GEO Account Director

Company description

With a history that dates back over 80 years, Starcom is a global communications planning and media leader. We are an agency still grounded in our founding principle that people are at the centre of all we do. Each day, we apply this belief to harness the transformative power of data and technology to inspire and move people and business forward. With more than 7,000 employees in over 100 offices around the world, we are the flagship Publicis Media agency that uses our ‘Power of One’ business model, with teams that span multiple disciplines across clients such as Aldi, P&G, Primark, Samsung, Stellantis, and Visa. 

We place a huge focus on our People, and have driven flagship D&I and L&D programmes within Publicis Media; our goal is to help every individual reach their fullest potential, and we encourage everyone to make “Brave Plays” in how they approach their work and their own career development. As a result, we have an exceptionally energised and committed talent base, all of us proud of our welcoming and supportive culture, as evidenced by our recognition as one of Campaign’s Best Places to Work for five years in a row, Media Week's Agency of the Year 2025 and one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025.

Overview

We are hiring a GEO Account Director to help shape how brands show up in the rapidly evolving world of AI-powered discovery.

Joining Publicis Media UK and Performics, you’ll lead strategic client relationships and turn emerging developments in generative search into practical, measurable opportunities. You’ll collaborate with specialists across Paid Search, Media, Content, Social, Digital PR and Data, while helping to develop our growing GEO capability. This is an opportunity to influence both client strategy and how we approach the future of search.

Responsibilities

• Lead GEO strategy across client relationships, turning commercial objectives and audience needs into clear priorities, hypotheses and actionable roadmaps.
• Advise senior clients on how AI-powered search and discovery are changing brand visibility, customer journeys and marketing opportunities.
• Partner with Paid Search, Media Planning, Social, Digital PR, Content, Data and Analytics teams to create joined-up recommendations.
• Translate complex GEO evidence, emerging trends and AI search behaviour into compelling presentations and clear recommendations for senior stakeholders.
• Develop meaningful approaches to GEO measurement, experimentation and test-and-learn programmes while being transparent about limitations.
• Lead client workstreams, review outputs and support the development of account managers and specialists to deliver high-quality work.
• Explore emerging GEO tools and methodologies, contribute to new business and identify opportunities to develop new approaches that create client value.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience using GEO or AI search visibility platforms such as Profound, Peec AI, Semrush or comparable tools, with the ability to interpret evidence and turn it into recommendations.
• Strong client relationship and communication skills, with experience advising and influencing senior stakeholders.
• Strategic thinking and storytelling skills, including the ability to turn data and insight into engaging presentations, priorities and actions.
• Experience collaborating across Paid Search, media or other marketing disciplines and connecting individual channels to wider business objectives.
• A strong interest in how AI and generative search are changing discovery, with curiosity about new tools, approaches and opportunities.
• Experience taking ownership of complex workstreams, supporting colleagues and maintaining consistently high standards.
• Agency or consultancy experience and commercial awareness are beneficial. SEO knowledge is also valuable, but previous SEO experience is not essential.

Additional information

Starcom offers a wide range of benefits to support our employees. Full details are shared when you join, but highlights include core benefits such as Pension, Life Assurance, and Private Medical cover, alongside enhanced policies like Reflection Days and Shared Parental Leave. You’ll also have access to a range of additional initiatives, including:

📖 Please check out the Publicis Career Page which showcases our Inclusive Benefits and our EAG’s (Employee Action Groups).

Publicis Groupe works primarily from the office or our clients' office four days per week.

At Starcom, we are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, and do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion or belief, disability, age, citizenship, relationship status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other protected characteristic. 

We are committed to providing a fair, accessible, and inclusive recruitment process. If you have any access needs - for example, related to disability, neurodivergence, or a health condition - please let us know. We’ll work with you to ensure the process works for you. Sharing this information will never impact your application.

Guided by our values, we listen with empathy, uplift each other, take responsibility, and embrace change - building a culture where everyone feels seen, respected, and genuinely included.