Embark on a rewarding career with Sobeys Inc., celebrated among Canada’s Top 100 employers where your unique contributions drive success.
About us
Our family of 134,000 employees and franchise affiliates share a collective passion for delivering exceptional shopping experiences and amazing food to all our customers. Our mission is to nurture the things that make life better – great experiences, families, communities, and our employees. We are a family nurturing families.
A proudly Canadian company, we started in a small town in Nova Scotia, but we are now in communities of all sizes across this great country. With over 1500 stores in all 10 provinces, you may know us as Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, Lawtons Drug Stores or another of our great banners but we are all one extended family.
Ready to make an impact?
Sobeys is full of exciting opportunities, and we are always looking for bright new talent to join our team! We currently have a full-time opportunity for a Search Specialist. This role is based out of our office located in Mississauga, ON
The Search Specialist will play a key role in optimizing on-site search, SEO, personalization, and digital discovery experiences across web and mobile platforms. This role will help drive the evolution of enterprise search capabilities by leveraging customer behavior insights, search analytics, AI-driven trends, and cross-functional collaboration to improve discoverability, engagement, and conversion.
Working closely with Digital Product, Engineering, UX/UI, Merchandising, Content, and Marketing teams, the SEO Specialist will support the development and optimization of search experiences that deliver measurable business impact and enhanced customer satisfaction.
Job Description:
- Collaborate with the Manager, Enterprise Search to enhance website and mobile app search experiences, SEO performance, and customer discovery journeys across digital platforms.
- Partner with UX/UI designers, developers, analysts, and business stakeholders to translate business requirements into clear user stories, while managing backlogs, UAT, and deployment readiness.
- Analyze customer behavioral insights to optimize on-site search relevance, ranking, filtering, personalization, and content strategies.
- Analyze customer search behavior, search abandonment trends, and customer frustration points to identify opportunities for continuous optimization and improved conversion.
- Leverage AI-driven search and discovery insights (AIO/GEO), including conversational search trends, local intent, behavioral signals, and emerging search patterns, to improve relevance and personalization strategies.
- Partner with SEM/SEA teams to align organic and paid search strategies and identify opportunities to improve organic discoverability and reduce dependency on paid acquisition.
- Define, monitor, and report on KPIs related to search relevance, SEO performance, customer engagement, click-through rates, conversion, and feature adoption.
- Conduct regular SEO and search audits to identify usability gaps, indexing issues, broken experiences, performance bottlenecks, and optimization opportunities.
- Develop and execute SEO strategies including keyword research, technical SEO improvements, metadata optimization, content recommendations, schema implementation, and Core Web Vitals enhancements.
- Support AIO/SEO roadmap planning and prioritization in collaboration with Merchandising, Content, Marketing, and Digital Product teams.
- Stay informed on emerging trends in enterprise search, AI-powered discovery, SEO, personalization, and digital customer experience to recommend innovative solutions and best practices.
Qualifications
- 3+ years of experience in Enterprise Search, SEO, Digital Product Management, Business Analysis, Content Strategy, or a related digital/e-commerce role.
- Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Computer Science, UX/UI, Digital Media, or related field, or equivalent professional experience.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret web analytics, customer behavior data, search insights, and performance metrics to drive actionable recommendations.
- Experience working in Agile environments with cross-functional teams including Product, Engineering, UX, Merchandising, and Marketing.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with the ability to present insights, recommendations, and business cases clearly.
- Strong problem-solving mindset with a proactive and customer-focused approach to optimization and continuous improvement.
Skills & Competencies
- Experience with enterprise search platforms such as Algolia or similar search technologies.
- Familiarity with Agile methodologies and tools such as Jira and Figma.
- Experience with SEO and analytics tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
- Advanced knowledge of Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Looker Studio and enterprise reporting/marketing intelligence platforms.
- Familiarity with CMS platforms such as Adobe or similar content management systems.
- Understanding accessibility standards including AODA/WCAG and SEO best practices.
- Preferred experience in retail, grocery, e-commerce, loyalty programs, or omnichannel digital experiences.
Who we are
Sobeys is one of Canada’s leading grocery retailers, with more than 1,600 stores across all 10 provinces and banners including Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, and Lawtons Drug Stores. Our 128,000 teammates and franchise affiliates are passionate about delivering great food and exceptional experiences to our customers and communities.
Learn more about our story and culture:
Who We Are | Why Work With Us
Total Rewards
We offer a Total Rewards package designed to support teammates at work and in life. Depending on role and eligibility, teammates may receive health and dental benefits, retirement and savings programs including an Employee Share Ownership Plan, a 10% in-store discount at participating banners, virtual healthcare and an Employee and Family Assistance Program, learning and development opportunities, parental leave top-up, and paid vacation.
Sobeys is committed to providing a compensation structure that is flexible, equitable and competitive in the market to enable performance and growth. To learn more about this opportunity including the expected range of compensation in accordance with Pay Transparency Legislation where required please click the “I’m interested” or "Apply" button above. Individual compensation is determined based on qualifications, experience, and internal equity within the range provided.
Additional Information
External websites may share our organization's job postings which includes compensation information based on similar roles and market benchmarks. These figures are provided for general comparison purposes only and are not issued or verified by our organization.
We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to support efficiencies in the candidate screening, assessment, and recruitment processes. These AI tools do not make hiring decisions on behalf of the Company. Hiring decisions are made by our Hiring Teams.
Sobeys is committed to creating accessible and inclusive hiring processes. We will work with applicants requesting accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process.
Please note: Successful candidates will be required to provide documentation to prove their legal ability to work in the position during the onboarding process. Documentation will be assessed by the employer prior to commencement of work.
