Affiliate Marketing Manager

WHO ARE WE?

Firstleaf is transforming the $70B US wine market by empowering consumers to experience wine in a personalized way. We understand that wine is a complicated and intimidating category to shop, especially for new wine drinkers. That’s why we exist to make it easy for consumers to confidently try new wines and discover what they love.

Firstleaf launched in 2016 with the vision to be the world’s most customer-centric wine company. With a flexible direct-to-consumer model, we combined the roles of winery, importer, and retailer into one vertically integrated company. Our award-winning and talented Winemaking and Operational teams work closely with the finest vineyards and wineries in over a dozen countries to source the best wines possible. By eliminating the middleman, we provide our members with an exclusive selection of world-class wines that have won thousands of awards from notable critics and competitions.  

Founded and led by Philip James, a wine industry veteran and Oxford-educated chemist, our personalized subscription service unites the art and science of wine. Our patented algorithm uses millions of data points to curate each shipment of wine so members can discover wines matched to their tastes while exploring bottles from around the world.

This process begins by analyzing the chemical components of each wine so that we understand what’s in every bottle at the molecular level. As a result, after a member takes our quiz and rates a few bottles, we know exactly what they like or don’t like, enabling us to refine their wine profile and recommend wines with over 95% accuracy. This data also informs which types of wines we produce for our members.

We were recognized by Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in 2022, named to Quartz’s Best Companies for Remote Workers in 2022, and ranked in the Top 50 Wineries of the Year three years in a row by Wine Business Monthly. Over one million people have tried Firstleaf since our inception, and we continue to disrupt an industry that hasn’t changed in centuries.

JOB PURPOSE

The Affiliate and Partnerships Marketing Manager will oversee the strategy, execution, and optimization of Firstleaf's presence on third-party shopping sites and platforms, including Influencers. The Manager is also responsible for driving customers’ full funnel experience in these channels, crafting promos and setting the vision for the landing page, checkout, and early retention journeys. The Manager will partner closely with the Acquisitions and Product team to deliver high-impact conversion experiences, aligned to compelling promotions, to drive growth.

This role will ultimately increase Firstleaf wine club membership by more efficiently driving sales through third-party sites and platforms. This individual will work closely with Marketing Channel Managers to orchestrate promotions (dates and sales value) and launch new wine offerings in the marketplace. This individual must also be a highly motivated, KPI-driven, marketer who excels at leveraging relationships to drive growth.

This is a fully remote position, with travel 1-4 times per year for in-person meetings.

WHAT YOU’LL DO 

• Affiliate and Partner Marketing Management
• Own end-to-end affiliate and partner marketing program including strategy, execution, reporting, and customer experience. Strategy includes setting program goals, managing content recommendations, determining promotional cadence and sale values, and setting commission and flat fee structures.
• Build and maintain relationships with key partners, sourcing industry and competitive trends and analysis. Serve as the main point of contact to all Affiliate marketing partners, managing all in-bound questions and outbound comms including promo notifications and product updates.
• Actively recruit, evaluate, and onboard new affiliate and third-party platform partners; manage all in-bound approvals and declines in Commission Junction.
• Test new wine product offerings aligned to growth goals.
• Provide industry insight and analysis around the affiliate landscape, competitor performance, and innovative technologies, payment structures, and customer experiences.
• Oversee Affiliate platform technology and infrastructure (e.g., tracking pixels) to ensure maximum ROI, evaluating new platforms and leading RFPs as needed.
• Partner with Product, Marketing, and Creative team members to deliver flawless conversion experiences with an emphasis on landing pages.
• Serve as consultative partner to General Manager of Swirl, Firstleaf’s non-subscription wine brand, as he seeks to expand the brand’s Affiliate presence.

• Influencer Marketing Management
• Establish a POV about the role of Influencer marketing within Firstleaf’s marketing mix.
• Field and respond to inbound Influencer partnership requests, assessing potential value and establishing promo and content parameters for selected partners.
• Work closely with the Multichannel Marketing Manager to test Influencer campaigns across channels.
  
• Budgeting and Reporting
• Provide frequent, robust forecasting and performance reporting including monthly budgets, performance by partner type, and MoM/YoY trends.
• Leverage web, landing page, and customer data to identify opportunities to improve conversion performance.
• Regularly present results and industry trends to Marketing, Product, and Executive audiences.

REQUIREMENTS

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE & KNOWLEDGE

• 5+ years experience managing a relationship-driven marketing channel such as Affiliates, Influencers, or Partnerships, with demonstrated success scaling the channel.
• 5+ years experience in a DTC e-commerce environment; experience with subscription-based businesses preferred
• Deep understanding of, and experience negotiating, different acquisition payment structures (e.g, CPA-based, rev share, bonused incentives)
• Ability to develop and execute promos aligned to team growth goals
• Strong ability to report on and analyze data from multiple platforms, highlighting trends and building a story about performance
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize opportunities and pivot approaches as needed.
• Eligible to work in the United States

DESIRABLE KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS

• Expertise in at least one Affiliate or Influencer marketing platform (e.g,. Commission Junction, Impact, Partnerize, Grin)
• Prior experience with Amplitude and Tableau.
  

BENEFITS

Annual Compensation: $115k - $145k /year dependent on relevant experience.

Working with the world's best wine company isn't enough? Seriously though, we offer remote work and unlimited PTO. We offer a competitive compensation package and stock options grants, plus choices with medical, dental, and vision coverage, as well as flexible spending accounts, life insurance, 401(k), employee assistance program, and discounted pet insurance. And to top it off: a monthly wine credit with our wine club!

Firstleaf is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. Firstleaf is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process.