Director of Paid Search (Hybrid)

Why Join GEICO?

At GEICO, we offer a rewarding career where your ambitions are met with endless possibilities.

Every day we honor our iconic brand by offering quality coverage to millions of customers and being there when they need us most. We thrive on relentless innovation to exceed our customers' expectations while making a real impact on local communities nationwide.

Founded in 1936, GEICO is a member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies and one of the largest auto insurers in the United States. When you join our company, we want you to feel valued, supported, and proud to work here. That's why we offer the GEICO Pledge: Great Company, Great Culture, Great Rewards, and Great Careers.

About the Role

GEICO's MOAT (Home, Renters, other Property), and Specialty lines extend the relationship with customers well beyond auto, and paid search is one of the most direct ways to reach people shopping for them. Demand can be seasonal, intent is specific to the product and the person, availability and appetite can vary by state, and many of the best prospects are existing GEICO customers who may not yet know GEICO offers more. A search program that treats each of these lines like auto will leave growth and efficiency on the table.

As Director, Paid Search - MOAT & Specialty, you will own paid search strategy and execution, including emerging AI paid search experiences, for these lines of business. You will report to the Senior Director, Search & Partner Marketing, lead a team of in-house practitioners and agency partners, manage the search budget across a diverse set of products, and be accountable for quote volume, conversion quality, and efficient acquisition cost. You will work closely with product and line of business leaders, underwriting, data science, and analytics.

This role is for a hands-on leader who can inspect an account structure or bid strategy in the morning and explain its impact on the business to product leadership in the afternoon. You'll have real room to build: a search approach that fits the distinct economics of each line, and a measurement and testing engine to match.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Leadership

• Set the paid search strategy and roadmap for the MOAT & Specialty lines, aligned to each line's growth, profitability, and LTV objectives
• Lead and develop a team of in-house practitioners and agency partners, building a high-performing, accountable, and collaborative team
• Prioritize search investment across a diverse product portfolio, weighing each line's economics, seasonality, and strategic importance
• Serve as the paid search lead for these lines of business, and align closely with the Senior Director, Search & Partner Marketing so the approach fits the broader search and partner portfolio
• Evaluate and pilot new search capabilities, including AI-driven search ad experiences, and recommend where these lines should invest

Campaign Management & Budget

• Own the paid search budget for these lines, allocating across products, states, and campaigns, and monitor pacing and forecasts against quote and sales goals
• Flex investment with seasonal demand and with changes in underwriting appetite, state availability, and weather or market events that affect the ability to sell
• Oversee account structure, keyword and audience strategy, bidding, ad copy, and landing page alignment, tailored to the specific intent behind each product
• Capture demand from existing GEICO customers and auto shoppers where cross-sell and bundling opportunities exist, in coordination with the teams that own those relationships
• Ensure ad content and landing experiences are accurate, on-brand, and compliant in a regulated category

Optimization, Testing & Measurement

• Optimize toward quality outcomes, such as completed quotes and sales, rather than lead volume alone, and ensure bidding reflects the value of each product
• Build a test-and-learn program across ad copy, landing pages, bidding strategies, audiences, and match types, and document what the team learns
• Craft the measurement plan, including CPA, LTV, and incrementality, and account for the different conversion volumes and cycle lengths across products
• Use platform-native AI and automation, such as AI-powered bidding and campaign types, with guardrails that keep results aligned to each line's goals

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with product and line of business leaders, and with underwriting, to align targeting, availability, and growth priorities
• Partner closely with data science and analytics on attribution, forecasting, and the value of cross-sell and bundled customers
• Collaborate with site, UX, creative, and compliance teams on landing pages, ad content, and quote flows
• Coordinate with the organic search and site conversion teams so paid and organic presence work together
• Manage relationships with search platforms and agency partners, including Google and Microsoft
• Represent paid search for these lines with senior leadership - presenting performance reads, points of view, and strategic recommendations

You May Be a Good Fit If You

• Have managed paid search for multiple products with different economics, and can show how you prioritized investment among them
• Have led a team that includes both in-house practitioners and agency partners, and can point to people you've developed
• Are hands-on enough to inspect an account structure or bid strategy in detail, and can step back and explain its impact to an executive
• Have managed search through seasonality and supply constraints, and know how to adjust quickly when demand or availability shifts
• Have run a test-and-learn program and can show how its results changed what the team did next
• Know when to escalate, take feedback without losing your point of view, and hold yourself and your team accountable for the number
• Make the complex simple - you help partners in product, underwriting, and the business act on what you've learned
• Use AI tools - Claude, Copilot, and platform-native AI - to work faster and make better decisions, and you help your team do the same
• Want to grow search for lines of business where there's real room to make a visible difference

Ideal Experience

• Experience: 10+ years in digital marketing, including significant hands-on paid search experience and time leading search teams
• Service company context: Background in a conversion-driven service business - financial services, insurance, SaaS, or banking - where the company's success depends on acquiring and retaining customers. Experience in CPG or physical product marketing is not a substitute for this context.
• People leadership: Experience leading practitioners and managing a hybrid model of in-house teams and agency partners
• Paid search expertise: Deep, hands-on knowledge of Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising, including bid strategies, automation, AI-driven campaign types, and how they change targeting and control
• Multi-product experience: Experience managing search across several products or lines with different seasonality, margins, and availability, and allocating budget among them
• Data & technology: Well-versed in SEM bid management platforms, conversion tracking, and web analytics; strong understanding of the data privacy landscape
• Measurement: Experience with attribution beyond last click, incrementality testing, and forecasting for products with seasonal or uneven demand
• Executive communication: Demonstrated ability to present to senior leadership, manage up on performance reads, and incorporate feedback to sharpen strategy
• AI fluency: Hands-on comfort with AI tools (e.g., Claude, Copilot) and a working view of how AI-driven search is changing ad formats, targeting, and buyer research
• Operating range: Ability to manage multiple priorities and resources in a fast-paced, growth-oriented organization

Strong Candidates May Also Have

• Insurance or other regulated financial services paid search experience
• Experience with home, powersports, recreational, or other specialty insurance or consumer lines with seasonal demand
• Experience driving cross-sell and bundling from an existing customer base through search
• Experience managing search where product availability varies by state or region
• Experience with AI search ad formats and the early work of measuring them
• Experience leading an in-housing effort or restructuring an agency model

Note: This is a Hybrid role based out of the following Office Locations:

Chicago

Bethesda

Manhattan

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The GEICO Pledge

Great Company: At GEICO, we help our customers through life's twists and turns. Our mission is to protect people when they need it most and we're constantly evolving to stay ahead of their needs. We're an iconic brand that thrives on innovation, exceeding our customers' expectations and enabling our collective success. From day one, you'll take on exciting challenges that help you grow and collaborate with dynamic teams who want to make a positive impact on people's lives.

Great Careers: We offer a career where you can learn, grow, and thrive through personalized development programs, created with your career - and your potential - in mind. You'll have access to industry leading training, certification, career mentorship and coaching with supportive leaders at all levels.

Great Culture: We foster an inclusive culture of shared success, rooted in integrity, a bias for action, and a winning mindset. Grounded by our core values, we have an established culture of caring, inclusion, and belonging that values different perspectives.

Great Rewards: We offer compensation and benefits built to enhance your physical well-being, mental and emotional health, and financial future - including market-competitive compensation, a 401K savings plan vested from day one with a 6% match, performance and recognition-based incentives, tuition assistance, mental healthcare, fertility and adoption assistance, and the GEICO Flex program offering up to four weeks of remote work per year.

A Note on Applications

We encourage you to apply even if you don't believe you meet every single qualification listed. Strong candidates rarely check every box - and research consistently shows that people from underrepresented groups are more likely to hold back when they're not a perfect match on paper. If this role sounds like work you'd be excited to do, we want to hear from you.

GEICO is an equal opportunity employer. GEICO does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Annual Salary

$140,425.00 - $229,600.00

The above annual salary range is a general guideline. Multiple factors are taken into consideration to arrive at the final hourly rate/ annual salary to be offered to the selected candidate. Factors include, but are not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the role, the selected candidate's work experience, education and training, the work location as well as market and business considerations.

At this time, GEICO will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization for this position.

The GEICO Pledge:

Great Company: Protecting customers through life's twists and turns with innovation and integrity.

Great Careers: Personalized development programs, mentorship, and certification assistance.

Great Culture: Inclusive and collaborative culture rooted in shared success.

Great Rewards: Competitive pay, benefits, and flexibility to support your well-being and future.

The equal employment opportunity policy of the GEICO Companies provides for a fair and equal employment opportunity for all associates and job applicants regardless of race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, age, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, familial status, disability or genetic information, in compliance with applicable federal, state and local law. GEICO hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled.

GEICO reasonably accommodates qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to receive equal employment opportunity and/or perform the essential functions of the job, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship to the Company. This applies to all applicants and associates. GEICO also provides a work environment in which each associate is able to be productive and work to the best of their ability. We do not condone or tolerate an atmosphere of intimidation or harassment. We expect and require the cooperation of all associates in maintaining an atmosphere free from discrimination and harassment with mutual respect by and for all associates and applicants.