One Head of SEO who leads a team of seven, sells SEO in the room with your prospects, and still knows how to get it done on the site. Hired from outside, vetted before you meet them, and in the seat while Henry is still there to hand over.
Your words from today's call, played back so you can check we listened before you sign anything.
Dark Horse is a 40-person agency taking seven-figure businesses to eight. SEO is your second biggest service, and Henry, who has led it, has handed in his notice to go out on his own. His notice is three months and he is open to phasing out over four or five, so there is time for a proper handover. You are not desperate. You do want to move, because it is a key seat.
The plan has not changed: the best SEO team you can afford. You have strong people in the team and some of them will put their hand up. But you have decided the strongest team is a new head from outside, so that the department gets strength and depth rather than a single point everything flows through.
The job is wider than most heads of SEO. People management is a must. The head owns a revenue target and is bonused on the margin the team makes. They do the SEO talking in around 80% of sales meetings, and spend roughly a third of their time helping to close new business. And at Dark Horse, 80% of the work is action, not reporting. Your clients are usually owners who want results, and someone has to make the changes on the site.
"We want the best possible SEO team that we can afford."
Alan Reeves, 28 October
"Results come from action, not from analysis and strategy."
Alan Reeves, 28 October
"If it's not a hell yes, it's a hell no."
Alan Reeves, 28 October
Three jobs in one seat. Most candidates are strong at one. The scorecard tests all three, and we will tell you plainly who is short where.
Manage a deputy head, a head of AI search, four leads and managers and a content team, set the direction and coach people through it. Strength and depth, so the department does not run through one person again.
Own a revenue target and be paid on margin. Step into pitches and renewals, audit a prospect's site and explain the strategy to an owner who wants to know what happens next, not a 40-slide deck.
Hands-on enough to run the agency's biggest account, and to make changes on Shopify, WordPress and Magento sites rather than leave recommendations in a document. The team will spot a passenger quickly.
Timed so your new head overlaps with Henry. Senior candidates have notice periods too, and many will want a January start.
Sign the Silver terms and pay the activation fee. We start building the target list straight away, alongside your job description.
We turn your JD and this call into the outcome scorecard and the pitch for the role, and keep Dark Horse's voice in it.
Four or five strong candidates on your dashboard, each scored and recorded, timed so first stages run in the same week.
A first meeting with you and John, then the audit and pitch with Henry in the room. We manage the offer and the resignation.
Your new head starts while Henry is phasing down, with a 90-day roadmap built from the scorecard.
We have done this exact process before. A recent PPC search for a waste management client used the same format: approve the CV, set a presentation task, have the discussion, offer. On a £90k role it took 14 days from start to finish. Your two-stage process is the right shape for this seat.
Head of SEO, agency side. The profile below becomes the scorecard every candidate is tested against before you meet them. We will confirm it against your job description when it lands.
We are headhunters, not a CV service. We work with a small book of clients at a time, and we do not send your candidates round every agency in Manchester. The people you want are employed and doing well. We go and get them.
We build an outcome-focused scorecard from this call and your JD: what the head must deliver at 30, 60 and 90 days, the culture red flags to avoid, and what success looks like at twelve months.
We approach heads, deputies and senior leads from our private network of 52,000 search marketers, focusing on agency-side leaders in the North West and those open to two days in Altrincham.
We build the employer value proposition for Dark Horse: a pitch deck for the candidate that covers the business, the team, the bonus, the freelance policy and the role, in your voice. It explains the brand to people who find the website a bit scary, so it does not put off the right ones.
Every candidate is interviewed face to face on Google Meet and recorded. You get the transcript, their scorecard, CV, LinkedIn and any portfolio, with notes on why they scored what they did.
Candidates land in your portal, where you and John can compare them side by side and drag them forward. You can add interview times and get interview prep tailored to each candidate. You also see the full funnel: how many we sourced, approached and spoke to, and why people said no. You get an email when something changes, and a weekly update.
We manage the offer, the resignation and the start date, then hand over a 90-day roadmap built from the scorecard so the overlap with Henry is used well.
The ones that came up on the call, so you have the answers to hand.
Yes. Stage one with you and John for philosophy, management style and fit. Stage two is the audit and pitch on a website you choose, with Henry in the room. It mirrors the job, it is fair on candidates, and it means nobody spends days on a task before you know you get on. We suggest using the same website for everyone so the pitches compare like for like.
Quality over quantity. We aim for four or five who genuinely fit, timed so first stages run in the same week. If ten are good, you will see ten. Nobody reaches you who has not been vetted, and that includes checking they can actually get to Altrincham.
We will focus on £60k to £70k base. We will only bring someone at around £75k if they tick every box and clearly justify it against your salary brackets. Anyone else would not be worth your time. Henry's current package, including bonus, gives us the reference point.
We will tell every candidate your policy up front. Side work is fine if it is disclosed and does not conflict. Hiding it, working for a direct competitor, or running a book too big to leave time for Dark Horse are screened out before they reach you.
We work best on an exclusive search, and that is how we will run it on our side. If you do run a second search and they fill it, or if Henry decides to stay, your activation fee is not lost. It moves to your SEO Lead or SEO Manager vacancy, or another role, with no extra charges.
Understood: not a priority, and we will not spend time on it. If someone strong at around £35k to £40k crosses our path during the head search, we will flag them to you.
The best proof we can offer is already in your SEO team.
About two and a half years ago we placed Izzy with Dark Horse. Today she is your Deputy Head of SEO, and in your own words she does not drop clients. Every account she has been given, she has kept.
That was not luck. We vetted for the same things this search needs: ownership, reliability with clients, and the ability to grow inside an agency that moves fast. We ran the same headhunt, scorecard and vetting process behind that hire as we are proposing here.
This time the brief is one level up. Izzy shows what we look for: someone who keeps clients and grows into the role. Now we find the head who can lead her and the rest of the team.
"She doesn't drop any clients."
Alan Reeves on Izzy, 28 October
Placed by Search For Hire around two and a half years ago. Promoted to Deputy Head of SEO at Dark Horse, with no clients lost along the way.
The Silver package, as you asked on the call. One senior search, a 12-week rebate period, and the activation fee deducted from the success fee.
Fees are a percentage of first-year base salary, not bonus. The activation fee is deducted from the success fee, so you never pay it twice. Full terms are in the agreement.
Izzy is the proof closest to home. Here is the rest of the track record.
Firstly, they do NOT spray and pray. They take a super methodical approach to first aligning on what the role needs.
Chirag Kulkarni, Founder, TACOAfter three failed hires, these guys found us a rockstar. A great fit both technically and culturally.
Christine King, COO, StorIQ (self storage)They have transformed our SEO hiring process, allowing us to find and recruit the top 1% of talent.
Chris Dreyer, Founder, Rankings.ioThree steps and the search is live, with time to spare before Henry steps back.