Lead SEO Strategist

Eight years ago, we started Socratik on a simple belief: SEO isn’t a service to be packaged — it’s a strategic partnership. We’re a 12-person agency that serves as the indispensable search partner to mid-market and enterprise brands, including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Davines, and Comfort Zone. Many of our clients have been with us for years.

What makes us different: we don’t sell packages. We embed inside our clients’ teams, learn their business priorities the way their internal stakeholders do, and shift our strategy as those priorities shift. We’re small and agile by design, transparent and relationship-driven by mission, and aggressively leveraging AI — both in how we work and in how we help our clients win across the new search landscape.

Our mission is to be the transparent, relationship-driven search visibility experts leading the industry. Our vision is to help businesses reach their goals through holistic, customized strategy — never one-size-fits-all. Since 2018, we’ve grown ambitiously every year.

See our recent work: socratik.agency/work

The Lead SEO Strategist is a senior SEO leader responsible for direct ownership of strategy and execution for client accounts, plus oversight of account delivery and active development of two to three SEO team members. It’s a player-coach role that combines strategic and tactical leadership with formal management responsibility — hands-on strategy for key accounts, paired with structured coaching that grows the team’s capability.

You’ll serve as the SEO SME and strategy lead for client engagements, the quality and training backstop for junior team members and their accounts, and a primary internal voice on emerging AEO and AI search visibility practices.

Direct account & SEO strategy ownership

• Develop, lead, and deliver multi-track SEO roadmaps spanning technical, content, and link-building initiatives
• Own SEO strategy and performance for ~6–8 client accounts, serving as primary SEO SME and point of contact
• Translate client business goals into measurable SEO execution plans
• Lead client communication, QBRs, and strategic reviews; serve as the SEO escalation point for junior team members’ accounts
• Partner with Client Strategist on renewals, upsells, and reporting cadence
• Ensure delivery quality across keyword research, on-page optimization, technical audits, content strategy, and link building
• Forecast performance and ROI of proposed initiatives
• Lead client meetings, speaking to the “why” behind strategic recommendations

Client account oversight & team development

• Supervise SEO delivery across the junior SEO team’s client accounts, with team members as primary delivery owners
• Coach and upskill junior team members to foster growth and promotion
• Provide deliverable QA before client send; coach toward independent ownership
• Hold structured 1:1 cadences with direct reports, including performance feedback, goal-setting, and career development conversations
• Define and track concrete signals that team members are ready to own accounts independently
• Serve as the client escalation point until accounts have transitioned to full team-member ownership
• Support hiring and onboarding decisions for any future SEO team additions

AEO / AI search visibility

• Lead Socratik’s AEO practice, integrating AI search visibility into client SEO strategies
• Build and maintain frameworks for client visibility across AI-powered search surfaces (Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, and emerging surfaces)
• Optimize content, structured data, and technical implementation to support entity recognition and LLM interpretation
• Monitor competitive presence across AI search surfaces and develop response strategies
• Track and report AEO-specific performance metrics alongside traditional SEO KPIs
• Stay current on the rapidly evolving AI search landscape and translate emerging best practices into client recommendations
• Partner with the content team to evolve briefs and editorial standards in support of AEO outcomes
• Evaluate and recommend AEO-specific tooling as the category matures

Cross-functional collaboration & QA

• Partner with the Client Strategy team to deliver cohesive client experiences
• Provide thought partnership and SME review across the team on complex SEO challenges
• Model effective prioritization, communication, and delivery practices

Performance analysis & reporting

• Own monthly reporting narrative and delivery for client accounts, including performance analysis and strategic insights; partner with Client Strategist to ensure reports capture clients’ business priorities and speak to bottom-line impact
• Ensure junior team-member reporting meets quality standards before client delivery
• Lead QBRs and client growth reviews for junior-team accounts with clear storytelling and strategic recommendations
• Forecast performance and ROI of proposed initiatives across all assigned accounts
• Participate in year-end and renewal discussions, demonstrating SEO thought leadership

Across the team, we hold each other to a few practices:

• We track our time accurately and on cadence — without follow-up
• We communicate proactively. Blockers, capacity issues, and timeline risks get flagged before they become problems
• We overcommunicate on deliverables to support our Client Strategy team
• We own our work to completion without close supervision
• We follow our SOPs and processes, and improve them through the right channels rather than working around them
• We surface mistakes, blockers, and uncertainty early — that’s how trust gets built
• We’re accountable for outcomes, not just activity

Browse our curated collection of remote jobs across all categories and industries, featuring positions from top companies worldwide.

• Leaders model the standards expected of their teams

The people who do well here are pros who take real pride in their craft, want to be part of building something, and bring zero ego to the table. Specifically, you’ll thrive here if you:

• Operate with autonomy — we don’t micromanage, and we don’t want to
• Take pride in your work and genuinely care about SEO, search, and helping brands grow
• Are a team player; we’re small and collaborative, and there’s no room for ego
• Want to grow with the agency, not coast inside it — this isn’t a cushy seat
• Default to proactive communication: in Slack, in Asana, in client work, with each other

We reward proactivity above all else. We’re explicit about what growth looks like at every level, and we invest in helping people get to their next step.

• Minimum 7–9 years of SEO strategy experience, agency-side preferred
• Demonstrated leadership and performance with mid-market or enterprise SEO accounts in fast-paced, competitive markets
• Direct people-management experience — formal management of one or more direct reports (mentorship alone is not sufficient)
• Comfort in player-coach mode; you’re not seeking pure-IC or pure-management
• Expert technical SEO depth (audits, indexation, schema, site architecture, performance)
• Content marketing strategy experience, including AI-aware content planning
• Link-building strategy and execution oversight
• Ability to distill complex SEO and AEO concepts into client-ready recommendations
• Strong written and verbal communication; confident in client-facing presentations
• Advanced working knowledge of GA4, GSC, Looker Studio, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Screaming Frog. Familiarity with AEO tools like Peec, Profound, and AirOps is a plus
• Working knowledge of AI search surfaces and emerging AEO best practices



• Competitive base salary of $85K–$110K, with multiple bonus structures totaling up to 18% additional earnings
• Unlimited PTO
• Paid holidays plus full company closure from Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day
• Summer Fridays — half-day Fridays all summer long
• $250/month healthcare stipend
• $500 sign-on tech stipend
• $100/month coworking space stipend
• Monthly Uber Eats credit
• Annual company-paid in-person team onsite
• 3.5% 401(k) retirement match
• Fully remote work with agreed-upon hours