Technical SEO Director

Location: 

USA. 

90% remote with a requirement to travel to our office and for client meetings where required.

About Us:

LOCOMOTIVE is an award-winning digital and creative agency with offices in Raleigh, North Carolina and Galway, Ireland. Our global teams are driven by a passion for innovation and excellence in marketing strategy and execution, empowering  our client’s brands to reach their fullest potential through strategic growth initiatives and cutting-edge solutions. 

If you are interested in working in a fast-paced, ambitious environment, which places an emphasis on strategic thinking and long-term customer value, we would love to hear from you. 

Role Overview:

The Technical SEO Director is responsible for defining, leading, and executing advanced SEO strategies that drive measurable commercial outcomes for clients. This role owns technical SEO strategy end-to-end, translating complex site analysis into actionable initiatives and ensuring delivery through disciplined execution and cross-functional collaboration.

This director-level position combines deep technical expertise with strategic leadership, client ownership, and operational excellence across multiple engagements.

Key Responsibilities:

SEO Strategy and Execution

• Lead strategic and tactical SEO initiatives focused on revenue impact and long-term performance improvement
• Own SEO strategy for assigned client engagements, providing structure, direction, and accountability
• Develop complex, multi-faceted SEO strategies and translate them into quarterly roadmaps and deliverables
• Conduct comprehensive technical audits with a focus on crawlability, indexing, rendering, site architecture, and content performance
• Identify and prioritize opportunities across large, complex websites to maximize business impact

Client Leadership

Your goal will be to proactively build client relationships, by displaying we are an extension of their internal team, not just an agency handing off deliverables.

• Serve as the primary SEO authority for clients, providing clear guidance and strategic oversight
• Lead client meetings to present strategy, performance analysis, and recommendations
• Partner with project managers to manage scope, timelines, and budgets across retainers and project work
• Track implementation of recommendations and evaluate performance impact, adjusting strategy as needed
• Proactively identify risks, dependencies, and constraints, and recommend viable alternatives

Internal Leadership and Capability Development

You will be positioned as one of the agency’s experts on all things related to SEO. Not only does this need to be translated to the client and through client deliverables, but also to help grow the agency’s expertise, processes and approach, including:

• Act as a senior subject-matter expert, contributing to the evolution of agency SEO standards, processes, and methodologies
• Develop and document best practices across multiple CMSs, frameworks, and technology stacks
• Design scalable processes for performance monitoring, indexing diagnostics, and rendering analysis
• Review and quality-assure client deliverables to ensure strategic alignment and technical accuracy
• Plan and oversee monthly execution for retainer clients in collaboration with analysts and delivery teams
• Provide clear technical direction to internal teams to ensure efficient and accurate execution
• Optimize use of agency resources to maximize client value and long-term engagement success

Required Experience and Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on SEO experience, with strong preference for agency-based work
• Deep understanding of search engine crawling, rendering, indexing, and ranking systems
• Strong knowledge of algorithm updates and their practical implications
• Proven ability to analyze complex websites and large datasets
• Experience working directly with engineering teams to review code and define implementation requirements
• Strong analytical capability and data-driven decision-making approach
• Ability to clearly communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and clients
• High standards for quality, accuracy, and on-time delivery

Technical Competencies

• Advanced experience with industry-standard SEO tools and platforms
• Familiarity with JavaScript frameworks, ecommerce platforms, and analytics ecosystems
• Experience working with large-scale websites (1M+ URLs) and sampling methodologies
• Strong background in technical performance analysis and measurement
• Experience applying data science, machine learning, and RAG techniques to SEO workflows
• Solid understanding of algorithms and recent Google updates
• Understanding of crawling, rendering, and indexing by search engines
• Prompt Engineering for Data: Ability to construct advanced prompts to clean, format, and analyze CSV/Excel exports from tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs
• Code Assistant Proficiency: Demonstrated experience using Copilot or Cursor to accelerate Python/JS development for SEO tasks
• LLM Integration: Experience connecting SEO data sources (APIs) to LLMs to create custom dashboards or insights

Preferred Skills

• Python experience, including working with Google Search Console and Google Analytics APIs
• SQL proficiency or experience collaborating with data teams to build reporting pipelines
• Programmatic SEO and JavaScript development experience
• Google Tag Manager implementation and debugging
• Log file analysis and large-scale crawling and extraction
• Experience building automations for repetitive or high-volume SEO tasks
• Familiarity with CRM platforms such as Salesforce, Marketo, or HubSpot

Leadership & Communication

• Strong business acumen with the ability to gather, prioritize, and manage requirements across internal teams and client stakeholders
• Strategic leadership skills, with a proven ability to translate strategy into measurable business outcomes
• Experience collaborating directly with engineering teams, including reviewing code and proposing technically sound recommendations that account for development constraints
• Ability to operate effectively at all levels of an organization, fostering strong cross-functional collaboration and alignment
• Advanced experience with industry-standard SEO tools, with the ability to quickly adopt proprietary platforms and internal tooling
• Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to clearly communicate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences
• Collaborative, team-oriented leadership style that supports high-quality execution and shared ownership of outcomes
• While not a requirement, having a pet is really appreciated by the team

Benefits

• Competitive salary, commensurate with experience
• Health insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off plus company holidays
• Company-wide annual break between Christmas and New Year
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Remote position

How to Apply:

Interested candidates should send their resume with a cover letter detailing why you believe your skills and experience are a strong fit for this role