Search Director

in New York, New York, United States of America. In this role, you'll define and lead the organic and AI-search vision for Capital One, helping the brand earn visibility wherever consumers search, discover, compare, and make financial decisions. As Director of Search, you are both a strategic leader and a hands-on innovator - able to translate a rapidly evolving search landscape into practical, measurable opportunities across traditional SEO, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), AI Overviews, and large language model experiences. You will lead an integrated SEO/GEO strategy informed by search behavior, AI trends, competitive intelligence, and Capital One business priorities, turning that strategy into prioritized roadmaps across technical, content, brand, and experience considerations. This role is embedded within Critical Mass's broader Capital One performance program. You will connect organic and AI-search strategy to paid search, media planning, measurement, content, audience intelligence, and cross-agency work - while partnering closely with Capital One teams to guide implementation, measure performance, and identify where search insights should influence future investment. You Will Own the vision, strategic roadmap, and prioritized recommendations for Capital One SEO, GEO, and AEO across priority Retail Consumer Bank experiences Develop and continuously evolve an integrated SEO/GEO strategy informed by consumer search behavior, AI-search trends, competitive intelligence, business objectives, and the broader performance marketing plan Lead technical, content, and AI-search audits, translating findings into clear optimization recommendations, sequencing, dependencies, and expected business impact Guide ongoing optimization across priority Capital One content and digital experiences, partnering with client and agency teams to support implementation rather than operating as an isolated SEO workstream Serve as the senior Search lead within the Capital One account leadership team, bringing a search-first perspective to strategy, planning, innovation, and investment decisions Connect organic search and GEO/AEO insights with paid search - including emerging LLM-search opportunities to improve coverage, learning, efficiency, and customer journey visibility Define the role of search across the integrated performance ecosystem, connecting search intelligence with media, audience, creative, content, measurement, and experience teams Build a performance measurement approach for organic and AI-search visibility, defining practical KPIs, baselines, benchmarks, health ranges, and reporting that ties search outcomes to Capital One business objectives Monitor traditional search, AI Overviews, LLMs, answer engines, and emerging search behaviors to identify material shifts, risks, and opportunities for Capital One Deliver executive-ready performance reporting and strategic updates that turn search and LLM data into clear recommendations and inform ongoing investment opportunities Develop testing and learning roadmaps for search, including content, technical, experience, and AI-search hypotheses; evaluate results and translate learnings into scaled recommendations Partner with Capital One brand, product, technology, analytics, legal/compliance, and marketing stakeholders to ensure recommendations are actionable within enterprise and governance requirements Collaborate seamlessly with Critical Mass media, strategy, analytics, creative, PMO, and other agency/consulting partners, minimizing handoffs and creating a connected end-to-end search approach Lead competitive and category analysis across both traditional SERPs and AI/LLM environments, identifying where competitors are earning visibility, citations, authority, and consumer preference Define search-driven requirements for technical SEO, structured data, information architecture, internal linking, content quality, accessibility, indexability, page experience, entity signals, and AI-citation readiness Translate customer intent and search demand into content and experience opportunities that support consumer needs across discovery, consideration, and decision journeys Establish clear processes, quality standards, documentation, and governance for Search deliverables so recommendations are consistent, traceable, and easy for client teams to operationalize Lead, coach, and grow a high-performing Search team, providing critical review and maintaining a consistently high bar for strategy, analysis, storytelling, and client delivery Represent Critical Mass as a senior search thought leader with Capital One, bringing forward emerging capabilities, platform changes, AI-search implications, and future-forward opportunities You Have 10+ years of SEO/search experience, including 3+ years leading high-performing teams and senior client relationships Deep, hands-on expertise across technical SEO, content strategy, organic search measurement, and enterprise-scale SEO programs Demonstrated experience developing and executing GEO/AEO and AI-search strategies across AI Overviews and LLM ecosystems such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Mode, or comparable platforms A track record of translating search and AI visibility data into measurable business outcomes, prioritized roadmaps, and investment recommendations Experience operating within a large, complex enterprise; financial services, banking, or another highly regulated category is strongly preferred Strong understanding of the factors that influence organic and AI-search visibility across technical, content, brand/entity authority, structured data, and digital experience considerations Experience conducting technical, content, competitive, and AI-search audits and turning findings into actionable recommendations that client teams can implement Excellent written and verbal communication, with executive-level presentation, data storytelling, and facilitation skills Strong organizational and project leadership skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams, stakeholders, dependencies, and deadlines in a highly matrixed environment Experience defining and documenting operating processes, best practices, QA standards, and governance to improve implementation quality and consistency Proficiency with enterprise SEO and research tools such as BrightEdge, Ahrefs, Semrush, Screaming Frog, Botify, or comparable platforms Proficiency with analytics and visualization tools such as Adobe Analytics, Google Search Console, GA4, Tableau, Looker, Datorama, or comparable platforms Experience with GEO/AI-search measurement and monitoring tools such as Profound, BrightEdge AI Catalyst, Bluefish, or comparable platforms Strong analytical skills and comfort working with large datasets to identify patterns, diagnose performance, and prioritize opportunities Working knowledge of paid search/SEM and the ability to develop integrated organic/paid search strategies and workflows, including emerging LLM-search considerations Experience partnering with product, engineering, content, UX, brand, analytics, media, and compliance teams to influence implementation without relying on direct ownership A proactive, consultative leadership style with the judgment to distinguish between immediate optimization opportunities and longer-term strategic bets Experience testing and applying AI tools to research, analysis, content, optimization, and Search workflows with appropriate quality and governance controls Ability to work from either the Chicago or New York office and travel consistently to New York for client meetings, strategic planning, presentations, and key working sessions