Director, Performance Marketing & AI Search

The Opportunity: We are seeking an experienced Director of Performance Marketing & AI Search to lead and scale our omnichannel media and emerging search capabilities. The ideal candidate brings a strong foundation in enterprise agency environments, with deep expertise across Meta, Google, TikTok, and programmatic advertising, complemented by a sophisticated understanding of SEO, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and the evolving role of AI platforms in consumer discovery and purchase decisions. This individual will help brands navigate an increasingly fragmented discovery ecosystem, where consumers move between traditional search engines, social platforms, retail marketplaces, and AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. The role combines strategic client leadership, hands-on performance marketing expertise, emerging technology adoption, and the opportunity to build differentiated capabilities for Market Defense.

Key Responsibilities: Paid Media & Performance Marketing

• Lead integrated paid media strategies across Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google Ads, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, and programmatic advertising platforms.
• Develop full-funnel strategies encompassing awareness, consideration, customer acquisition, retargeting, and conversion.
• Oversee media planning, budget allocation, audience development, creative testing, and campaign optimization.
• Drive performance against commercial KPIs including ROAS, CAC, CPA, LTV, and incremental revenue.
• Connect off-platform advertising investments with Amazon, TikTok Shop, and other retail commerce outcomes. AI Search, SEO & Generative Engine Optimization
• Develop and execute strategies to improve brand and product discoverability across traditional search engines and AI-powered discovery platforms, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and emerging generative search experiences.
• Lead the development of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) capabilities, helping brands improve their visibility, relevance, and representation within AI-generated responses and recommendations.
• Apply technical SEO, structured data, content optimization, and entity-based search principles to strengthen brand discoverability across traditional and AI-powered search.
• Develop strategies to improve the likelihood that brands and products are accurately surfaced, cited, and recommended in relevant AI-generated shopping and product discovery experiences.
• Evaluate how product feeds, structured product information, authoritative content, third-party mentions, reviews, and digital PR influence AI-driven brand discovery.
• Establish frameworks to monitor brand visibility, share of voice, citation frequency, referral traffic, and competitive positioning across AI search platforms.
• Identify opportunities to connect organic search, paid media, marketplace optimization, and AI discovery into a unified commerce strategy.
• Stay ahead of emerging AI search technologies, evolving platform capabilities, and changes in consumer search behavior. Client Strategy & Leadership
• Serve as a senior strategic advisor to enterprise clients, including CMOs, marketing directors, and digital commerce leaders.
• Develop integrated growth strategies connecting paid media, organic search, AI discovery, and retail commerce.
• Translate complex performance and search visibility data into actionable business recommendations.
• Lead executive presentations, quarterly business reviews, and strategic planning engagements.
• Support new business development, RFPs, and the creation of differentiated service offerings. Analytics, Measurement & Innovation
• Establish robust measurement frameworks across paid media, SEO, and AI-driven discovery.
• Leverage GA4, Meta CAPI, attribution modeling, incrementality testing, and other analytics tools to evaluate marketing effectiveness.
• Explore and implement emerging AI search monitoring and analytics platforms to measure brand presence across generative search environments.
• Develop repeatable testing methodologies to assess the impact of GEO and AI search optimization initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to leverage AI for media optimization, audience intelligence, content development, and workflow automation.
• Build scalable dashboards and reporting frameworks connecting marketing investments to commercial outcomes. Team Leadership & Capability Development
• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing team of paid media and search specialists.
• Develop Market Defense's capabilities in paid social, performance marketing, SEO, and AI search optimization.
• Establish best practices, operating processes, measurement standards, and technology requirements.
• Collaborate with marketplace advertising, analytics, creative, content, and technology teams to deliver integrated client solutions.
• Partner with senior leadership to identify new service opportunities, commercial models, and growth initiatives.

Qualifications: Required

• 8–12+ years of experience in performance marketing, digital media, search marketing, or integrated digital strategy.
• Strong agency experience, ideally within Dentsu, Merkle, iProspect, Publicis, Omnicom, WPP, or a comparable performance-focused organization.
• Deep expertise in Meta Ads Manager, Google Ads, and paid social advertising, with experience managing significant enterprise media budgets.
• Strong working knowledge of modern SEO, including technical SEO, content strategy, structured data, and search visibility measurement.
• Demonstrated understanding of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and how AI-powered platforms influence brand and product discovery.
• Familiarity with optimizing brand visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and other emerging AI search experiences.
• Ability to develop practical, testable strategies for improving brand discoverability across both traditional and generative search environments.
• Proven experience managing teams, advising enterprise clients, and translating digital performance into commercial outcomes.
• Strong analytical capabilities and executive-level communication skills. Preferred
• Experience working with beauty, personal care, luxury, lifestyle, or consumer goods brands.
• Familiarity with Amazon Ads, Amazon DSP, retail media networks, and TikTok Shop.
• Experience with enterprise SEO platforms such as Semrush, Ahrefs, BrightEdge, or Conductor, as well as emerging AI visibility measurement tools.
• Understanding of large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, and the mechanisms influencing AI-generated search responses.
• Experience integrating paid media, SEO, content strategy, and commerce optimization.
• Experience building new service lines or capabilities within a growing agency or digital commerce organization.

What Success Looks Like: First 90 Days

• Assess existing paid media and search capabilities and identify opportunities for expansion.
• Develop an initial roadmap for Market Defense's AI search and GEO offering.
• Identify priority clients and pilot opportunities across paid media and AI-driven discovery. First 6 Months
• Establish scalable operating frameworks for paid media and AI search optimization.
• Launch initial GEO/AI search pilot programs with measurable visibility and discovery objectives.
• Implement reporting capabilities to track brand performance across traditional and generative search environments.
• Support new business development and cross-selling opportunities. First 12 Months
• Establish a differentiated, commercially viable performance marketing and AI search practice.
• Demonstrate measurable improvements in client acquisition performance, search visibility, and AI-driven brand discovery.
• Build a scalable team and operating model capable of supporting enterprise client engagements.
• Position Market Defense as a strategic partner helping brands win across paid media, retail commerce,