The Impact You Will Make

In this role, you will help define how online programs managed by Risepoint's university partners get discovered, referenced, and recommended as AI becomes the primary gateway through which prospective students explore their options. You will build and oversee a network of vendor relationships spanning outreach, link development, and content placement, setting clear expectations for each engagement and holding vendors accountable to measurable citation and mention outcomes.

A core part of your work will be mapping the terrain: determining which publications, directories, and third-party sites get referenced when AI tools answer higher-education questions, then converting that intelligence into a clear roadmap for where relationship-building efforts should go next. From there, you will shape how Risepoint invests across that landscape, deciding which external partners are best positioned to open which doors and adjusting that investment as new data comes in about what's working.

Beyond day-to-day execution, you will help shape how Risepoint thinks about this space more broadly. You will contribute your expertise to a cross-functional group focused on measuring AI citation performance, evaluating new partners and tools, and testing new approaches to earning visibility. Your work will help Risepoint move early and deliberately in a discovery landscape that is still being defined, building habits and judgment that will only grow more valuable as AI-driven search continues to reshape how students find their program.

What You Will Do

• Vendor Management – Build and manage a portfolio of vendor relationships spanning outreach, link development, and content placement — scoping work, tracking deliverables, and managing budgets and accounts

• AI Citation Research & Target Identification – Identify the publications, ranking sites, and aggregators that AI engines actively cite for higher-education queries, and develop a prioritized target list for outreach and relationship development

• Digital PR – Conduct ongoing outreach to editors, journalists, and webmasters at target publications, building the relationships needed to produce a regular and growing stream of earned mentions, citations, and coverage for Risepoint’s university partners

• Outreach & Citation Strategy – Own the offsite citation strategy for Risepoint’s university partners that maximizes enrollment growth and citation ROI by adjusting investment based on citation performance, partner priorities, and program-level business goals.

• AI Visibility Reporting & Intelligence – Monitor AI engine responses using visibility tools and direct prompt testing, translating findings into actionable strategies and reports for executive audiences

• Cross-Functional Collaboration – Partner cross-functionally with Risepoint's SEO/AEO, Content, Brand Strategy, and Integrated Marketing teams to align outreach strategy with marketing initiatives and pilots already in flight

What Success Looks Like

• AI citation has become a durable, defensible growth channel for Risepoint's partners that compounds year over year

• Vendors function as accountable strategic partners rather than vendors-in-name-only, with underperformers renegotiated or replaced based on demonstrated outcomes

• Risepoint holds a proprietary, living map of where higher-education AI citations originate, giving the organization a lasting information edge over competitors

How Impact Will be Measured in the First Year

• Risepoint’s university partners appearing in AI-generated responses for target higher-education queries at measurable and improving rates

• Prompt tracking methodology operational, generating a recurring report reviewed monthly by the AEO steering committee

• 100% of active vendor SOWs reviewed, with renewal-or-exit criteria set for each

• Off-site citation strategy operational across 5 partners, with a clear roadmap to expand to the top 20

Experience That Matters Most

• 5+ years in SEO or digital PR, with demonstrated understanding of how AI and LLM-based search engines surface and cite content and translating what they cite into actionable outreach and vendor priorities

• Experience managing vendor relationships: reviewing SOWs, scoping deliverables, and holding agencies accountable to outcomes

• Track record of building publication relationships and producing a consistent stream of earned coverage, links, or mentions -- not just one-off placements

• Strong communication skills -- able to explain AI search concepts to non-technical stakeholders and collaborate with teams whose primary lens is not SEO

• Proven ability to work cross-functionally with PR, editorial, or content teams with clear handoffs and shared goals

Experience That’s Great to Have

• Experience with traditional SEO on-site strategy (structured data, content structure) that supports offsite citation goals

• Familiarity with AI visibility monitoring tools (Profound, Ahrefs Brand Radar, DataForSEO AI Optimization, or similar)

• Experience working in higher education, digital agencies, or complex, multi-brand ecosystems

• Experience with prompt engineering or systematic LLM testing for brand and content research

• Understanding of how aggregator and ranking sites in the higher education industry factor into AI citation ecosystems