Head of SEO Job Description

I’m biased, because I sell the alternative. Fractional SEO exists for teams that aren’t ready for this hire. But when you are ready, you should hire well, and this is the job description I’d want to see.

What a head of SEO does

They own the SEO strategy and answer for the results. Day to day that means deciding priorities, reviewing what developers ship, briefing writers, managing any agency or freelancers, and reporting to the leadership team in plain English.

The best ones spend as much time saying no as yes. Most sites don’t need more content. They need fewer, better pages, and a head of SEO who can explain why to a room full of people who want more blog posts.

Head of SEO job description template

Copy it, edit the bracketed parts and delete anything that doesn’t fit the role. Paste it into a document and save it as a PDF if you need one.

Job title Head of SEO Reports to [Marketing director, CMO or founder] Location [Office, hybrid or remote] About the role We’re looking for a head of SEO to own organic search at [company]. You’ll set the SEO strategy, decide the priorities, work with our developers, writers and agencies, and report on progress to the leadership team. What you’ll do Set and own the SEO strategy and roadmap, tied to our commercial goals Audit the site regularly across technical SEO, content and authority Prioritise work by impact, confidence and effort Review templates, releases and migrations before they go live Brief writers and set editorial standards for search Manage SEO agencies, freelancers or an in house team Monitor crawl health, indexation and Core Web Vitals Report on organic performance in plain English every month Keep up with changes in search, including AI answers What you’ll bring [X]+ years in SEO, including time leading strategy Technical SEO, including crawling, indexation, rendering and migrations Keyword research and content strategy grounded in commercial intent Hands on experience with Google Search Console, GA4 and a crawler such as Screaming Frog Confidence working with developers and writing clear tickets The ability to explain SEO to people who don’t work in it How success is measured Organic revenue or leads from non brand search Visibility for the keywords that make money Crawl and indexation health Delivery of the roadmap on time Salary and benefits [Salary range] plus [benefits]

What to ask in the interview

Walk me through a site you grew. What would you do differently now?
Here’s a template change our developers want to ship. What could go wrong for SEO?
How would you spend your first month here?
Show me a report you’ve sent to a leadership team.
When did you last tell someone SEO wasn’t the answer?

Head of SEO KPIs that mean something

Rankings on their own don’t pay anyone’s salary. Tie the role to organic revenue or leads from non brand search, visibility for the terms that actually make money, and whether the roadmap ships. Rankings for terms nobody buys from are just server load.

Junior, senior or interim head of SEO?

A senior head of SEO has usually led strategy and people before. A more junior hire may be strong on delivery and still learning to set direction, which is fine if someone senior can guide them. If the gap is urgent, an interim head of SEO can cover while you recruit.

When a fractional head of SEO makes more sense

If SEO doesn’t yet need someone every day, a full time hire means paying a full salary through the quiet months, and recruitment comes before any work starts. A fractional head of SEO does the same job for set days each month and can help you hire when you’re ready.

Hire a fractional head of SEO instead, or at least talk it through before you post the job.

What about salary?

It’s the one number I’ve left as a placeholder in the template. Pay varies by location, sector and seniority, and a current, dated salary survey will serve you better than a figure I’d be guessing at.

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