Affiliate Partnerships & Publisher Development Manager

Ikon Digital Media is a performance marketing agency helping leading eCommerce and Amazon brands accelerate growth through affiliate marketing, creator partnerships, Performance PR, and AI Search Visibility.

As we continue to scale, we're looking for an experienced Affiliate Partnerships & Publisher Development Manager to join our growing team. This role is ideal for someone who lives and breathes affiliate marketing, has deep relationships across the publisher ecosystem, and thrives on building strategic partnerships that drive measurable revenue growth for brands.

About the Position:

This is a highly strategic and execution-focused role centered around affiliate partner recruitment, publisher development, and program growth. You'll manage a portfolio of affiliate programs across leading enterprise affiliate networks, while taking ownership of recruiting, activating, and optimizing partnerships with content publishers, editorial sites, loyalty partners, deal sites, influencers, technology partners, and emerging affiliate opportunities.

The ideal candidate has 2+ years of hands-on experience managing affiliate programs within major affiliate networks such as CJ, Impact, Rakuten, Awin, AvantLink, Partnerize, or similar platforms, and has a proven track record of growing programs through proactive partner recruitment and relationship development.

While this is a remote role, we strongly prefer candidates located in Southern California who can attend quarterly team off-sites and occasional in-person meetings.

Key Responsibilities:

Affiliate Program Management

• Manage a portfolio of affiliate programs for leading DTC eCommerce brands.
• Develop and execute strategic growth plans tailored to each client's goals and objectives.
• Monitor program performance and identify opportunities to drive revenue, partner activation, and incremental growth.
• Prepare and present monthly performance reports, strategic recommendations, and growth initiatives to clients.
• Maintain strong client relationships through proactive communication and consultative guidance.

Publisher Development & Recruitment

• Lead affiliate recruitment efforts across content, editorial, commerce media, loyalty, coupon, cashback, influencer, technology, and emerging partner categories.
• Identify, prospect, recruit, onboard, and activate new affiliate partners to expand program reach and performance.
• Build and maintain relationships with key publishers, editors, affiliate managers, and partnership decision-makers across the affiliate ecosystem.
• Negotiate placements, promotional opportunities, and strategic partnerships that drive meaningful revenue growth.
• Develop customized outreach strategies and recruitment campaigns to continuously grow each client's affiliate footprint.
• Leverage existing industry relationships and networks to accelerate publisher acquisition and activation.

Optimization & Strategy

• Analyze program and partner performance to identify optimization opportunities and growth levers.
• Collaborate with internal teams on promotions, product launches, editorial opportunities, and seasonal campaigns.
• Stay current on affiliate marketing trends, publisher developments, network updates, and competitive activity.
• Contribute to agency-wide best practices, recruitment processes, and strategic initiatives that enhance client performance.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of affiliate marketing experience managing programs within enterprise affiliate networks such as CJ, Impact, Rakuten, Awin, AvantLink, Partnerize, ShareASale, or similar platforms.
• Proven success recruiting, activating, and growing affiliate partnerships across multiple publisher categories.
• Strong understanding of the affiliate marketing ecosystem, including content publishers, commerce media, loyalty partners, deal sites, influencers, and technology partners.
• Experience developing and executing publisher recruitment strategies that drive measurable program growth.
• Excellent relationship-building, communication, and negotiation skills.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple client programs simultaneously.
• Data-driven mindset with experience analyzing performance metrics and translating insights into actionable recommendations.
• Self-starter who thrives in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.
• Existing publisher and affiliate industry relationships are highly preferred.
• Agency experience is strongly preferred.

Compensation & Benefits

• $70,000 – $95,000 base salary (DOE)
• Quarterly performance bonus opportunities
• Remote flexibility
• 401(k) with 4% company match
• Company-sponsored health benefits
• Generous PTO
• Access to leading affiliate and eCommerce industry events
• Professional development support and clear career growth opportunities

Why Join Ikon?

At Ikon, you'll have the opportunity to work with some of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands while helping shape the future of affiliate, creator, and partnership marketing. We're a collaborative, entrepreneurial team that values initiative, innovation, and results.

If you're passionate about building partnerships and driving growth through affiliate marketing, we'd love to hear from you.

To apply, please send your resume and a brief introduction to partnerships@ikondigitalmedia.com.

Ikon Digital Media is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace.