Position Overview
At PNC, our people are our greatest differentiator and competitive advantage in the markets we serve. We are all united in delivering the best experience for our customers. We work together each day to foster an inclusive workplace culture where all of our employees feel respected, valued and have an opportunity to contribute to the company’s success. We are looking to hire an AI Search Strategy Lead within PNC's Marketing organization.
The Evolution of Search: From Keywords to Conversations
The digital landscape is undergoing its most significant transformation in two decades. For years, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was defined by the "ten blue links"—a race to rank for specific keywords on a static results page. Today, that paradigm is shifting rapidly toward Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). Users are no longer just searching; they are conversing with Large Language Models (LLMs) and expecting direct, synthesized answers from platforms like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
At PNC Bank, we recognize that appearing in these generative environments requires a fundamentally different strategy than traditional search. It requires a deep understanding of entities, structured data, and the probabilistic nature of AI models. We are seeking an AI Search Strategy Lead to pioneer our approach in this emerging field. This is not just a job; it is an opportunity to define how a leading financial institution connects with customers in the age of artificial intelligence.
Position Overview:
The AI Search Strategy Lead is a pivotal new role situated within the Digital Growth Marketing organization. You will operate adjacent to our established SEO Content and SEO Strategy teams, serving as the bridge between traditional organic search principles and the new frontier of generative AI.
While traditional SEO focuses on driving clicks to a webpage, this role focuses on optimizing for the "zero-click" future and ensuring PNC serves as the authoritative source of truth within generative responses. You will be primarily focused on identifying specific tactics and opportunities to help PNC improve our presence in generative answer engines.
The ideal candidate possesses a rare hybrid background: 5+ years of experience in technical and content SEO combined with a passion for—and deep understanding of—how LLMs operate, source information, and hallucinate. You understand the nuances between different models (e.g., how Perplexity cites sources versus how ChatGPT synthesizes training data) and can translate that technical knowledge into actionable marketing strategies.
Strategic Context: Why AEO Matters in Banking
In the financial services sector, trust and accuracy are the currencies we trade in. When a current or prospective customer asks an AI agent, "What are the best mortgage options for a first-time homebuyer?" or "How does a high-yield savings account work?", the answer they receive must be accurate, compliant, and helpful.
As the AI Search Strategy Lead, you will ensure that PNC’s financial expertise is correctly interpreted and surfaced by these models. This goes beyond simple keyword optimization; it involves training the digital ecosystem to recognize PNC’s authority. You will navigate the complexity of "YMYL" (Your Money Your Life) topics in an AI-first world, ensuring that our content is structured in a way that LLMs prefer and prioritize.
This role requires a strategist who can look at the search landscape not just as it is today, but as it will be six months from now. You will be responsible for future-proofing our organic visibility strategies against the volatility of algorithm updates and the rapid deployment of new AI search features.
Core Responsibilities:
Your day-to-day work will balance high-level strategy with granular technical analysis. You will be expected to:
1. Optimize AI-Driven Product Recommendations
You will analyze and optimize how PNC’s financial products are recommended by AI agents. This involves reverse-engineering the logic used by generative engines to improve customer acquisition and retention across all lines of business. You will test different content structures and schema markups to see which formats yield the highest visibility in AI-generated answers, moving beyond traditional click-through rate (CTR) metrics to measure share of voice in conversational results.
2. Competitive Intelligence & Differentiation
The AI search landscape is a competitive battleground. You will monitor competitor offerings and AI capabilities across all business segments to identify opportunities for differentiation. This includes analyzing how competitors are cited in answer engines, identifying gaps in their entity coverage, and deploying counter-strategies to capture those conversational queries. You will act as the internal subject matter expert on the changing search landscape, keeping stakeholders informed of new entrants and features in the generative search space.
3. Data Quality & Regulatory Compliance
In banking, accuracy is non-negotiable. You will ensure data quality and regulatory compliance in models used for risk assessment and product personalization across the enterprise. Unlike generalist marketing roles, this position requires a keen awareness of financial regulations. You must ensure that optimization tactics never compromise compliance or lead to misleading financial advice being generated by third-party AI tools. You will work to minimize "hallucinations" regarding PNC’s products by ensuring our public-facing data is unambiguous and machine-readable.
4. Cross-Functional Strategic Alignment
AEO is not a siloed activity. You will collaborate closely with product, marketing, and compliance teams to align AI initiatives with growth strategies for all business lines. You will educate content creators on how to write for machines as well as humans, helping them structure articles, FAQs, and product pages in ways that LLMs can easily ingest and cite. You will advocate for technical changes that improve our "entity authority" within the Knowledge Graph.
Technical Qualifications & Tool Proficiency
To succeed in this role, you must be comfortable working with enterprise-grade data and analytics platforms. While we do not expect you to build LLMs from scratch, you must have a functional literacy in how they process natural language.
Recommended Tech Familiarity:
• SEO Intelligence: Deep experience with platforms such as Conductor, Ahrefs, Semrush, and BrightEdge is essential. You should know how to use these tools not just for keyword volume, but for gap analysis, backlink authority, and SERP feature tracking.
• Analytics & Performance: Proficiency in Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics is required to track the downstream impact of your strategies.
• Search Console: Mastery of Google Search Console is expected, particularly for diagnosing crawling, indexing, and structured data issues.
• LLM Literacy: A conceptual understanding of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), vector search, and tokenization is highly preferred.
• Emerging AI Search Tracking Tools: Familiarize yourself with new technology platforms like Profound and Athena and stay informed on what new capabilities exist in the marketplace that could help accelerate PNC's AEO objectives.
The Ideal Candidate Profile
We are looking for a pioneer—someone who is not afraid to test hypotheses in an environment where the "best practices" are still being written.
• You are an investigator: You enjoy testing queries across different platforms (Gemini vs. ChatGPT vs. Bing Chat) to spot patterns in how they retrieve information.
• You are a translator: You can explain complex technical concepts regarding LLMs to non-technical stakeholders in marketing and compliance.
• You are adaptable: You understand that the tactic that worked yesterday might be obsolete tomorrow, and you thrive in that state of constant evolution.
• You are data-driven yet creative: You rely on data to make decisions but use creativity to solve problems that data tools haven't caught up to yet.
This position is primarily based in a location within PNC’s footprint.
PNC will not provide sponsorship for employment visas or participate in STEM OPT for this position.
Job Description
- Leads the analytics processes across multiple functions or business units leveraging an array of complex analytical tools to create data driven solutions. Serves as mentor to more junior employees.
- Consults with clients and mentors consultants on tool and strategy implementation and monitoring, statistical scoring, business intelligence, data quality, and analytical product / solution development.
- Determining the optimal analytic approach and supporting development, implementation and enhancements.
- Assists peers with guidance on analytic approaches related to more complex solutions.
- Conceptualizing, developing and continuously optimizing analytical solutions for business leadership to enable data driven decision making.
- Analyze results and make recommendations for key business partners and senior management or communicate conclusions from complex analytical solutions to a wide range of audiences.
PNC Employees take pride in our reputation and to continue building upon that we expect our employees to be:
- Customer Focused - Knowledgeable of the values and practices that align customer needs and satisfaction as primary considerations in all business decisions and able to leverage that information in creating customized customer solutions.
- Managing Risk - Assessing and effectively managing all of the risks associated with their business objectives and activities to ensure they adhere to and support PNC's Enterprise Risk Management Framework.
Qualifications
Successful candidates must demonstrate appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities for a role. Listed below are skills, competencies, work experience, education, and required certifications/licensures needed to be successful in this position.
Preferred Skills
Analytical Thinking, Business Intelligence (BI), Concept Development, Data-Driven Decision Making, Data Integration, Market Research, Performance Metrics, Qualitative Research, Strategic Planning
Competencies
Analytical Thinking, Business Acumen, Business Analytics, Consulting, Decision Making and Critical Thinking, Effective Communications, Emerging Technologies
Work Experience
Roles at this level typically require a university / college degree, with 5+ years of industry-relevant experience. Specific certifications are often required. In lieu of a degree, a comparable combination of education, job specific certification(s), and experience (including military service) may be considered.
Education
Bachelors
Certifications
No Required Certification(s)
Licenses
No Required License(s)
Pay Transparency
Base Salary: $65,000.00 – $161,000.00
Salaries may vary based on geographic location, market data and on individual skills, experience, and education. This role is incentive eligible with the payment based upon company, business and/or individual performance.
Application Window
Generally, this opening is expected to be posted for two business days from 01/07/2026, although it may be longer with business discretion.
Benefits
PNC offers a comprehensive range of benefits to help meet your needs now and in the future. Depending on your eligibility, options for full-time employees include: medical/prescription drug coverage (with a Health Savings Account feature), dental and vision options; employee and spouse/child life insurance; short and long-term disability protection; 401(k) with PNC match, pension and stock purchase plans; dependent care reimbursement account; back-up child/elder care; adoption, surrogacy, and doula reimbursement; educational assistance, including select programs fully paid; a robust wellness program with financial incentives.
In addition, PNC generally provides the following paid time off, depending on your eligibility: maternity and/or parental leave; up to 11 paid holidays each year; 9 occasional absence days each year, unless otherwise required by law; between 15 to 25 vacation days each year, depending on career level; and years of service.
To learn more about these and other programs, including benefits for full time and part-time employees, visit Your PNC Total Rewards.
Disability Accommodations Statement
If an accommodation is required to participate in the application process, please contact us via email at AccommodationRequest@pnc.com. Please include “accommodation request” in the subject line title and be sure to include your name, the job ID, and your preferred method of contact in the body of the email. Emails not related to accommodation requests will not receive responses. Applicants may also call 877-968-7762 and say "Workday" for accommodation assistance. All information provided will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.
At PNC we foster an inclusive and accessible workplace. We provide reasonable accommodations to employment applicants and qualified individuals with a disability who need an accommodation to perform the essential functions of their positions.
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
PNC provides equal employment opportunity to qualified persons regardless of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran status, or other categories protected by law.
This position is subject to the requirements of Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) and, for any registered role, the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (SAFE Act) and/or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which prohibit the hiring of individuals with certain criminal history.
California Residents
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