Head of AI Discovery & SEO

Join the Future of News

We're on a mission to deliver riveting storytelling for all of America. At The Washington Post, you'll help reinvent news. Our work is driven by a deep investigative spirit and enhanced by innovation to bring audiences closer to the stories that matter most.

About Our Team

The Washington Post is powered by the passion and talent of our people. It takes all of us to reinvent news. Beyond our award-winning Newsroom and Opinions teams, we work across many departments, including Brand & Events, Communications, Customer Care, Engineering & Product, Finance, Human Resources, Legal, Marketing & Advertising, Print Operations, and Sales.

Why This Role Matters

The Washington Post is hiring to lead the efforts of our AI and SEO content discovery strategy in close collaboration with editorial, engineering, product, and growth teams. As traditional search and social referral patterns shift and AI-powered interfaces become dominant content discovery surfaces, this role is critical to ensuring our journalism remains accessible, performant, and relevant across all major platforms.

You will build and evolve the strategy and tooling that will power content visibility across search engines, generative AI models, internal recirculation systems, and third-party aggregators. This is a key role on the front lines of reimagining how audiences find news in the AI era.

What Motivates You

You care deeply about building web experiences that scale, perform, and surface high-quality content in the right context.

You're excited to partner with SEO and content discovery leaders to turn strategy into durable solutions.

Define and execute the long-term technical roadmap for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Large Model Optimization (LMO).

You enjoy working across technical and non-technical teams to design systems that balance editorial priorities with platform needs.

You're curious about how AI, LLMs, and answer engines are transforming discoveryand want to help lead our response.

You believe in the mission of journalism and want to help ensure it stays discoverable and relevant in a fragmented digital ecosystem

How You'll Support the Mission

Define and execute the long-term technical roadmap for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Large Model Optimization (LMO).

Work cross-functionally with engineering, analytics, infrastructure, and audience teams to align technical implementation with strategic content goals.

In conjunction with engineering build and maintain high-performance front-end web applications optimized for SEO, Core Web Vitals, accessibility, and structured metadata.

Translate SEO and content discovery strategy into scalable solution, including rendering logic, metadata frameworks, routing structures, and platform enhancements.

Build a strategy for structured data systems (e.g., Schema.org, JSON-LD) to improve visibility in traditional search and AI discovery surfaces.

Drive rendering strategies (SSR, SSG, ISR) using frameworks like Next.js, Astro, or equivalentprioritizing crawlability and speed.

Build tooling and internal dashboards to monitor SEO health, crawl / indexing issues, and LLM inclusion performance.

Serve as the company's internal thought leader on AI-powered search and discovery; advise teams on risks, opportunities, and emerging trends.

Define and report on KPIs that connect technical SEO and AI discoverability efforts to business outcomes such as organic traffic, engagement, and LLM-generated visibility.

Skills and Experiences You Bring

10+ years of experience working in digital content platforms, with a focus on SEO, content discovery, site performance, or platform strategy in media, publishing, or subscription-driven environments.

Strong understanding of technical SEO, including structured data, sitemaps, crawl / indexation behavior, schema markup, rendering strategies (CSR, SSR, SSG) and CMS workflows.

Deep expertise in SEO, AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), and GEO (Geographic / Local Optimization) strategies for both evergreen and real-time content.

Experience using analytics and SEO tools (e.g., Google Search Console, GA4, Ahrefs, SEMrush, Chartbeat, Looker, Botify, Semrush) to drive decision-making and performance measurement.

Demonstrated success influencing editorial strategy using audience insights, search trends, and platform algorithm changes.

Comfortable shaping and executing long-term content discovery strategies in evolving environments like Search Generative Experience (SGE) and AI-powered platforms.

Skilled at driving organic growth while supporting editorial independence and journalistic goals.

Proven ability to lead cross-functional collaboration between Editorial, Engineering, Product, and Data teams to drive content discovery and subscription outcomes.

Preferred

Experience in global content strategy, multilingual optimization, or Generative AI applications for content discovery

Exposure to semantic search, vector embeddings, or LLM integration for content systems.

Collaboration Makes Us Stronger

That's why our offices are designed with open layouts, modern technology, and easy access to transportation. With certain exceptions for newsgathering and business travel, we work on-site five days a week.

Compensation and Benefits

Wherever you are in your life or career, The Washington Post offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits for every step of your journey :

Competitive medical, dental and vision coverage

Company-paid pension and 401(k) match

Three weeks of vacation and up to three weeks of paid sick leave

Nine paid holidays and two personal days

20 weeks paid parental leave for any new parent

Robust mental health resources

Backup care and caregiver concierge services

Gender affirming services

Pet insurance

Free Post digital subscription

Leadership and career development programs

Benefits may vary based on the job, full-time or part-time schedule, location, and collectively bargained status.

The salary range for this position is : $172,300 - $320,100 Annual. The actual salary within this range will depend on individual skills, experience, and qualifications as they relate to specific job requirements. This position may be eligible for a bonus or incentive program, and a member of the Talent Acquisition team will discuss bonus payment terms and conditions during the interview process.