Head of Organic Search & AI Discovery

Company: LawnStarter

Location: Fully Remote (US)

About LawnStarter

LawnStarter is the nation's leading on-demand marketplace for lawn care and outdoor services, with over $150M in annual bookings. We are expanding beyond lawn care to become the one-stop shop for all home services. Our mission is to become the most discovered, cited, and trusted brand in our category.

About the Growth Team

The Growth team owns the full acquisition funnel across our brand portfolio, encompassing some of the most recognized names in outdoor services. SEO and organic discovery are foundational to how customers find us, and this role leads the team responsible for achieving this at scale. You will report directly to the CMO and operate at the intersection of content, technical SEO, product, and the emerging world of AI-powered search.

The Challenge: Redefining Search in the Age of AI

The search landscape has fundamentally changed. Rankings are no longer the sole objective; recommendation is. When a homeowner asks AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Google AI for service recommendations, our goal is to be the definitive answer, not just a result on page one. This requires a dual strategy: building brand presence across all platforms where trust is formed (PR, creators, communities, review sites) and leveraging our unique first-party data (pricing patterns, completion times, regional demand) to establish authority that AI systems reward.

The Role: Own Organic Search and AI Discovery

You will own organic search and AI discovery across our brand portfolio. You will set the vision, roadmap, and standards for competing in a world where Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Mode are primary discovery surfaces. This is a strategic, high-visibility role where you will shape company-wide priorities, partner with engineering, data, product, design, and executive leadership, and serve as the internal authority on the future of organic discovery.

What Makes This Role Different:

• Building a New Playbook: Craft fresh strategies for technical SEO, content, structured data, and AI visibility in 2026 and beyond.
• Real Revenue Impact: Drive meaningful business impact across multiple major brands and millions of users.
• AI Search Frontier: Lead the charge in optimizing for AI Search surfaces like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity.
• Leveraged Impact: Utilize a small core team, a no-code publishing platform, and unique first-party data for rapid iteration and execution.

What You'll Own:

• Organic Strategy: Vision, roadmap, and standards for organic search and AI-powered discovery.
• AI Search Visibility: Establish brands as cited, authoritative sources in AI search results.
• Technical SEO & Architecture: Oversee large-scale technical infrastructure, Core Web Vitals, structured data, and crawl efficiency.
• Content Strategy & Production: Direct editorial efforts for ranking, citation, and conversion.
• Team Leadership: Assess and build the necessary talent for a new direction.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate with Engineering, Analytics, and Data teams.

Problems to Solve:

• Recovering and growing traffic at scale amidst algorithm shifts and AI cannibalization.
• Developing a repeatable approach to AI Search visibility as a competitive advantage.
• Shifting from a defensive to an offensive posture in organic discovery.
• Defining and measuring AI Search performance.

Requirements:

• Visionary: You build for the future of search, understanding AI's impact on discoverability.
• Holistic Thinker: You integrate external visibility, earned media, and on-site optimization into core SEO strategy.
• Business-Minded: You tie organic initiatives directly to revenue impact (CAC, acquisition, revenue).
• Action-Oriented: You use data to diagnose quickly and act decisively.
• Team Builder: You have experience leading and elevating teams, comfortable starting small.
• Evangelist: You can effectively communicate and sell the vision for organic search across the organization.
• Technically Fluent: You understand structured data, crawl budgets, and Core Web Vitals, and can lead execution.
• AI Native: You use AI tools daily and understand how LLMs discover and evaluate content.

This Role Is NOT:

• A pure individual contributor role.
• A single-brand focused role.
• A research-and-recommend role without execution.
• A role dependent on slow engineering cycles.

Benefits:

• Base Salary: $170,000 - $190,000 USD
• Equity: Invested in long-term success.
• Healthcare: Medical, dental, and vision.
• Location: Fully remote (US).
• Time Off: Flexible PTO focused on outcomes.