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One of the coolest ecommerce jobs around!

HARRY’S COMMENTS: We are working with a very well-established children’s educational brand in their search for a fully remote VP of Ecommerce. Phenomenal company. Great opportunity. Figure $160-180K base + bonus.

Writing this post was a bit challenging: The client requested that this search be confidential, yet their business is nearly one-of-a-kind. The opportunity reminds me of a VP of Ecommerce search I closed for AETV a dozen years ago. At the time, AETV owned / operated Biography, History Channel, and A&E Television.

As ecom executives, we hear so much about companies that sell branded hard goods and soft goods, and seek to augment their core businesses with bundled content, digital products, and IP (like programming and technology) they can license.

AETV, on the other hand, produced branded content (“programming”) and IP they could license, and later sought to augment their core business by designing, producing, and bundling hard goods and soft goods to match the IP.

In both cases, the name of the game is INTEGRATION. You want these activities to be coordinated across customer cohorts, lifecycles, channels, devices, dayparts, and so forth.

My client began as primarily a product-focused company that later branched into branded content and publishing. Their media coverage has been excellent, and their ratings and reviews are spectacular.

During this recruiting kick-off call, my client and I worked through a pro forma P&L, discussing the firm’s revenue, operating margins, customer funnel, and what those things meant in terms of the client’s future tech stack, talent stack, agencies / vendor stack, operational capabilities, processes, and customer acquisition costs.

It’s a wonderful business, and Management’s knowledge of the firm’s target customer is encyclopedic. Today, the client’s DTC ecom business is in the low eight figures. Within three years, we’d like to drive its DTC sales into the mid-eight figures.

I’ve done the math with these people. I’ve sanity-checked the numbers. I think it’s completely doable.

About the role:

We’re looking for a highly skilled and experienced ecommerce leader to lead this client’s ecom functions. In this position, you will report directly to the President and be responsible for the overall direction, coordination, implementation, execution, control, and completion of the firm’s ecommerce functions as they align with the firm’s strategy, goals, and priorities.

The role involves leading a team of seven full-time marketers, plus third-party vendors and agencies to take the company’s DTC ecom business to the next level, which today comprises 90% of the company’s total revenue.

The successful candidate must have a proven track record of success in DTC ecom marketing and be able to demonstrate how they drove reference-checkable outcomes such as higher quality/quantity of web traffic, increased conversion rates, improved customer lifetime value, management of paid customer acquisition spend, increases in revenue, improvements in online CX, and operating profit for a DTC ecom business.

This will be YOUR baby.

Meaning, you MUST have a proven ability to manage projects and understand what it means to be great in the eyes of customers, optimize around data and KPIs, and avoid common pitfalls. Naturally, you should also be a thoughtful, proactive, business-oriented, consistently high-performing A-player.

A reference-checkable track record of success in integrated DTC ecommerce, customer acquisition and lifecycle DTC marketing is required.

You won’t believe how much we know about this search …

I spent a ton of time on the phone with the client teasing out exactly what you’ll need to KNOW and DO to hit the ground running in this role. Some of the things I can share with highly qualified candidates include …

1. The “real” background requirements for this position, along with the top five things all resumes MUST have to be considered for the role.
2. The top five problems that exist due to this position being open. These are the little brush fires you will be expected to put out during your first month on the job. Every ecommerce job has these — and this one’s no different.
3. What your average day/week will look like in this role. There’s what you read in the standard ecommerce job posting … then there’s reality. We’ve got the reality.
4. The leading and lagging KPIs that will determine your success in this role. In a nutshell: How you’ll keep score.
5. The major projects you’ll need to complete by Day 100 to be considered a home-run in this position. We’ve got the lowdown on how you can plug-and-play and drive REAL value in this ecommerce job.

I have a massive amount of proprietary intel to share with qualified candidates. My industry research for this assignment exceeds 100 pages! Be sure to TEXT me, Harry Joiner, at (404) 281-2025 for this info. Or simply use the email link when you apply for the role below.

View Harry Joiner’s profile

Responsibilities:

• Run P&L for the business.
• Work with the Executive Management team to define the corporate ecommerce strategy.
• Analyze and assess the effectiveness of all existing products and programs and current needs based on market trends and the competitive environment.
• Work with internal teams and vendors to improve, develop and advocate new promotional opportunities for the firm’s ecommerce products and services.
• Develop a business plan and annual budget for ecommerce functions. Supervise development efforts, including content design and updates
• Develop high-level relationships with all key channel management stakeholders.
• Develop a 5-year plan for the existing DTC website using a third-party vendor to manage and enhance sales and customer acquisition
• Oversee the day-to-day ecommerce operations, maintenance, and performance measurement of the company websites.
• Evaluate all departmental roles and employees relative to the efficiency of the team’s structure and alignment for growth.
• Carry out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with company policies, including planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance, rewarding and disciplining employees; and addressing complaints and resolving problems.
• Interact with other key departments in a collaborative manner to ensure all departments are well-informed and in sync on ecommerce operations.
• Support the supply chain department on forecasting products
• Negotiate terms and programs with all channels
• Analyze performance and optimize all aspects of site experience to improve results (including SEO, Search, Desktop & Mobile UX, Comparison Shopping Engines, Retargeting, and Reviews)
• Drive test & learn mindset for continuous improvement and innovation.

Requirements

To effectively GROW this ecommerce business, you should DEMONSTRATE a comprehensive knowledge of:

• Ecommerce growth strategies (paid / owned / earned / multichannel / multilocal / multidevice / etc)
• Business planning and ecommerce strategy development
• Ecommerce business models and industry (trends, competitors, distribution channels, customer base, promotion, and products)
• Keyword searches, optimized web content, competitive tracking software, customer data analytics, web page design/layout, and website performance measurement
• College degree in STEM or Business or a related field
• 7-10 years of ecommerce experience
• 3-5 years experience RUNNING an ecommerce P&L
• Success in retail, omnichannel forecasting, planning, merchandising, and distribution
• Experienced in analyzing data to draw business-relevant conclusions and in data visualization technique
• Ability to lead by influencing others, especially in cross-functional and executive settings
• Strong consensus and relationship-building skills balanced with an ability to drive initiatives forward
• Ability to craft clear, compelling recommendations supported by strong analysis and business logic and articulate them to the organization to gain support for recommendations.
• Comfort with change and ability to wear multiple hats as part of an evolving organization
• Experience managing DTC ecommerce supply chains