Associate Director, SEO

Publicis Groupe · Kuala Lumpur

Overview

The Role

As the Associate Director, SEO, you will lead the technical and strategic development of organic search across complex, multi-market and enterprise client environments. This is a hands-on leadership role for a senior SEO practitioner who can independently diagnose technical issues, shape content-led growth strategies, interpret performance data and translate recommendations into implementation-ready actions.

The role will also help evolve the agency's capabilities in Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and AI Search. It is not a purely client-servicing or account-management position. The successful candidate is expected to personally perform, review and sign off advanced SEO work.

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

Technical SEO

• Lead and personally conduct technical SEO audits across enterprise and multi-market websites, covering crawlability, indexation, robots.txt, XML sitemaps, canonicals, redirects, status codes, duplicate content, crawl efficiency, internal linking and site architecture.

• Diagnose JavaScript and rendering issues, and understand how HTML, CSS, JavaScript frameworks, CMS platforms and frontend implementations influence crawling, indexing and organic performance.

• Evaluate Core Web Vitals, page performance and mobile experience, prioritising issues based on likely search impact, business value and implementation effort.

• Define SEO requirements for website migrations, redesigns, platform changes, URL changes and new site launches, including pre-launch QA and post-launch validation.

• Review international SEO implementation, including hreflang, localisation, language and market targeting, and multi-market site architecture.

• Audit and advise on structured data and schema implementation, then validate technical fixes after deployment.

• Translate technical findings into clear, prioritised and implementation-ready recommendations for developers, product teams, content teams and clients.

• Troubleshoot ranking, indexing and organic traffic declines using crawl data, Google Search Console, analytics and other relevant diagnostic sources, and provide technical QA and sign-off on team deliverables.

Content SEO & Organic Growth

• Develop organic search strategies grounded in search intent, keyword and topic demand, competitive gaps, customer journeys and client business objectives.

• Lead keyword research, content audits, content gap analysis, topic mapping and information architecture recommendations.

• Define and review on-page SEO requirements, including titles, metadata, headings, internal linking, content structure, semantic relevance and structured data.

• Create and review content briefs aligned to search intent, E-E-A-T principles, brand requirements and conversion objectives.

• Identify content cannibalisation, thin or duplicative content, and opportunities to consolidate, refresh, expand or create content.

• Measure content performance and translate findings into clear optimisation priorities and an actionable organic growth roadmap.

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) & AI Search

• Help develop and operationalise the agency's GEO and AI Search capability, connecting traditional SEO fundamentals with visibility across emerging generative and answer-led search experiences.

• Assess how technical accessibility, structured content, entity and brand signals, content authority and citation-worthiness can influence discoverability across AI-powered search environments.

• Develop or review prompt and topic monitoring frameworks, and interpret AI visibility, citation, mention and source trends alongside traditional SEO metrics.

• Translate GEO findings into practical recommendations for technical SEO, content, digital PR, entity development and broader search strategy, while keeping pace with a rapidly evolving search landscape.

Strategy, & Client Partnership

• Drive SEO strategy and prioritised roadmaps for key clients, linking technical and content initiatives to measurable business and search outcomes.

• Present complex SEO issues and recommendations to senior client stakeholders in clear, commercially relevant language, and confidently defend the rationale behind recommendations.

• Scope SEO engagements and contribute to proposals, estimates, forecasts and new-business opportunities where specialist SEO input is required.

• Lead, mentor and develop SEO team members, setting high technical standards and reviewing work before it reaches clients.

• Collaborate closely with development, UX, content, creative, data, media and strategy teams to ensure SEO is incorporated into relevant digital workstreams from the outset.

• Build and improve SEO standards, playbooks, audit frameworks and ways of working, and actively share knowledge across the wider agency.

Qualifications

Requirements & Experience

• 7+ years of hands-on SEO experience, with significant depth in technical SEO and content SEO. Agency experience is strongly preferred.

• Demonstrable ability to independently crawl, audit and diagnose complex websites.

• Strong working knowledge of HTML, JavaScript and CSS, with a practical understanding of browser rendering, crawling, indexing and modern web technologies.

• Strong hands-on experience with Screaming Frog and Google Search Console, plus working knowledge of GA4, PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse and major SEO platforms such as Ahrefs or Semrush.

• Experience with enterprise or international SEO, including multi-market websites, localisation and hreflang implementation.

• Experience supporting website migrations, redesigns, CMS changes or major technical releases in partnership with development teams.

• Strong content SEO capability, including search intent analysis, keyword and topic research, content auditing, on-page optimisation and content briefing.

• Working knowledge of GEO, AI Search and answer-engine optimisation concepts. Direct experience with AI visibility monitoring or optimisation is advantageous, but not mandatory.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to prioritise issues based on impact rather than simply produce exhaustive audit lists.

• Proven experience leading and developing SEO practitioners, reviewing specialist work and maintaining quality across multiple projects.

• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to make technical recommendations understandable and actionable for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Additional information

Generous leave entitlements, including birthday leave, rest day and family care leave.
Office closure for World Mental Health Day 10th October.
Additional Company closure for all 4 major festive Celebrations
Cashless comprehensive medical coverage, including access to a panel clinic, dental and optical care.
Life and personal accident insurance and group hospitalization and surgery.
A hybrid working schedule and with Friday disconnects.
Rest Relax & Recharge - office closure last week of December every year.
Phone Allowance