AVP, SEO MENA

About WPP Media WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth.  WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working. For more information, visit wppmedia.com . We are looking for a commercially minded, inspirational leader to serve as AVP, SEO MENA and head up our regional SEO practice. This is a senior leadership role with accountability for the full performance of the department: running the business, evolving our SEO product and point of view, developing exceptional talent, driving new business, and integrating SEO with our broader network of practices. You will be responsible for building a high-performing, future-ready SEO organization that delivers measurable growth for clients and sustainable commercial results for WPP Media. As the senior regional voice for SEO, you will work closely with executive leadership, major clients, and leaders across content, paid media, data and analytics, technology, UX, creative, CRM, social, and PR. Key Responsibilities Run the SEO Business • Set the regional vision, strategy, and annual operating plan for SEO. • Own the practice’s revenue, profitability, forecasting, utilization, resourcing, and growth targets. • Establish the operating model, governance, processes, and quality standards required to deliver excellent work at scale. • Maintain a clear view of business performance, risks, opportunities, and investment priorities. • Ensure the right balance between client delivery, team capacity, innovation, and commercial performance. • Build strong relationships with senior client stakeholders and act as an executive escalation point when required. • Improve client retention, satisfaction, account growth, and long-term value. • Ensure SEO work is strategically relevant, operationally excellent, and connected to measurable business outcomes. Evolve the SEO Product • Define and advance WPP’s regional SEO proposition, positioning, and market differentiation. • Build a clear product roadmap covering areas such as technical SEO, content strategy, digital PR and authority, enterprise SEO, local and commerce SEO, measurement, experimentation, and emerging search experiences. • Lead the evolution of SEO in response to AI-generated search experiences, changing search behavior, automation, structured data, entities, and new discovery platforms. • Develop scalable methodologies, tools, frameworks, playbooks, and intellectual property that improve both client outcomes and team efficiency. • Partner with global product, technology, data, and delivery teams to industrialize and improve our SEO capabilities. • Create compelling case studies, points of view, thought leadership, and market-facing materials. • Ensure our SEO offering is easy to understand, commercially viable, differentiated, and connected to clients’ broader growth agendas. Develop Talent and Culture • Lead, coach, and inspire the regional SEO leadership team and broader department. • Design and evolve the organization to meet current and future business needs. • Attract, hire, retain, and develop high-caliber SEO talent at all levels. • Establish clear career pathways, capability expectations, performance standards, and succession plans. • Build a culture of accountability, collaboration, inclusion, continuous learning, and high