Discoverability initiatives and maximize overall impact. Maintain a solid understanding of holistic integrated media tactics alongside organic search, including paid search, social media, mobile marketing, PR and analytics, and be prepared to leverage these disciplines to benefit clients. Who you are A strong facilitator who can run a room of senior marketing and product stakeholders, keep a working session on track, and leave with a usable output rather than a list of open questions Excellent presentation skills, including presentation building, storytelling and delivery Clear, confident and direct communication style Willing to make confident, educated judgment calls Careful and accurate when representing partner technology, and able to say what a platform does and does not do without overselling Dedicated to championing the vision of the practice and the agency Committed to exceptional client service with a relentless pursuit of successful and satisfied clients Flexible in the face of change, able to think on your feet and adapt quickly, which matters in a discipline where the underlying models and best practices shift month to month Eager to collaborate across disciplines for a more holistic approach to serving our clients' needs Values collaboration, continuous learning, organization, adaptability and self-motivation What you'll need 6-8 years experience working in SEO, agency experience required Demonstrable GEO or AI-visibility experience, including prompt set design, LLM-oriented content briefing, or measurement of brand presence in AI-generated answers Experience facilitating client-facing workshops or strategy sessions with senior stakeholders Willingness and availability to complete hands-on demo environment work and the client's reference training before any client-facing engagement Hands-on experience with enterprise brand visibility platforms, like Profound, Peec, Adobe, etc. or the ability to reach working fluency in a demo environment quickly. You will use the client's platform for prompt set import, gap review and uplift reporting, including live in-session reviews with the client Experience with SEO tools such as SEMRush, Deepcrawl, STAT, Screaming Frog, MOZ, and comparable AI visibility tracking platforms, preferred Management and leadership experience with direct reports Strong client facing abilities, including comfort operating in co-branded settings alongside a partner's own team Salary & Benefits The base salary range for this position at the time of this posting is indicated below. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications. We offer a competitive benefits package, click WPP Benefits for more details. _$75,000—$180,000 USD We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process. Equal Opportunity Employer WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. #J-18808-Ljbffr VML South Africa