Manager, Search Engine Optimization

BUILD A BETTER CAREER WITH MSC

Serving customers and our community starts with the best people doing their best work. That is precisely what we have created at MSC Industrial Supply Co. We are a leading North American distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO), products and services. We offer more than 2 million products and have over 80 years of experience across dozens of industries.

We aim to execute our Built to Make You Better brand promise for all our stakeholders, including our associates.

Requisition  :20515

Employment Type :
Full Time

Job Category :
Marketing

Work Location :
Davidson, NC (CSC)

The Manager, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is responsible for the execution and ongoing optimization of MSC Industrial's organic search strategy across a complex, enterprise-scale ecommerce platform. This role is a hands‑on, player‑coach position responsible for driving SEO excellence across technical SEO, content optimization, category and product page performance, and emerging AI‑driven search experiences. The Manager will lead SEO initiatives, support the development of team members, and collaborate cross‑functionally with Content, IT/Development, Merchandising, Analytics, and Paid Media to improve search visibility, crawl efficiency, and organic performance inputs.

• Execute SEO initiatives aligned to MSC's SEO roadmap, translating priorities into actionable workflows and measurable outcomes
• Serve as a hands‑on SEO practitioner, leading technical audits, identifying crawl/indexation issues, and recommending scalable solutions
• Manage and mentor SEO team members, providing direction, coaching, and quality control across initiatives
• Lead optimization efforts across category pages, terminal nodes, buying guides, and product detail pages to improve discoverability and engagement
• Partner with Content teams to guide keyword strategy, on‑page optimization, schema usage, and search‑friendly content frameworks
• Collaborate with IT and Development teams to influence CMS enhancements, technical fixes, and SEO‑friendly implementations
• Implement and maintain structured data best practices to support rich results, featured snippets, and AI‑driven search experiences
• Monitor and improve leading SEO indicators including crawl efficiency, indexation health, Core Web Vitals, and SERP feature presence
• Support SEO initiatives related to AI and LLM search (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini) by integrating optimization best practices into core workflows
• Collaborate cross‑channel with Paid Search partners to align on keyword strategy, minimize cannibalization, and share performance insights
• Own SEO reporting and insights, clearly communicating performance trends, risks, and opportunities to stakeholders
• Act as a strong influencer across teams, advocating for SEO priorities without formal authority
• Stay current on SEO trends, algorithm updates, and emerging best practices, proactively testing and applying learnings
• Foster the MSC Culture in the department and throughout the company to ensure fulfillment of MSC's vision and unity of purpose
• Participation in special projects and perform additional duties as required

• 4-6 years of SEO experience, with some experience leading projects or mentoring team members
• Proven experience executing SEO at scale on large, complex ecommerce websites
• Strong technical SEO foundation, including crawl/indexation, site architecture, and page performance
• Experience working closely with engineering or development teams on SEO-related initiatives
• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Analytics, or a related field (or equivalent experience)

• Experience optimizing category-heavy or SKU-dense ecommerce platforms
• Familiarity with SEO considerations for AI-driven search and large language models
• Experience aligning SEO and Paid Search strategies in enterprise environments
• Strong analytical mindset with experience using SEO tools to surface insights
• Ability to clearly communicate SEO concepts to non‑SEO stakeholders
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional partners to align on priorities
• Background…