Senior Manager, Affiliate Marketing

Role Summary

Caraway is looking for a Senior Manager, Affiliate Marketing to own and scale our affiliate marketing program for DTC, Amazon, retail and emerging channels as a core growth channel, driving revenue and audience growth. This role is responsible for building strong partnerships with publications & editors, affiliate networks, content publishers, deal sites, and creator-affiliates: turning them into a predictable, efficient source of revenue and brand reach.

This is a hands-on, individual-contributor-to-manager hybrid role for an independent, strategic thinker who's as comfortable pitching a compelling story to a publisher as they are negotiating a commission structure. The ideal candidate has a business-savvy, entrepreneurial approach to the channel. You see affiliate not just as a transactional revenue line, but as a storytelling and PR opportunity that can be built into a genuine publisher program. You understand both the strategic and operational sides of affiliate marketing: negotiating commission structures, optimizing placements, and using data to double down on what works.

This role reports to our Senior Director, Growth & Ecommerce. 

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end affiliate program, including strategy, partner recruitment, commission structuring, and performance optimization
• Lead the evolution of the affiliate channel in response to AI-powered search and agentic commerce, developing partnership strategies that increase brand visibility across traditional search, answer engines, AI assistants, and emerging shopping agents
• Manage relationship with our affiliate agency partner
• Manage relationships with affiliate networks (e.g. Impact, Rakuten, ShareASale, CJ) and key individual publisher/media partners
• Identify, recruit, and onboard new affiliate and content partners aligned with Caraway's brand and audience
• Cultivate and own relationships with commerce editors, affiliate publishers, and editorial teams to increase Caraway’s presence in product roundups, gift guides, seasonal moments, and evergreen commerce content that drives long-term affiliate revenue
• Identify, recruit, and onboard new affiliate, publisher, and content partners aligned with Caraway’s brand, audience, and growth strategy
• Collaborate closely with Caraway’s Brand Marketing team and external PR agency to align affiliate opportunities with product launches, campaigns, earned media, seasonal moments, and broader brand storytelling
• Develop and proactively pitch compelling product stories, exclusive offers, and editorial opportunities to commerce publishers, combining a PR mindset with performance marketing to secure high-impact affiliate placements
• Partner closely with the Influencer team to build a seamless bridge between creator partnerships and affiliate/commission-based programs
• Set and manage commission tiers, incentive structures, and promotional calendars to drive performance
• Analyze program performance (traffic, conversion, AOV, ROAS, incrementality) and report on KPIs to leadership
• Collaborate with Paid Media, Content, and Creative teams to ensure affiliate partners have the assets and offers they need
• Maintain a holistic view of the customer journey: understanding how affiliate and publisher touchpoints influence awareness, consideration and conversion, to inform where and how the program shows up
• Monitor competitive and industry trends to keep Caraway's Affiliate program best-in-class

Knowledge, Skills & Technical Proficiencies 

• 5+ years of experience in affiliate marketing, partnerships, or performance marketing, ideally in DTC/e-commerce
• Experience managing affiliate networks and platforms (Impact, Rakuten, ShareASale, CJ, or similar)
• Background in partnerships, PR or communications; with a strong sense of storytelling and what makes a pitch land with editors and publishers 
• Strong analytical skills; comfortable working in spreadsheets/dashboards to track performance and identify opportunities
• Excellent relationship-building and negotiation skills
• A self-starter who can operate autonomously and bring structure