Agency Partnership Lead (SEO) | Open to Sydney & Melbourne

Roles with AI search, GEO or AEO in the title barely existed before December last year. In the past six months, over 700 have appeared, and more than a quarter of them are leadership titles, Director, Head of, VP, against roughly one in seven for standard SEO roles. The market isn't hiring people to learn this shift. It's hiring people to run it.
This is one of those roles, and a rare version of it: a brand new national leadership seat built around that shift, backed by a network with the infrastructure and client relationships already in place, missing only the person to connect them, define the offering, and speak for it publicly. Whoever takes this on writes the playbook themselves.
Could this person be you?
The OpportunityYou'd be the first person in the seat. Your first real decision on the job is who joins you, in whichever of Sydney or Melbourne you're not already based in. Everything after that, how the function runs, what it grows into, is yours to shape.
The agency behind this role runs on the scale of a major global network with an innovation-first approach, integrating clients into their inter-connected ecosystem depending on whatever solutions they require. It's recognised among the country's most awarded digital consultancies, built more around belonging and transparency than perks.
Reporting to the Leadership team, your week runs on client partners, presenting to their Heads of Digital and Marketing, and making the case inside their business for why search deserves real budget. You're advocating for the future of search, educating Account Leads in the ecosystem, and turning them into Search advocates who share warm client referrals and introductions within the agency network.
What you'll own:Own the inter-agency pipeline across discoverability and digital innovation, lead to sign-offBuild and lead a client success team, starting with a hire in whichever of Sydney or Melbourne you're not already based inPresent thinking on search to client partners and their marketing leadershipAdvocate for search inside client businesses, helping Heads of Digital and Marketing make the case internallySpot cross-sell opportunities and turn them into warm pitchesRun workshops for clients, and distribute the network's research to open doors
What good looks like:You've spent 5 to 10 years in an agency holding network or a national partnership function, coming from SEO, UX/UI, CRO, product or leadership, one strong discipline is enoughYou're comfortable presenting to a room and holding your own with a client's marketing leadership
Are you 60-70% fit to the job? No worries, apply away and let's get a chat set up.
We will require overseas applicant to have existing work rights in Australia. No sponsorship is available for this opportunity.
Kindred is a human-first recruitment & talent partner for brands and agencies across SEO, SEM, Paid Social and Digital Marketing. Whether you're hiring in-house, seeking freelance support, or looking to collaborate with a trusted agency, we connect the right people to help you grow, minus the recruitment noise.