Head of Search Engine Marketing

Insights to Action. Brand to Impact!

The role ensures global SEM excellence by defining the SEM framework, owning the roadmap, guiding market execution, and maximizing ROI across all paid search investments. Operating at the intersection of digital marketing, analytics, and technology, this role acts as the central orchestrator of SEM performance and capability building across the organization.

In addition to paid search, the Head of Search Engine Marketing is responsible for overseeing Hilti’s global Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. This includes enhancing organic visibility, driving non-paid traffic, and ensuring content aligns with best practices to improve rankings across major search engines. Furthermore, the role leads Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) initiatives, leveraging AI-driven search platforms and generative technologies to ensure Hilti’s content is discoverable and prominent within emerging search experiences powered by artificial intelligence. By integrating SEM, SEO, and GEO, this position maximizes Hilti’s presence across both traditional and next-generation digital search environments, supporting business growth and innovation.

What You'll Do

Strategic Leadership & Roadmap

• Define the global SEM strategy and long-term roadmap supporting Hilti digital marketing priorities.
• Establish SEM governance, frameworks, and standards for all markets.
• Align SEM strategy with digital commerce objectives, customer journeys, and broader performance marketing ecosystem (SEO/GEO, social performance, display, remarketing).

Operational Excellence & Performance Management

• Lead and optimize global paid search campaigns (Google, Bing, YouTube, retail search formats, GenAI environments).
• Own budget allocation principles, bidding strategy, keyword architecture, and channel mix optimization.
• Define KPIs, measurement models, and performance dashboards to enable data-driven decision-making.
• Drive continuous testing (A/B, copy, landing pages, audience targeting) to maximize ROI.

Cross-Market Enablement & Centralized Capability Building

• Build SEM capabilities across local teams, including training, playbooks, and maturity assessments.
• Establish a centralized SEM team to provide unified strategies, own and execute streamlined operations and ensure best practices are consistently applied across all markets.
• Support markets with troubleshooting, campaign reviews, performance diagnostics, and strategic guidance.
• Serve as the internal subject-matter expert to cg, IT, and markets.

Technology, Tools & Data Integration

• Represent SEM requirements in tooling, MarTech, and data integration discussions (e.g., GA4, GMP, CRM, CDP).
• Partner with IT/Digital teams on automation, feed management, and API integrations.
• Ensure compliance with data privacy, global advertising standards, and brand guidelines.
• Integrate SEO requirements into technology and tool selection, ensuring platforms support critical functions such as site crawling, indexing, technical audits, schema markup, and mobile optimization. Deploy analytics and reporting tools capable of tracking organic search performance, keyword rankings, and site health.
• Facilitate seamless data integration between SEO tools (e.g., Search Console, third-party crawlers) and MarTech stacks to enable unified performance dashboards and holistic insights across paid and organic channels.
• Incorporate GenAI capabilities for content generation, optimization, and personalization, ensuring compliance with data privacy and ethical guidelines. Evaluate and integrate GenAI tools that automate keyword research, content ideation, and audience segmentation, while maintaining brand voice and quality standards.
• Partner with IT/Digital teams to enable secure API integrations between GenAI platforms and existing data infrastructure, ensuring scalable automation and real-time performance analytics for both SEO and SEM initiatives.

Experience

What You’ll Bring

• Extensive experience in Search Engine Marketing with proven leadership of high-budget, multi-market paid search programs.
• Strong background in digital performance marketing and analytics.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and external agencies.

Skills & Competencies

• Deep functional expertise in SEM platforms (Google Ads, Bing Ads, YouTube) and analytics tools.
• Strong analytical thinking, data interpretation, and decision-making acumen.
• Ability to translate complex performance data into clear business recommendations.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills across seniority levels.
• Strong leadership presence, coaching mindset, and ability to elevate organizational capability.
• Familiarity with GenAI-powered search engines, conversational search, and large language model (LLM) algorithms.
• Understanding of prompt engineering and optimization for AI-driven search result generation.
• Ability to analyze and adapt SEO strategies for emerging GenAI search platforms, including optimizing content for AI summaries and citations.
• Proficiency in leveraging structured data, schema markup, and knowledge graphs to improve visibility in GenAI search environments.
• Awareness of ethical considerations and potential biases in AI-generated search and content recommendations.
• Continuous learning mindset to stay updated on rapid advancements in generative AI technologies and their impact on search and SEO best practices.

Mindset & Working Style

• Business-driven, impact-oriented, and customer-centric.
• Comfortable working in a matrix environment with many stakeholders.
• Agile, collaborative, and proactive in driving adoption and change.

What’s In It For You

Joining Hilti Digital & Marketing Services (HDMS) means becoming part of a modern, people‑centered workplace with benefits designed to help you thrive both professionally and personally, a truly international environment that values diverse perspectives, fuels innovation, and encourages cross‑cultural collaboration, supportive, close‑knit leadership offering clarity, coaching, and meaningful involvement in decision‑making, challenging responsibilities that strike the right balance between autonomy and teamwork, ownership of your career, giving you the freedom and support to shape your own development path, and also:

Hybrid working model, with the option to work from home up to 50% of the time.

Comprehensive health insurance fully covered for you and your family.

Competitive pension scheme to support long term financial security.

Annual Solidarity Day, allowing you to volunteer for social causes that matter to you.

Onsite crèche facility (subject to availability) to support employees with young children.

Legal assistance program (EKEI) providing guidance on various legal and administrative matters.

Why Hilti

Hilti is a global leader in construction innovation, with more than 34,000 team members across 120 countries. Guided by our purpose, Making Construction Better, we’re driven to keep learning, growing, and finding new ways to make a lasting impact. Here, you’ll be empowered to use your strengths, work with a global and inclusive team, and take on meaningful challenges. At Hilti, you’ll have the chance to make your ideas, achievements, and growth real through purpose, passion, and teamwork.

Commitment to Inclusion

At Hilti, inclusion is a key focus in how we work, lead, and grow together. We are committed to embracing diversity of thought and creating an environment that is inclusive of everyone, everywhere. We continuously strive to ensure every voice is valued and every team member feels empowered to contribute. By building on this foundation, we strengthen our teams, our innovation, and our impact, making construction better together.