Director, Digital Performance Marketing

ABOUT THE JOB A Turn/River portfolio company is seeking a strategic, data-driven Director of Digital Performance Marketing to lead the performance marketing strategy across SEO, SEM, CRO, and AI search — including Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and other AI/LLM-driven discovery channels. This role will own both earned and paid media performance, with a strong emphasis on organic search, paid search, and AI-powered answer engines (Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot) as core growth engines, while using modern conversion rate optimization techniques, tools, and strategies. As search shifts toward zero-click and AI-generated answers, the ideal candidate is a hands-on performance marketing leader who can build strategy, lead execution, optimize investment, and deliver measurable pipeline and revenue impact — regardless of where discovery happens. YOUR ROLE The Director, Digital Performance Marketing will define and lead the digital acquisition strategy across key channels, with primary ownership of Paid Search, Organic Search, AI Search / Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and Conversion Optimization. This leader will be responsible for building a modern, full-funnel performance engine that competes for visibility not only in traditional search results but also in AI Overviews, chat-based answer engines, and other zero-click surfaces — increasing qualified traffic, improving conversion efficiency, and driving scalable growth across the business. This role requires a strong operator who combines strategic thinking with analytical rigor, deep search and AI-search expertise, and the ability to lead cross-functional execution across content, web, analytics, creative, and campaign teams. The position is ideal for a performance marketer who is equally comfortable setting vision, managing large budgets, staying ahead of the fast-evolving AI search landscape, and getting into the details of optimization. YOUR IMPACT SEARCH STRATEGY AND CHANNEL LEADERSHIP - Own the overall digital performance marketing strategy across SEO, SEM, AI search/AEO, display, and paid social, with SEO, SEM, and AI search serving as the primary focus areas. - Build and evolve a comprehensive search strategy spanning technical SEO, on-page optimization, content-driven SEO, paid search campaign architecture, bidding strategy, keyword portfolio management, and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) tactics for AI Overviews and other LLM-powered answer engines. - Lead full-funnel acquisition planning across TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU motions, ensuring channel investment aligns to business goals, audience intent, and conversion opportunities. - Develop integrated channel strategies that connect earned and paid media to improve visibility, traffic quality, conversion rates, and pipeline generation. - Drive a test-and-learn culture across messaging, targeting, bidding, landing pages, audience segmentation, and creative. - Track the ongoing shift toward zero-click search and AI-generated answers, evolving channel strategy and success metrics to reflect how buyers now discover, evaluate, and engage with content across both traditional and AI-powered search experiences. AI SEARCH, ANSWER ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (AEO) & LLM VISIBILITY - Own the company’s AI search strategy, including Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), to maximize brand visibility, citation, and share of voice across Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and other LLM-powered answer engines. - Build structured, entity-rich, machine-readable content — including schema markup, structured data, and clear source attribution — that increases the likelihood of being cited, quoted, or summarized in AI-generated answers. - Define and track AI search performance using metrics such as citation rate, mention rate, prompt-level share of voice, sentiment, and AI-referral traffic, leveraging platforms such as Profound,