Performance Optimization Manager Jobs in Virginia

About EAB

At EAB, our mission is to make education smarter and our communities stronger. We work with more than 2,800 institutions to drive transformative change through data-driven insights and best-in-class capabilities. From kindergarten to college to career, EAB partners with leaders and practitioners to accelerate progress and drive results across enrollment, student success, institutional strategy, data analytics, and advancement. We work with each partner differently, tailoring our portfolio of research, technology, and marketing and enrollment solutions to meet the unique needs of every leadership team, as well as the students and employees they serve.

At EAB, we serve not only our partner institutions but each other—that's why we are always working to make sure our employees love their jobs and are invested in their communities. See how we've been recognized for this dedication to our employees by checking out our recent awards.

For more information, visit our Careers page.

The Role in Brief:

SEO & AI Visibility Specialist

The SEO & AI Visibility Specialist will play a pivotal role in driving organic traffic growth and enhancing the online visibility of EAB’s higher education clients across both traditional search engines and AI-driven discovery platforms (e.g., Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Bing Copilot, Perplexity). This role bridges established SEO practices with emerging AI-driven search behaviors to ensure partner content is competitive, discoverable, and accurately represented across evolving digital experiences.

Responsibilities include advising partners, conducting audits, performing keyword and prompt research, and translating insights into actionable recommendations that improve both search performance and AI visibility while contributing to the continued evolution of EAB’s optimization discipline.

The role will be based in either Richmond, VA or Washington, D.C.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Compile and synthesize data across reporting platforms to evaluate performance and communicate impact to partners in higher education, educating partners and advocating for recommended changes.
• Develop and guide SEO and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) strategies aligned to partner goals, with a primary focus on technical performance and discoverability.
• Provide targeted recommendations to improve crawlability, indexation, structured data, and content to support both search engine rankings and AI-driven discovery.
• Perform keyword and prompt research to inform on page optimization and content strategy.
• Leverage analytics to interpret SEO and AI visibility performance, delivering insights that inform partner decisions and ongoing strategy refinement.
• Stay current on SEO and AI-driven search trends, rapidly adopting new tools and methodologies to enhance analysis and recommendations, and contributing to evolving best practices and team knowledge.
• Utilize tools such as Google Ads, GA4, Search Console, and emerging SEO/GEO platforms to extract insights that inform recommendations, demonstrating adaptability as toolsets evolve.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, information technology, communications or related field.
• 2 years of SEO experience. This includes a deep understanding of SEO principles and the ability to apply them in a strategic manner.
• Working knowledge of emerging Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) principles and AI-driven search behavior.
• Strong communication skills, enabling effective collaboration across teams and clear presentation of strategies and outcomes to stakeholders at all levels.
• Expertise in utilizing GA4, Google Search Console, Looker Studio, and Tag Manager.
• Exceptional analytical skills, with the ability to distill complex data into actionable insights and strategies. This includes a proficiency in evaluating SEO performance metrics to guide strategic decisions and optimize for results.
• Strong creative aptitude, including an understanding of website design, information architecture, and content strategy.

Ideal Qualifications:

• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint
• Experience with SEO tools including SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, etc.
• Direct response marketing and/or higher education experience
• Commitment to embracing a continual learning environment and contributing to a dynamic and welcoming culture of fairness, authenticity, and belonging in support of EAB’s mission, values, and aspiration.

If you’ve reached this section of the job description and are unsure of whether to apply, please do! At EAB, we welcome new perspectives and learn from each other’s unique experiences. We would encourage you to submit an application if this is a role you would be passionate about doing every day.

Compensation:

The anticipated starting salary (base) range for this role is $62,500 - $71,500 per year. Actual salary varies due to factors that may include but not be limited to relevant experience, skills, and location. At EAB, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the starting salary range for their role.

Benefits:

Consistent with our belief that our employees are our most valuable resource, EAB offers a competitive and inclusive benefits package. Our benefits currently include:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans; dependents and domestic partners eligible
• 20+ days of PTO annually, in addition to paid firm and floating holidays
• Daytime leave policy for community service and flextime for fitness activities (up to 10 hours per month each)
• 401(k) retirement savings plan with annual discretionary company matching contribution
• Health savings account, healthcare and dependent care flexible spending account, and pre-tax commuter plans
• Employee assistance program with counseling services and resources available to all employees and immediate family
• Wellness programs including gym discounts, incentives to promote healthy living, and family access to the leading app for sleep, meditation, and relaxation
• Fertility treatment coverage and adoption or surrogacy assistance
• Paid parental leave with phase back to work program for birthing and non-birthing parents
• Access to milk shipping service to support nursing employees during business travel
• Discounted pet health insurance coverage for dog and cat family members
• Company-provided life, AD&D, and disability insurance
• Financial wellness resources and membership in a robust employee discount program
• Access to employee resource groups, merit-based advancement, and dynamic professional growth opportunities

Benefits kick in day one; learn more at eab.com/careers/benefits.

This opening is not eligible for visa sponsorship at this time; EAB will thus consider candidates who possess U.S. work authorization that does not require employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future.

At EAB, we believe that to fulfill our mission to “make education smarter and our communities stronger” we need team members who bring a diversity of perspectives to the table and are committed to fostering a workplace where each team member is valued, respected and heard.

To that end, EAB is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and we make employment decisions on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need. We don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, non-disqualifying physical or mental disability, national origin, veteran status or any other basis covered by appropriate law.