AVP, SEO MENA

About WPP Media

WPP is a trusted partner for global leading brands, combining top talent, reliable data, intelligence, and world-class partnerships through its innovative marketing platform, WPP Open. We assist clients in navigating change, seizing opportunities, and achieving transformational growth. WPP Media integrates media, data, and partnerships to deliver AI-driven creative personalization at scale, allowing clients to clearly understand their media investment performance.

Role Overview

We seek a commercially savvy, inspiring leader to fill the Assistant Vice President (AVP) position for SEO across the MENA region. This senior leadership role entails complete accountability for department performance - including business management, enhancing SEO products and perspectives, nurturing exceptional talent, driving business growth, and ensuring close collaboration with broader organizational functions.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and execute the regional SEO vision, strategy, and annual operational plan.
• Manage the practice's revenue, profitability, forecasting, resource capacity, and growth objectives.
• Establish governance models, operational processes, and quality benchmarks to scale excellent work delivery.
• Maintain comprehensive oversight of business performance, risks, and investment priorities.
• Balance client service delivery, team capacity, innovation, and commercial success.
• Foster strong relationships with senior client stakeholders; act as a senior escalation contact.
• Enhance client retention, satisfaction, account growth, and long-term value creation.
• Ensure SEO initiatives align strategically, execute operationally with excellence, and link to measurable business outcomes.
• Advance WPP’s regional SEO offerings, market position, and differentiators.
• Develop a clear product roadmap focusing on technical SEO, content strategy, digital PR, enterprise SEO, local and commerce SEO, measurement, experimentation, and emerging search trends.
• Lead SEO evolution responding to AI-driven search experiences, automation, structured data, and new discovery platforms.
• Create scalable frameworks, tools, methodologies, and intellectual property to boost client success and operational efficiency.
• Collaborate with global teams to standardize and enhance SEO capabilities.
• Produce compelling case studies, thought leadership content, and market materials to support SEO differentiation.
• Lead, mentor, and inspire regional SEO leadership and teams; design an organizational structure aligned to current and future needs.
• Recruit, retain, and cultivate top SEO talent with clear career pathways, performance standards, and succession planning.
• Promote a culture of accountability, inclusion, collaboration, continuous learning, and high-quality delivery.
• Drive regional business development including pipeline management, pitches, proposals, RFPs, and client presentations.
• Forge and deepen relationships with senior marketers, digital leaders, procurement, industry influencers, and partners.
• Identify growth opportunities within existing accounts and via integrated offerings with other practices.
• Coordinate cross-practice collaboration to embed SEO within wider client growth agendas.
• Represent SEO in senior leadership forums, contributing to broader business strategy and market presence.

What We Expect from You

• Extensive SEO, organic growth, or digital marketing experience, preferably in agencies, consultancies, technology firms, or large in-house teams.
• Proven leadership over sizeable SEO teams or regional practices.
• Deep understanding of all facets of contemporary SEO, including technical optimization, content, authority building, analytics, and commercial strategy.
• Insightful perspective on search trends, including generative AI, automation, and changing user behaviors.
• Experience managing commercial targets such as revenue, margins, or operating plans.
• Successful track record of securing and expanding enterprise or major client relationships.
• Background in developing SEO products, methodologies, or scalable service offerings.
• Strong executive presence with excellent influencing, communication, negotiation, and commercial skills.
• Ability to think strategically while understanding delivery and technical detail.
• Collaborative, pragmatic, and entrepreneurial leadership style.

Success Criteria

• Achieving sustainable growth in SEO revenue, profitability, and client value in the region.
• Offering a distinctive, commercially successful SEO product.
• Elevated cross-practice collaborations with increased integrated revenues.
• High client retention, satisfaction, and account growth levels.
• Building an engaged, high-performing SEO team with strong leadership bench.
• Effective talent acquisition, development, retention, and succession.
• Robust new business pipeline with meaningful contribution to strategic wins.
• Consistent quality delivery underpinned by operational rigor and scalable practices.
• Strong external recognition of WPP’s SEO expertise and thought leadership.