Performance Optimization Manager Jobs in Virginia

Appian is looking for an SEO Manager to lead our organic visibility strategy beyond the traditional boundaries of Appian.com. As search continues to evolve toward Generative Engine Optimization, Answer Engine Optimization, and AI-driven discovery, this role will focus on strengthening Appian's presence across high-impact third-party ecosystems, rich media platforms, earned media, partner channels, communities, and B2B review directories.

This role is pivotal to helping Appian expand how and where modern buyers discover our brand. You will define and execute strategies that ensure Appian is represented accurately, authoritatively, and consistently across the digital discovery landscape, including AI search engines, YouTube, Reddit, Appian Community, partner websites, analyst platforms, editorial content, and B2B directories.

This role is based at our headquarters in McLean, Virginia. Appian was built on a culture of in-person collaboration, which we believe is a key driver of our mission to be the best. Employees hired for this position are expected to be in the office 5 days a week to foster that culture and ensure we continue to thrive through shared ideas and teamwork. We believe being in the office provides more opportunities to come together and celebrate working with the exceptional people across Appian.

In this role, you will:

• Develop and execute a comprehensive organic discovery strategy optimized for AI search engines, LLMs, answer engines, and traditional search engines.

• Strengthen Appian's off-site brand authority through contextual citations, high-quality mentions, backlinks, and strategic third-party visibility.

• Monitor and optimize Appian's brand presence across partner networks, B2B directories, community platforms, and other high-value third-party ecosystems.

• Stay ahead of emerging search trends, algorithm changes, AI search behavior, and generative discovery developments to continuously evolve Appian's organic visibility strategy.

• Partner with Strategic Communications and Public Relations teams to maximize the search value of editorials, press releases, executive thought leadership, and earned media.

• Support backlink acquisition, brand citation quality, and referral conversion opportunities across external publications and market reports.

• Monitor external content to ensure Appian's brand references are accurate, optimized, and discoverable by search engines and AI-driven platforms.

• Identify high-authority third-party websites, digital publications, and executive profiling opportunities that support Appian's organic discovery goals.

• Lead the organic search strategy for YouTube, including video optimization, metadata, descriptions, playlists, and channel architecture.

• Improve Appian's visibility and authority across relevant communities and forums, including Appian Community, Reddit, Quora, and other buyer research environments.

• Partner with creative, content, social media, and web teams to identify opportunities for rich media optimization and multi-channel organic growth.

• Partner with Alliance and Partner Marketing teams to optimize Appian's visibility across strategic partner websites, marketplaces, and digital ecosystems.

• Collaborate with Paid Media, On-Site SEO, Email Marketing, Web, Content, PR, and Brand teams to ensure off-site discovery efforts support broader campaign initiatives.

• Establish performance metrics to measure off-site brand authority, referral impact, search visibility, and third-party discovery performance.

• Use SEO, analytics, and search visibility tools to track performance, identify opportunities, and provide actionable reporting to stakeholders.

Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in SEO, Digital PR, organic growth, or digital marketing, preferably within a B2B technology or SaaS environment.

• Proven experience developing organic strategies across both owned and third-party digital channels.

• Strong understanding of modern SEO principles, semantic search, schema markup, contextual citations, and AI-driven search behavior.

• Familiarity with Generative Engine Optimization and Answer Engine Optimization concepts, including how LLMs and AI search engines aggregate third-party data and citations.

• Hands-on experience optimizing non-traditional search environments such as YouTube, Reddit, owned communities, Quora, B2B directories, analyst platforms, and digital publication networks.

• Strong analytical skills with experience using SEO, visibility, analytics, and reporting tools to measure impact and guide strategy.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to build consensus across PR, brand, partner marketing, content, web, and demand generation teams.

• Highly curious, proactive, and comfortable operating in a rapidly evolving search and digital discovery landscape.

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Information Technology, or a related field.

Preferred experience:

• Experience in enterprise software, SaaS, or B2B technology marketing.

• Experience working with platforms such as G2, Gartner Peer Insights, YouTube, Reddit, Quora, Appian Community, and partner marketplaces.

• Familiarity with backlink analysis, digital PR strategy, referral analytics, and brand authority measurement.

• Experience partnering with communications, analyst relations, and executive thought leadership teams.

• Experience building reporting frameworks that connect organic visibility, referral traffic, and off-site brand authority to broader marketing outcomes.

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