Job descriptions
Link Building Specialist Job Description
Full link building specialist job description: responsibilities, requirements, KPIs, reporting line and typical salary band, plus…
Head of SEO Job Description: Duties, Requirements and Template
What a head of seo actually does, what employers require, how the role is measured, and a template you can adapt — written to be useful to hiring managers writing the advert and to candidates decoding it.
The short answer
- Head of SEO — Owns organic search as a business line: the strategy, the team, the budget, and the number it is accountable for.
- Typical US band: $140,000 – $195,000. Usually reports to VP Marketing, CMO or Chief Growth Officer.
- Seniority: Leadership (8+ years). Core measure of success is normally organic revenue or pipeline against annual target.
- The title is not standardised across the industry, so read the responsibilities section of any advert before the title.
What does a head of seo do?
Owns organic search as a business line: the strategy, the team, the budget, and the number it is accountable for.
$140,000Typical US band, lower bound
$195,000Typical US band, upper bound
8Core responsibilities
5Standard success measures
A head-of-SEO role only exists where organic search is material to revenue. That makes it one of the few SEO titles where the scope is reliably what the name suggests. The job is roughly 30 percent search expertise and 70 percent organisational: securing engineering capacity, defending budget, and translating between search reality and executive expectation.
For hiring managers
The single highest-return change you can make to an SEO job advert is publishing the salary range. Postings with a visible range attract a larger and better-qualified applicant pool, and they save both sides the wasted stages that end in a compensation mismatch.
Head of SEO responsibilities
A well-scoped head of seo role covers the following. If an advert lists substantially more than this, it is probably two jobs; if it lists substantially less, check where the rest of the work actually sits.
- Set the multi-year organic search strategy and the investment case behind it.
- Own the organic revenue or pipeline number and forecast it credibly to the executive team.
- Build, hire and develop the search team, and decide what stays in-house versus agency.
- Secure engineering and product capacity for SEO work as a standing allocation, not a favour.
- Govern the technical and content standards that keep the site healthy as it scales.
- Own the response to algorithm updates and structural shifts such as AI Overviews and answer engines.
- Represent search in planning, budgeting and roadmap forums where priorities are actually set.
- Manage vendor and tooling decisions and the total cost of the search stack.
Head of SEO requirements and skills
Essential
- Eight or more years in SEO with several at channel-ownership level
- A track record of organic growth you can quantify and defend under scrutiny
- Team leadership, hiring and performance management
- Executive-level communication and budget ownership
- Experience influencing an engineering roadmap you do not control
Desirable
- Both agency and in-house background
- Experience in a business where organic search was the primary acquisition channel
- International or multi-brand portfolio experience
- P&L exposure beyond channel budget
Formal qualifications rarely appear on this list for a reason: SEO hiring weighs demonstrable results above credentials. Our guide to whether you need a degree for SEO covers the evidence, and the skills gap analyzer will score you against this list.
How a head of seo is measured
Clear success measures are the fastest way to tell a serious role from a vague one. These are the measures most commonly attached to this position.
| Measure | Typical cadence |
|---|---|
| Organic revenue or pipeline against annual target | Quarterly |
| Channel efficiency — cost per organic acquisition | Quarterly |
| Team retention and capability growth | Annual |
| Engineering capacity secured and used | Quarterly |
| Executive confidence in the forecast | Qualitative, ongoing |
Reporting line: VP Marketing, CMO or Chief Growth Officer. Seniority: Leadership (8+ years).
Head of SEO salary
The typical United States band for this role is $140,000 – $195,000 in base salary, before bonus, equity or benefits. That band widens considerably by sector, company size and market.
For location-specific numbers, the salary by location hub benchmarks 24 markets on the same scale. To position yourself inside a band, use the SEO salary calculator, and read the compensation guide for how packages are actually constructed.
Head of SEO job description template
Copy, adapt and publish. Replace the bracketed sections; delete anything that does not apply rather than leaving it vague. Everything below is written to be specific enough that a candidate can self-select accurately.
JOB TITLE: Head of SEO REPORTS TO: VP Marketing, CMO or Chief Growth Officer LOCATION: [City / Hybrid / Remote — state the geographic pay band] LEVEL: Leadership (8+ years) SALARY RANGE: $140,000 – $195,000 [publish the range — postings with a range attract significantly more qualified applicants] ABOUT THE ROLE Owns organic search as a business line: the strategy, the team, the budget, and the number it is accountable for. WHAT YOU WILL DO • Set the multi-year organic search strategy and the investment case behind it. • Own the organic revenue or pipeline number and forecast it credibly to the executive team. • Build, hire and develop the search team, and decide what stays in-house versus agency. • Secure engineering and product capacity for SEO work as a standing allocation, not a favour. • Govern the technical and content standards that keep the site healthy as it scales. • Own the response to algorithm updates and structural shifts such as AI Overviews and answer engines. • Represent search in planning, budgeting and roadmap forums where priorities are actually set. • Manage vendor and tooling decisions and the total cost of the search stack. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR • Eight or more years in SEO with several at channel-ownership level • A track record of organic growth you can quantify and defend under scrutiny • Team leadership, hiring and performance management • Executive-level communication and budget ownership • Experience influencing an engineering roadmap you do not control NICE TO HAVE • Both agency and in-house background • Experience in a business where organic search was the primary acquisition channel • International or multi-brand portfolio experience • P&L exposure beyond channel budget HOW SUCCESS IS MEASURED • Organic revenue or pipeline against annual target (Quarterly) • Channel efficiency — cost per organic acquisition (Quarterly) • Team retention and capability growth (Annual) • Engineering capacity secured and used (Quarterly) • Executive confidence in the forecast (Qualitative, ongoing) WHAT WE OFFER • [Salary range, bonus structure, equity if applicable] • [Pension / retirement contribution, healthcare] • [Learning budget, conference allowance, tool access] • [Working pattern, flexibility, holiday allowance] HOW TO APPLY [Process, number of stages, expected timeline, who they will meet]
How candidates should read a head of seo advert
Before accepting, establish who owns the organic number today and what happens if the forecast misses. A head-of-SEO role without budget authority or a direct line to engineering leadership is a senior manager job with an inflated title, and it should be priced as one.
Once you have decided a role is worth applying for, the resume scorer checks your application against how SEO screens actually read, and the interview preparation guide covers the stages that follow.
Frequently asked questions
What qualifications does a head of seo need?
No formal qualification is required. Employers screen for demonstrable results, tool fluency and the specific competencies listed above. Free certifications from Google, HubSpot and Semrush help an application clear an initial screen but rarely decide an offer. See which SEO certifications are actually worth it.
How much does a head of seo earn?
Typically $140,000 – $195,000 in the United States, varying widely by sector, company size and location. Benchmark against your own market on the salary by location hub.
Who does a head of seo report to?
Most commonly VP Marketing, CMO or Chief Growth Officer. The reporting line is one of the most reliable signals of how seriously a company takes organic search: a role reporting into growth or marketing leadership usually has influence, one buried three levels down usually does not.
Is head of seo a good career move?
It depends on what the role actually owns rather than what it is called. Look for scope you do not already have — a channel, a budget, a team, a technically harder problem. Our SEO career path guide maps how the roles connect, and the career path matcher suggests directions based on how you prefer to work.
Sources and further reading
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists — official occupational wage and projected-growth data for the SOC code most SEO roles fall under
- Payscale — SEO Specialist salary research — self-reported pay by experience band, available per country
- Glassdoor — SEO Specialist pay trends — employee-reported base pay and percentile ranges
- ZipRecruiter — SEO salary data — job-ad derived ranges, including metro-level breakdowns
- Indeed — SEO specialist salaries — aggregated posted salaries and employer-reported figures
Figures on this page are aggregated market estimates compiled from the sources above and are intended for orientation, not as an offer, guarantee or valuation. See our salary data methodology.