Integrated Search Director

Description:

That’s why we’re looking for a highly innovative, strategic, and data-driven Director, Integrated Search to build and scale channels via flywheels and to drive sustainable, long-term growth for The Farmer’s Dog. Reporting into our SVP of Acquisition, the Director of Integrated Search role is designed to unify organic and paid search strategies to maximize visibility, drive traffic, and improve ROI. You’ll have the opportunity to take the foundation we have in place (including an existing team of high-performing operators) and evolve it to establish The Farmer’s Dog as the leading trusted pet care brand and the best option for dogs.

What do we believe is important to achieve those goals? Where do we expect you to have an impact?

One Team: We don’t think of ourselves as “Acquisition Marketers”, “Engineers”, “Data Analysts”, or “Product Managers”. Beyond denoting skill sets and areas of expertise, we don’t think departments matter. We’d rather align ourselves to the goals we’re working to achieve and make sure we have necessary subject matter expertise to drive meaningful impact. We strive to orient ourselves around customer problems TOGETHER – getting the right people, with the right context, in the right rooms/Zooms to solve problems holistically.

We are skeptical about everything and precious about nothing: Ideas can and should come from anywhere, and we aren’t tied to our own. We proactively source input. We talk to our customers and leads regularly and are quick to change course if we know there’s a better or more impactful way to solve problems.

We consider the customer journey in all of our decisions: We know that no interaction exists in a silo and therefore understand how important every single one is. We ensure our strategy sets prospective and new customers up for success and drives long-term retention. We answer questions and address problems early and proactively. We understand the value of different channels, initiatives, and messages and know how to articulate impact and advocate for prioritization holistically.

We Execute For Impact: We don’t subscribe to “best practices” or “industry KPIs”. We’re uninterested in how we compare to “benchmarks”; instead we orient ourselves around being the best we can possibly be. Similarly, we don’t subscribe to rigid or classical expectations of roles – i.e. acquisition is hyper-focused on improving customer retention and experience.

We Are Focused and Work Without Assumption: We are not beholden to ideas. We have goals and believe everything beyond that is a series of hypotheses to validate. To that end, we seek to work in sequence and not in parallel. We constantly ask ourselves, “what’s the most important hypothesis I should be working on right now? How do I confirm or reject that hypothesis as fast as possible?”. We rarely have timelines/deadlines and are constantly taking in new information and adjusting our priorities accordingly. We don’t expect to be perfect the first time.

How You'll Make An Impact

Leadership: Defining the overall vision for both organic (SEO) and paid (SEM/PPC) search to deliver on customer acquisition objectives. Set clear expectations through OKRs, provide direct and empathetic feedback, and continuously redefine what best-in-class looks like.
Integrated Search Management: Overseeing both channels to ensure a cohesive approach, such as using high-performing SEM keywords to inform SEO content strategies.
Defensive Search: Own our core narrative around fresh dog food, nutrition, and differentiation across search engines, treating trust, education, and credibility as inputs to customer acquisition performance.
AI Adaptation: Staying ahead of search engine algorithm updates and AI-driven search changes to maintain a competitive advantage, including AI-driven discovery, LLMs, and AI overviews in the SERP.
Performance Tracking & Analytics: Monitoring key KPIs, analyzing data, and reporting on traffic, rankings, and conversions.
Team Management & Development: Leading, mentoring, and scaling teams of SEO managers, specialists, and SEM experts.
Budgeting & LTV Optimization: Managing substantial budgets and optimizing spend to drive LTV-positive growth.
Test & Learn: Execute a rigorous test & learn experimentation plan with Analytics to connect advocacy efforts to conversion rate, CAC, trials, and subscription growth.
Partnership: Partner with the Brand Content team to ensure authoritative, accurate, and compelling content consistently outranks negative or low-quality narratives.

We're Excited About You Because

You have 7+ years of experience in digital marketing, with deep knowledge in Paid Search, SEO, AEO and PPC/SEM.
You’re an expert in tools like Google Ads, Google Search Ads 360, Google Analytics, Google Ads, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Google Search Console.
You have a technical understanding of search algorithms, PPC bid strategies, website architecture, and HTML.
You have demonstrated your ability to build and manage both 0 →1 and large scale growth programs for consumer businesses (especially excited about you if you have demonstrated excellent execution of 1:1 at scale). You’ve done this in a holistic, customer-focused manner. 
You are an exceptional people manager. You expect a lot, but you support your team along the way. You empower your reports and create cultures and ceremonies/feedback loops so that everyone can and should operate with autonomy. You encourage feedback and debate from your function and across all levels. You are passionate about developing talent. 
You are a maximizer - you continue to set the bar higher. 
You lead through others - you don’t need to be the one to ‘do all the things’ to have an outsized impact.
You thrive in high pressure, high stakes environments. You have natural drive and you work hard. You maintain early stage startup intensity at any scale. 
You’re not afraid to disagree, and yet you can also comfortably admit when you were wrong. 
You are skeptical, peek around corners effectively and continuously, and you are right the first time most of the time.
You love dogs.