WORK FROM HOME – With more than 100 ecommerce searches each year, EcommerceRecruiter.com is the leading contingency-based recruiting firm serving the NRF, IR-1000, and B2B communities. To opt-in to our popular “Ecommerce Job of the Day” email, click here.
One of the coolest ecommerce jobs around!
ALLAN’S COMMENTS: We are working with a large omnichannel retailer in its search for an Affiliate Marketing Manager. The client is based on the East Coast, but this position is FULLY REMOTE. We’ve worked with this client a few times, having placed the Director to whom this role will report.
About the Company
As an innovator in the footwear trade for more than 100 years, our client offers a wide selection of famous footwear brands for women, men, and kids. The firm’s selection covers the athletic (60%), comfort, dress, and casual categories — and its superior customer service, convenience, and value position it for future growth.
How many pairs of shoes do you own? Several, probably. Like everyone.
In the last few years, increasing disposable income and ecommerce sales have driven growth in the footwear market — fueled by higher AOVs and SKUs spanning a wide range of price points. Having said that, more retailers have entered the industry, especially online.
As a result, operators are forced to compete on the basis of price and oftentimes cut prices or offer promotions to attract customers and remain competitive. Regardless: Through 2024, IBIS World expects the footwear market to reach $101 billion as shoe prices increase and higher quality merch is rolled out.
About the Role
In this position, your primary responsibilities include creating and executing strategy for affiliate programs, reviewing partner applications, and negotiating publisher rates. You will be the sole owner of the Affiliate program. For that reason, we need a seasoned Affiliate Marketer who’s both tactical and strategic.
Although this role is currently focused on one channel, it’s one of the most important channels in the client’s business. As such, all eyes will be on YOU to take this channel to the next level.
The client’s affiliate channel does over 8 figures in revenue. Currently, the channel is being managed by an agency, but our client thinks it’s time to bring the function in-house. There will be a 90-day overlap once you join the team where the transition to in-house will happen. For that reason, you must have hands-on experience managing an affiliate program for a DTC ecommerce business.
We’re looking for someone who is an Affiliate expert with a strong background in D2C Ecommerce. Experience managing an agency won’t cut it. The client needs a proven client-side A-player to negotiate placements, analyze margins, build out campaigns, and more. This is not a turnaround: The program is in great shape, but it’s time to bring it in-house due to the size and scale.
In this role, you will find yourself leveraging research and data to improve campaign effectiveness and deliver effective strategies that drive growth.
We will expect you to own the Commission Junction relationship while you establish and build relationships with the client’s current and new partners to secure placements. For example, if Rakuten sends an email promotion, it will be your job to make sure the company’s rates and placement are optimized, especially as it relates to affiliate events.
For the most part, the client’s affiliate program is quite traditional. However, they’ve begun to test Affiliate programs with Influencers, and they expect to continue to test Influencers in 2023.
As you might expect, you’ll be responsible for growing the channel, identifying areas that will improve channel effectiveness, and delivering an effective Affiliate strategy that will truly move the needle.
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 …
- The “real” background requirements for this position, along with the top five things all resumes MUST have to be considered for the role.
- 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.
- 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.
- The leading and lagging KPIs that will determine your success in this role. In a nutshell: How you’ll keep score.
- 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, Allan Seibert, at (706) 318-1196 for this info. Or simply use the email link when you apply for the role below.
View Allan Seibert’s profile
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Identify, build, and maintain strategic channel partnerships, including affiliate networks and other merchant networks, to scale affiliate partnerships
- Create and execute strategy for affiliate programs, including recruitment and retention
- Review and approve affiliate applications; negotiate publisher rates
- Conduct regular and thorough analyses of top-performing partners, campaigns, and products
- Develop and manage monthly affiliate budgets across all brands
- Monitor day-to-day affiliate activities, responding to publisher inquiries and drafting communications for various campaigns
- Execute affiliate promotional strategy in coordination with other departments
- Compile weekly/monthly reports summarizing performance across the affiliate channel to make data-driven/tactical optimizations and recommendations
- Work with the key stakeholders across the company to set clear objectives/KPIs, report results and make recommendations for improvement
- Stays knowledgeable of industry standards, new media programs/opportunities and can advise on new ways to reach targets
- Attend conferences to meet with affiliates and merchant partners
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, Business or relevant field
- 3+ years of affiliate management experience with programs paying out over $100k per month
- Knowledge of affiliate networks (Commission Junction preferred)
- Experience with setup and implementation of affiliate programs and partnerships
DESIRED SKILLS and EXPERIENCE:
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills, as well as the ability to articulate clearly and effectively
- Highly detail-oriented individual, driven by results, who can manage multiple projects, partners, and tasks in a fast-paced environment
- Demonstrated ability to scale programs and work with large budgets
- Self-starter and able to work independently with minimal supervision
- A passion for digital marketing; eager to work in a collaborative, fast-paced setting
- Experience working in an integrated digital marketing environment and collaborating on marketing campaigns with cross-functional partners.
- Robust analytical skills and proficiency in Excel
- Proficiency with relevant analytics, tracking, and reporting tools (ie, Adobe Analytics, Google Analytics)
