Ad agencies are racing to hire AI SEO talent at $100K–$260K
Organic search just became one of the most contested hiring categories in marketing. Eight agencies, both indie shops and holding company networks, are currently advertising for director, assistant director, or manager-level roles in SEO and AI discoverability, according to Digiday.
Salary ranges for these positions run from $100,000 to $150,000. Brainlabs posted a managing director role at $260,000 a year.
Who Is Hiring
The agencies actively recruiting include Kinesso, Digitas, Wpromote, Kepler, Tinuiti, Critical Mass, Mindgruve, and Brainlabs. Each is building out organic search capability to meet client demand for visibility in AI-driven search environments.
Wpromote is hiring a senior director of SEO and content to lead a dedicated team for an unnamed airline client. The agency already runs a 70-person SEO and organic search team, added three staffers in the past year, and is interviewing for two additional junior SEO manager roles.
Brainlabs hired at least 10 staffers into its existing 120-person SEO team. Tinuiti has been building a combined AI discoverability and SEO team since last summer, starting with a senior director of AI SEO innovation hire, and is now recruiting for a director of SEO plus two additional positions. Tinuiti’s EVP of innovation Simon Poulton said the agency would “almost certainly” add further roles this year.
Critical Mass is recruiting a VP of search with explicit attention to SEO and GEO (generative engine optimization). Kepler’s Search Center of Excellence associate VP Grace Mante said hiring would continue beyond its current open associate director role.
What They Are Actually Screening For
These are not standard SEO coordinator searches. Agencies are looking for candidates who combine traditional search expertise with hands-on experience in AI search platforms.
- Experience with AI search tools like Profound and Scrunch
- Comfort working with LLM tools alongside technical skills like website schema
- Active testing and experimentation in AI search platforms
- Background in branded content production and PR considered a plus
- Measurement, engineering, and problem-solving capabilities (Tinuiti’s stated priority)
- Leadership experience for senior roles
The Broader Shift
The hiring push reflects a structural change in how clients think about search. Wpromote VP of organic growth Megan Shriver described it plainly: “This is the biggest thing that’s happened to SEO, ever. If you’re not doing AI search, you’re not going where SEO is going.”
Brainlabs CPO Adam Edwards framed the client pressure this way: “Every brand wants to better understand how they get themselves mentioned and cited on ChatGPT and on Gemini.”
Combined search briefs, mixing paid, SEO, and answer engine optimization (AEO), are now standard. Critical Mass CSO Grant Owens said his agency is “getting many more briefs that are combining paid, SEO, and AEO together.” Tinuiti’s Poulton added that combined briefs are “the only way that we’re really talking about search right now.”
For operators and indie marketers watching from the outside: the skills these agencies are paying $150K-$260K for are the same ones that will determine whether your own content surfaces in AI search results. The job listings are a useful proxy for what actually matters in organic discoverability right now.
I’m founder of BizStack at Cagri Sarigoz LLC and a passionate advocate for entrepreneurs.
With over 14 years in tech, marketing, and AI, including my role as Head of SEO at CitizenShipper and co-founder of TaleBot at Intale AI, I’m dedicated to sharing genuine, useful product insights and tips.
At BizStack, I aim to cut through the digital noise to provide clear, actionable advice.
And more than all else, I’m a father to a (always) little girl and a husband.
Contact me at [email protected] for assistance.
