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Associate Director of Search, SEO

Calgary

In this role, you’ll lead a high-performing team of search marketers in driving best-in-class SEO strategies for some of the world’s biggest brands.

As Associate Director of SEO, you know how to unlock the stories found in data, and translate those stories into opportunities to meet customers wherever they’re searching across the evolving digital landscape. You’ll use search insights to craft data-driven strategies that demonstrate a deep understanding of our clients’ businesses, objectives, and customers. You’ll also develop strategic SEO roadmaps and processes to drive measurable results through content strategy, user experience, and a strong technical foundation.

You’ll play a critical role in shaping our SEO services and capabilities, building a high-performance team, and helping our clients achieve top-tier performance.

You will:

  • Own the creation, definition, execution, and optimization of holistic search strategies
  • Represent the Search practice within the agency, serving as a strategic thought leader, entrepreneur, advocate, and educator
  • Hire, manage, and grow a high-performing team of search strategists
  • Serve as an integral part of the account leadership team, making recommendations on strategy and approach to drive innovation and performance
  • Use search data (in conjunction with other research sources) to understand user intent, drive content strategies, and identify business opportunities for clients
  • Pitch and implement new search projects and service offerings
  • Define success metrics and translate SEO results to business objectives
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to incorporate SEO strategies and best practices
  • Deliver actionable insights and strategic recommendations to clients through insightful, visually compelling reports
  • Optimize social search channels (e.g. YouTube, TikTok) to maximize brand and content visibility across the digital landscape
  • Align paid and organic search strategies to reduce costs while maximizing key business activities
  • Conduct regular SEO audits and competitive analyses
  • Effectively convey SEO concepts and success stories in a concise and easy-to-understand manner
  • Develop frameworks and processes to systematically track and improve search performance
  • Advise on technical website development to maximize search indexability and visibility, including JavaScript SEO and accessibility considerations
  • Define search-driven guidelines and requirements for page content, copy, page speed, accessibility, indexability, structured markup, site architecture, URL structure, page titles, meta descriptions, headings, anchor text, internal linking, site maps, etc.
  • Monitor, analyze, and report on search results and performance to both internal and external stakeholders
  • Keep current with the latest digital trends and changes in the search marketing landscape, identifying new opportunities for clients (e.g. AI and conversational search, ML-driven automation, visual search, voice search, social search, etc.)

You have: 

  • 7+ years of search experience
  • Experience leading and managing a team of SEO specialists
  • Strong communication and presentation skills, with an emphasis on data storytelling
  • Proven track record of developing and implementing SEO strategies that successfully drove traffic and conversion growth
  • Strong project management and organizational skills, with the ability to drive progress and manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously
  • Experience defining and documenting cross-disciplinary internal processes to improve SEO implementation and best practices
  • Deep understanding of search engine algorithms, ranking factors, SEO best practices, and technical SEO
  • Proficiency in third-party SEO/SEM tools, such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, ScreamingFrog, etc.
  • Proficiency in data analytics and visualization tools, such as Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, Adobe Analytics, Google Search Console, Tableau, etc.
  • Strong Excel skills, including pivot tables, vlook-ups, and comfort working with large datasets
  • Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret data, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions
  • Experience developing and executing content strategies that improve brand visibility, traffic and engagement through content creation and optimization
  • A proactive, self-starter attitude
  • Excellent business acumen, results-orientation, and written communication skills
  • Experience with testing and leveraging AI tools (ChatGPT, etc.) for SEO
  • Passion for staying current in a rapidly evolving digital environment, leveraging new tools, and digital marketing channels to gain a competitive edge

You may have:

  • Experience managing paid search, PPC, or SEM campaigns – or experience integrating SEO/SEM strategies
  • Experience with Python
  • Local SEO/Google Business Profile experience 
  • Agency experience

What We Offer:

  • Global maternity and parental leave
  • Competitive benefits packages
  • Vacation, compassionate leave, sick days, and flex days
  • Access to online services for families and new parents
  • Extensive winter holiday office closures
  • Summer Fridays (off at 3:00 PM local time every Friday)
  • Diversity and Inclusion Board with 13 affinity groups
  • Internal learning and development programs
  • Enterprise-wide employee discounts

The Talent Team at Critical Mass is focused on ensuring we provide the best training, mentorship, and employee experience possible! CM new hires & employees are the future of our organization, and we want to set you up for long-term success. In an effort to do so, we expect our team to work from an office a minimum of 4 days per week.

The ask stems from our want to:

  • Strengthen opportunity for continuous learning
  • Improve collaboration and team relationships
  • Increase employee engagement

We understand that not everyone may feel comfortable with this expectation, so we ask that you please let us know immediately if there are any concerns so we can help navigate accordingly.

Critical Mass is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We do not tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. If you are an individual with disabilities who would like to request an accommodation, please reach out to accommodations@criticalmass.com.

We are committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion within our pool of candidates, with a target of achieving at least 50% representation from underrepresented communities.

The Critical Mass Talent Acquisition team will only communicate from email addresses that use the URLs criticalmass.com and us.greenhouse-mail.io. We will not use apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Google Hangouts for communicating with you. We will never ask you to send us money, technology, or anything else to work for our company. If you believe you are the victim of a scam, please review your local government consumer protections guidance and reach out to them directly.

If U.S. based: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams#avoid
If Canada based: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance/consumer-affairs.html
If U.K. based: https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights
If Costa Rica based: https://www.consumo.go.cr/educacion_consumidor/consejos_practicos.aspx 

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DE&I Questionnaire

Voluntary Self-Identification

At Critical Mass, we are dedicated and determined to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities in which we live and work. It is crucial that every team member can thrive and reach their full potential.

With that said, we’d like to know a little more about you. We ask all applicants to fill out the below voluntary self-identification questions in order to evaluate and improve our recruitment and diversity efforts. Answering is completely voluntary and will not affect the outcome of your application.

The data collected may be reviewed by the Critical Mass Talent Acquisition Team, Human Resources, our Diversity, Equality and Inclusion team, and our executives, but they will neither be reviewed by nor disclosed to anyone else. All the information that you share with us pursuant to this survey will be stored on our secure network servers located within Canada and the United States.  We will only retain this information so long as it is necessary for the purpose that we have described here or as may be required by applicable laws. Thereafter, we will either anonymize the information or delete it entirely.  If you elect to complete this survey, and at any point in the future you wish to retract or amend your responses, or otherwise have any questions about your data, you may contact our Talent Acquisition team at accommodations@criticalmass.com.

As set forth in Critical Mass’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Aboriginal Peoples Definition:

Aboriginal Peoples means persons who are defined as: Indians (more commonly referred to as First Nations), Inuit, or Métis.

Members of Visible Minorities Definition:

Members of Visible Minorities means persons, other than Aboriginal people, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in color.
Examples:
Black (e.g. African, Caribbean, Other)
Arab (e.g. Middle Eastern, North African, etc.) 
Asian and Southeast Asian (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Thais, etc.) 
West Asian (e.g. Armenian, Iranian, Persian, Egyptian, Turkish, etc.)
Other (e.g. Latin American, Pacific Islander, etc.) 

Persons with Disabilities Definition:

Persons with Disabilities means persons who have a physical or mental impairment or medical condition that substantially limits a major life activity, or if you have a history or record of such an impairment or medical condition.

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