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Head of AI Discovery & SEO

The Washington Post

Full Time
Director
172k-320k
3 days ago

Job Description

About the Role

The Washington Post is hiring to lead the efforts of our AI and SEO content discovery strategy in close collaboration with editorial, engineering, product, and growth teams. As traditional search and social referral patterns shift and AI-powered interfaces become dominant content discovery surfaces, this role is critical to ensuring our journalism remains accessible, performant, and relevant across all major platforms. You will build and evolve the strategy and tooling that will power content visibility across search engines, generative AI models, internal recirculation systems, and third-party aggregators. This is a key role on the front lines of reimagining how audiences find news in the AI era.

Key Responsibilities

  • Define and execute the long-term technical roadmap for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Large Model Optimization (LMO).
  • Work cross-functionally with engineering, analytics, infrastructure, and audience teams to align technical implementation with strategic content goals.
  • Build and maintain high-performance front-end web applications optimized for SEO, Core Web Vitals, accessibility, and structured metadata.
  • Translate SEO and content discovery strategy into scalable solutions, including rendering logic, metadata frameworks, routing structures, and platform enhancements.
  • Build a strategy for structured data systems (e.g., Schema.org, JSON-LD) to improve visibility in traditional search and AI discovery surfaces.
  • Drive rendering strategies (SSR, SSG, ISR) using frameworks like Next.js, Astro, or equivalent—prioritizing crawlability and speed.
  • Build tooling and internal dashboards to monitor SEO health, crawl/indexing issues, and LLM inclusion performance.
  • Serve as the company's internal thought leader on AI-powered search and discovery; advise teams on risks, opportunities, and emerging trends.
  • Define and report on KPIs that connect technical SEO and AI discoverability efforts to business outcomes such as organic traffic, engagement, and LLM-generated visibility.

Requirements

  • 10+ years of experience working in digital content platforms, with a focus on SEO, content discovery, site performance, or platform strategy in media, publishing, or subscription-driven environments.
  • Strong understanding of technical SEO, including structured data, sitemaps, crawl/indexation behavior, schema markup, rendering strategies (CSR, SSR, SSG), and CMS workflows.
  • Deep expertise in SEO, AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), and GEO (Geographic/Local Optimization) strategies for both evergreen and real-time content.
  • Experience using analytics and SEO tools (e.g., Google Search Console, GA4, Ahrefs, SEMrush, Chartbeat, Looker, Botify, Semrush) to drive decision-making and performance measurement.
  • Demonstrated success influencing editorial strategy using audience insights, search trends, and platform algorithm changes.
  • Comfortable shaping and executing long-term content discovery strategies in evolving environments like Search Generative Experience (SGE) and AI-powered platforms.
  • Skilled at driving organic growth while supporting editorial independence and journalistic goals.
  • Proven ability to lead cross-functional collaboration between Editorial, Engineering, Product, and Data teams to drive content discovery and subscription outcomes.

Nice to Have

  • Experience in global content strategy, multilingual optimization, or Generative AI applications for content discovery.
  • Exposure to semantic search, vector embeddings, or LLM integration for content systems.

Qualifications

  • Educational background is not explicitly specified, but extensive experience in digital content platforms and SEO is required.

Benefits & Perks

  • Competitive medical, dental and vision coverage
  • Company-paid pension and 401(k) match
  • Three weeks of vacation and up to three weeks of paid sick leave
  • Nine paid holidays and two personal days
  • 20 weeks paid parental leave for any new parent
  • Robust mental health resources
  • Backup care and caregiver concierge services
  • Gender affirming services
  • Pet insurance
  • Free Post digital subscription
  • Leadership and career development programs

Working at The Washington Post

The Washington Post values collaboration, innovation, and a passion for journalism. Offices are designed with open layouts, modern technology, and easy access to transportation. The organization emphasizes teamwork, continuous learning, and supporting employees' personal and professional growth.

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Job Details

Posted AtAug 15, 2025
Job CategorySEO
Salary172k-320k
Job TypeFull Time
Work ModeOnsite
ExperienceDirector

Job Skills

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About The Washington Post

Website

washingtonpost.com

Industry

Newspaper Publishers

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