Director of Search
Own client strategy and the AEO methodology itself. A strategic leadership seat, not project management or fulfillment.
- Marketing
- Remote, US
- Full time
- Strategic leadership
Remote in the United States. We hire in Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio, and South Carolina.
As Perfectus Labs scales, we need a strategic leader accountable for clients consistently hitting real AEO results. This role bridges vision and execution: you own client strategy, you improve the methodology, and you back the operations team with deep AEO expertise.
This is not a project management or fulfillment role. It is a strategic leadership position focused on client outcomes, service quality, and how our methodology evolves as AI search does.
Primary responsibilities
Client strategy and success
- Develop and lead the onboarding strategy for every new client.
- Partner with account managers so each client has a clear roadmap to a result.
- Review underperforming accounts and build the recovery plan.
- Join onboarding calls, first quarter business reviews, and strategic escalations, and set the review cadence itself.
- Set realistic client expectations and honest success milestones.
Methodology and continuous improvement
- Evaluate client performance continuously to find trends and openings.
- Write new SOPs, playbooks, and deployment strategies as search and AI shift.
- Test new AEO techniques and fold the winners into the methodology.
- Stay current on AI search platforms and emerging best practices.
Operational excellence
- Improve onboarding and client workflows.
- Build systems that surface at risk accounts before they become client issues.
- Cut operational friction with better documentation, templates, and process.
- Make sure delivery scales as the company grows.
Internal subject matter expert
- Serve as the company's primary AEO strategist.
- Train and coach internal teams on AEO best practices.
- Guide account managers and operations when strategic questions come up.
- Contribute educational content and internal documentation.
Product and leadership collaboration
- Feed client needs and industry trends back to product.
- Recommend product changes that improve client outcomes.
- Partner with leadership to execute and refine the AEO vision.
- Contribute thought leadership through articles and industry participation.
Success metrics
Success in this role is measured by:
Maintaining or improving client retention.
Fewer strategic client escalations.
Faster time to a first measurable result — technical fixes shipped, onboarding milestones hit — with a target under 45 days. Citation movement itself typically shows in the 60 to 90 day window; this metric tracks the work that leads up to it.
More client testimonials, case studies, and upgrades.
Better onboarding quality and consistency.
Ongoing improvement to the methodology, SOPs, and deployment process.
A strong partnership with operations, product, and account management.
What this role does not own
The Director of Search does not own project management, fulfillment, engineering, pricing, or people management.
You own the strategic direction behind client success, and you make sure the teams are executing the right strategy instead of just clearing tasks.