What Is the Role
Elastic is seeking a Principal Marketing Strategist to own and drive our AI Discovery Strategy—a multi-channel, multi-surface effort to strengthen authority, credibility, and representation across AI-driven discovery environments and ensure Elastic is surfaced in responses wherever people ask questions.
AI visibility is shaped not just by on-site SEO, but by a constellation of online and offline signals: content ecosystems, developer communities, analyst narratives, events, social proof, documentation quality, and brand authority.
You will take performance insights and prompt intelligence generated by the SEO team and translate them into strategic, cross-functional initiatives—then drive those initiatives to execution across marketing, product, comms, and beyond.
What You Will Be Doing
AI Visibility Strategy & Ownership
* Define and own Elastic's end-to-end AI Visibility strategy across:
* LLMs and answer engines
* AI-augmented SERPs
* Developer tools and copilots
* Analyst, community, and third-party ecosystems
* Establish what Elastic needs to be known for in AI systems based on Elastic brand priorities, and ensure those narratives are reinforced everywhere influence is created.
* Present regularly to Elastic's senior leadership team regarding strategic projects and performance in LLM responses
Program Design & Strategic Execution
* Translate SEO and LLM performance insights into strategic programs, not one-off tactics.
* Identify high-impact initiatives spanning:
* Content and documentation strategy
* Analyst and influencer engagement
* Events, talks, and offline authority signals
* Social and community presence
* Product and developer education
* Build roadmaps, define success metrics, and drive execution through influence and partnership.
Cross-Functional Leadership
* Partner closely with:
* Product Marketing (messaging and GTM priorities)
* SEO (insights, tracking, and diagnostics)
* Content, Comms, Developer Marketing, and Events
* Product and Engineering (where product truth and credibility matter)
* Act as the connective tissue between teams that influence AI visibility but do not traditionally operate as one.
Measurement & Governance
* Define what success looks like for AI visibility beyond traffic:
* Authority and citation frequency
* Narrative consistency
* Prompt coverage and accuracy
* Establish operating models, decision frameworks, and prioritization mechanisms.
* Evangelize AI visibility thinking across Elastic.
What You Bring
* 10+ years of experience in strategic marketing, brand, content, or platform leadership roles.
* Proven ability to own ambiguous, cross-functional programs with no single-channel solution.
* Strong systems thinking and program management skills.
* Deep understanding of how credibility, authority, and trust are built at scale.
* Exceptional stakeholder leadership and executive communication skills.
* Comfort influencing without direct ownership or reporting lines.
* Experience working in distributed, global organizations.
Bonus
* Experience with AI platforms, developer ecosystems, or open-source communities.
* Deep technical knowledge of LLM behavior, retrieval systems, or semantic search.
* Experience partnering with analysts or shaping category narratives