Director of SEO and Client Strategy

Hiring: Director of SEO & Client Strategy - Remote - $100k+ with bonuses 👋

Who we are Rankingonai.com is an SEO agency working with high-growth SaaS companies. We work with well-funded, fast-moving startups including Cal.com ($30M+ raised), Suno ($200M+ raised), HappyRobot ($40M+ raised), and a roster of YC-backed or profitable bootstrapped companies. We're lean, remote, async-first, and growing fast.

We need a senior person who can own client delivery, lead the team, and grow into running the SEO function as the founder moves into a pure sales role.

How we work

• Happy teams are productive teams. Happiness at work drives performance, and we mean it
• Built together, paid together. Aligned incentives matter. When the agency wins, the team wins
• Real growth paths. Every teammate has a growth plan tailored to what they want next
• Deliver work you're proud of. We care about craft. Thoughtful execution, clean delivery, real results
• Remote and flexible. You own your time. We care about outcomes, not hours
• Stay ahead of the curve. AI search changes fast. We stay current, run experiments, and ship learnings into results

What you'll actually do

• Run point on 3-5 client accounts as the lead strategist and account manager
• Manage and oversee our other account managers and team (±10-15 people) across the rest of the book. Diagnostics,strategy reviews, unblocking, QA, performance reviews
• Own the quality of everything that goes out the door. If a deliverable is weak, you catch it before the client does
• Join and often lead client calls. Our clients are CMOs, Heads of Marketing, and founders at well-funded startups, so you need to be completely comfortable in that room
• Identify what's working, what isn't, and course-correct proactively. Don't wait to be asked
• Monthly performance reporting and client-facing strategy presentations
• Build SOPs, raise the bar on team output, and grow the function over time

What we're looking for

• 5+ years in SEO, ideally agency-side with SaaS clients - Strong on both traditional SEO and AI visibility (LLM citations, AI Overviews, ChatGPT/Perplexity surfacing). This is non-negotiable, it's the future of our category
• Proven track record managing a team. You've led account managers, content teams, or SEO ICs before and you're good at it
• Hungry. You want ownership, you want to build something, and you want a path to leadership.
• Responsible by default. Problems land on your desk and you know how to solve them or learn how to solve them.
• Polished on client calls with senior stakeholders.
• Proactive and exceptional communicator.
• Comfortable with AI-assisted SEO workflows (we use Claude, GSC, GA, Ahrefs, ...)

Compensation

• $65-74k USD base depending on experience + significant opportunity for increasing the base
• Profit-share and performance bonuses tied to client retention, account growth, and team performance
• Total comp up to $112k+ in the first year for the right operator, and more over time
• Twice-yearly bonus cycle (July and December)

Onboarding

• Founder will personally train you for the first three to six months
• After that, you'll be running the function with founder support on sales and strategy

What this isn't

• Not a pure execution role. You'll need judgment, not just task completion
• Not a write-the-blogs-yourself role. You direct, your team of ±10 people executes
• Not a hands-off manager role either. You're in the work, you just aren't doing all of it yourself
• Async-first, output-driven, calls only when they actually need to be calls