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Head of SEO, AI & Content

Virgin Experience Days
1 day ago
Full-time
On-site
Buckinghamshire, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
SEO

About the role

We’re looking for a commercially driven, forward-thinking Head of SEO, AI & Content to lead our organic growth strategy at Virgin Experience Days.

This is a pivotal leadership role responsible for defining and delivering a best-in-class organic ecosystem spanning SEO performance, AI-readiness (including LLMs and emerging search behaviours), and high-impact content creation. You will own the strategic direction and take a hands-on role in the execution of how customers discover, engage with, and choose our experiences.

You will work cross-functionally with Trading, Commercial, Product, Tech, and Marketing teams to maximise visibility, conversion, and revenue. This role combines high-level strategic leadership with the ability to "roll up the sleeves" and execute - with line management responsibility and full accountability for organic performance, reporting, and measurable commercial impact.

Location: Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, SL8 5YS  (Hybrid – min. 2 days in office)
Reporting to: CCO

Why we want you

Organic search is a critical revenue driver for our business, and the landscape is evolving rapidly. We need a leader who can:
  • Drive Commercial Outcomes: Lead a best-in-class SEO performance cycle with clear, measurable revenue targets.
  • Be a Content Visionary: Elevate our copy and visual storytelling, ensuring content drives the full funnel from "inspiration" to "buying."
  • Act as an AI Pioneer: Understand how LLMs are changing user intent and prepare us for the next generation of generative search.
  • Zoom-In/Zoom-Out: Debate the nuances of Schema markup or edit a high-performing blog post one hour, then pivot to present a long-term commercial roadmap to the C-suite the next.
  • Foster Accountability: Create a performance-led culture underpinned by clear KPIs and actionable data storytelling.

What you'll do:

Strategy, Leadership & Commercial Ownership
  • Define the Organic Roadmap: Own the strategy across SEO, AI, and content, ensuring it is aligned with business revenue targets and the Virgin brand voice.
  • Stakeholder Influence: Act as the senior expert for organic performance, partnering with Trading and Commercial teams to embed SEO thinking into product launches and seasonal trading cycles.
  • Team & Agency Development: Lead, develop, and grow a high-performing team of specialists, while managing external agencies to ensure they deliver maximum strategic value.
  • Performance & Accountability:
    • Organic revenue growth (YoY and vs forecast)
    • Traffic growth and search visibility across priority categories
    • Conversion performance from organic channels
    • Content effectiveness (engagement, conversion, assisted revenue)
    • Technical SEO health and site performance improvements
    • Progress against AI and LLM readiness roadmap
    • Conduct competitor and market analysis to identify growth opportunities and risks
    • Drive a culture of continuous testing, learning, and optimisation to improve ROI
  • E-E-A-T Leadership: Build a long-term "Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trust" roadmap to ensure we remain the primary source of truth in the gifting industry.

Technical SEO & Performance
  • Technical Health: Partner with Product and Tech teams to lead the technical roadmap (crawlability, indexation, Core Web Vitals, and Schema).
  • Data Storytelling: Own the organic reporting suite (GA4, Looker Studio), translating complex data into simple, decision-driving insights for senior stakeholders.

Content & Creative Excellence
  • Editorial Vision: Oversee the creation of category, product, and editorial content, ensuring best-in-class copywriting and visual storytelling.
  • Direct Execution: Take a hands-on approach to content production where required, ensuring copy is inspirational, authoritative, and optimized for conversion.
  • Visual Discovery: Lead a visual content strategy (imagery and video) that optimizes for "Discovery" search, Pinterest, and increasingly visual SERPs.
  • Efficiency & Scalability: Improve "Time to Market" for content by implementing AI-assisted workflows and sophisticated production processes.

AI & Search Innovation
  • Generative Engine Optimization: Define how we optimize for LLMs and AI Overviews, ensuring our brand is cited in conversational search.
  • AI-Enhanced Workflows: Leverage AI tools to automate manual SEO tasks and scale content production without sacrificing quality.
  • Future-Proofing: Proactively adapt site architecture to thrive in a world of Search Generative Experiences (SGE).

What you'll need:

Experience & Technical Skills
  • Senior Leadership: Significant experience leading SEO/Content functions, ideally in high-SKU e-commerce or travel/leisure environments.
  • Content Mastery: A "content-first" mindset with proven experience in digital storytelling and managing end-to-end content lifecycles.
  • Technical Fluency: Deep expertise in technical SEO (Schema, Site Architecture) and a sophisticated understanding of AI/LLM search algorithms.
  • Commercial Gravity: Comfortable owning a revenue target and articulating the ROI of organic investment to non-marketing stakeholders.
  • Tool Kit: Expert knowledge of Search Console, Screaming Frog, SEMrush/Ahrefs, GA4, and Looker Studio.

Mindset
  • Strategic & Tactical: Able to operate at a high strategic level while remaining happy to execute hands-on tasks to get the job done.
  • Collaborative: Ability to break down silos and work seamlessly with Tech, Product, and Trading teams.
  • Innovative: Passionate about staying ahead of industry change and driving a culture of continuous testing and learning.

Perks to make work feel less ordinary:

  • Time for you: 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, with the option to buy or sell up to 2 days each year
  • Freedom to work your way: 2 days in-office (Tuesdays a mandatory in-office day), Flexi-working hours around our core 10-4, so your day works for you (8.5 hours per day)
  • Wellbeing that works: Access to an award-winning employee assistance programme; Health Plan cover (plus family add-ons) with cash back for a variety of health & wellbeing costs; Cycle to Work and Electric Vehicle schemes (post probation).
  • Future proofing you (and your finances): Company pension (5% you, 3% us) after 3 months; Discretionary bonus and life assurance after probation.
  • Giving back & all the anti-ordinary extras: 2 volunteer days each year; Free breakfast when in the office; Personal re-loadable multi-choice gift card (topped up on your birthday, lifetime milestones and internal celebrations); Yearly £150 experience voucher; Discounts on experiences and across the Virgin Group; Refer a Friend bonus and generous team celebrations throughout the year.

About us

The home of anti-ordinary gifts 

The best things in life aren’t things. It’s why we gift the way we do. We’re one of the world’s leading experience gift brands, making it easy to give the unexpected and deepen connections through anti-ordinary gifting.

In the UK, you'll know us as Virgin Experience Days - one of the first brands to pioneer the premise that the best gifts can't be boxed, way back in 1988. We kicked things off with track days and flying experiences. Now we're home to more than 5,000 amazing experience gifts - from immersive theatre, to virtual reality, VIP stadium tours, Michelin-starred dining and more.

Operating in the US as Virgin Gifts, we're proudly part of the Virgin family, working alongside the likes of Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Hotels, and Virgin Voyages to deliver extraordinary experiences everywhere.