From the UK to the Gold Coast
Edge Marketing co-founder Rohan Dwyer came to me with a pretty tough brief.
He needed a commercially minded Head of SEO who could take the reins of the agency’s SEO department and ultimately drive the service line forward.
- Agencies
The Client
- Agencies
Edge Marketing is an Australian marketing agency on the Gold Coast.
Co-founder Rohan Dwyer was looking for a Head of SEO who could take ownership of the agency’s SEO department, shape its SEO proposition and drive the service line forward.
The Challenge
This wasn’t just about finding a great SEO.
They needed someone who combined:
- Genuine hands-on SEO expertise
- Strong commercial thinking
- Leadership and people management ability
- The gravitas to lead a department
- Confidence operating with founders and C-suite stakeholders
- The ability to shape and evolve the agency’s SEO proposition
There was another fairly major requirement.
They wanted me to find this person in the UK and relocate them to the Gold Coast, Australia.
Rohan came to me because of my extensive experience and reputation within the Australian digital agency market, combined with a deep network across the UK SEO industry.
On paper, finding senior SEO talent in the UK wasn’t going to be particularly difficult.
Finding someone with the right combination of SEO depth, leadership, commerciality and senior-level presence, who was also genuinely ready to relocate their life to the other side of the world, narrowed the market considerably.
How We Got to Work
I started by mapping the UK market and identifying senior SEO leaders who I felt genuinely had the right blend of technical ability, strategic thinking, commercial awareness and leadership experience.
Rather than approaching the market broadly, I narrowed that initial mapping down to 12 strong candidates who I felt could realistically do the job.
From there:
- 12 carefully selected candidates targeted
- 4 were genuinely interested in the opportunity and relocation
- I carefully vetted all four against the brief
- 2 made the final shortlist
- Luke Gosha was ultimately hired as Head of SEO
The process wasn’t about producing volume. It was about finding a very specific type of SEO leader and then establishing who was genuinely prepared to make the move to Australia.
The Result
Luke Gosha joined Edge Marketing as Head of SEO.
Time to hire: 5 weeks from brief to accepted offer.
Eight months later, he’s not only still there, he’s already been promoted to Head of Strategy for the agency.
For me, that’s probably the best validation of the search.
The original brief was to find someone who could take ownership of SEO and help drive the service line forward. Within eight months, Luke’s remit had expanded beyond SEO into the wider strategic direction of the agency.
12 targeted. 4 interested. 2 shortlisted. 1 hire. 5 weeks.
UK → Gold Coast. Head of SEO → Head of Strategy in eight months.
A Successful Hire From Both Sides
What the client had to say
In terms of recruiters I believe, good humans recruit good humans.
They take the time to get to know your business, your culture, your needs, your future.
They challenge your thinking and are open to adjusting their own.
They know your industry, not just from a recruitment perspective but from the inside.
If you have digital marketing and specifically SEO recruitment needs, it’s worth chatting with James.
Very connected to the best global talent and for our needs, those wanting or open to Australian based roles.
Facing a similar hiring challenge?
We specialise in recruitment across SEO & AEO, Paid Media, Digital PR, Growth Marketing, eCommerce and SaaS Marketing.
Results That Speak For Themselves
A selection of successful hires and long-term partnerships across the digital marketing industry.
- Agencies
Seven Years. 17 Hires. One Future MD.
Reboot is an independent digital marketing agency specialising in Search, Digital PR and Paid Media.
Our relationship with the agency developed over seven years, meaning we were able to support the business as its hiring requirements evolved.
That included finding specialist practitioners across SEO and Paid Media, commercial Growth hires and, eventually, senior leaders capable of taking significant responsibility for the direction and operation of the agency.
As the business grew, the hires became increasingly strategic.
Two searches in particular would ultimately help shape Reboot’s senior leadership team: Director of Growth and Director of Operations.
- Agencies
Putting a Leader Behind Mediavision’s Growth
Mediavision is an established independent digital agency, working with ambitious brands across Search and digital performance.
Having built a successful agency and strong client base over more than a decade, the business was ready to put greater senior ownership around growth.
Until this point, responsibility for winning new business and growing the agency had been shared across the senior team. The next stage required someone who could take proper ownership of it.
This wasn’t simply about hiring a salesperson.
Mediavision wanted someone who could work across the entire agency, bringing together sales, new business, marketing, positioning and brand visibility into a coherent growth strategy.
- eCommerce
Finding an SEO Who Speaks Sneaker
The Sole Supplier is one of the UK’s leading footwear and streetwear platforms, helping sneaker fans discover the latest releases, news and trends from some of the biggest brands in the world.
The business has grown significantly, building a highly engaged audience alongside a team with a genuine passion for the space.
That culture was particularly important to them.
This isn’t a business where people simply happen to work in footwear and streetwear. The team genuinely lives and breathes the product outside of work, and preserving that as the company grows is a major priority.
SEO was already an important acquisition channel and The Sole Supplier had an external agency supporting its activity. The next step was to bring somebody senior enough in-house to take proper ownership of the channel.
- eCommerce
Five Years. One Trusted Partner.
Founded in 1810, Heal’s is one of Britain’s most iconic furniture and interior design brands. For the past five years, we’ve partnered with Head of eCommerce Mark Hammond, supporting the growth of his digital team through specialist hires across eCommerce, performance marketing and design.
- Agencies
Taking the Weight Off the Founder
Tacomi is a specialist Search agency with deep expertise across SEO, technical SEO and the evolving AEO landscape.
We had already been working with founder Chad Conlon and the team when they approached us about one of the most important hires they were about to make to date.
The agency was already operating at a very high technical level, but Chad remained heavily involved in the day-to-day. The next stage of growth required someone senior enough to take genuine ownership from him, without compromising the quality of work that had helped Tacomi build its reputation.
- Agencies
From First Hires to Future Leaders
NOVOS is a specialist eCommerce Search agency, helping ambitious retailers and challenger brands drive organic growth through SEO, Digital PR, content and wider Search.
Its eCommerce focus is fundamental to the business – it’s not a generalist agency with an eCommerce offering. Years of specialisation have created a highly knowledgeable team capable of solving increasingly complex Search challenges across platforms, markets and categories.
That makes NOVOS an exciting place for ambitious Search marketers – and a challenging place to recruit for. But that’s what I do.
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