Account Director, Affiliate Public Relations – Consumer Brands

Account Director, Affiliate Public Relations – Consumer Brands

LOCATION: This is a full-time, direct hire role.  We seek qualified applicants who live in the NYC metropolitan area who will work 1 day a week in office + work 4 days a week from home.  This role is part of the FINN Partners RKPR Department in the consumer public relations operations within our agency’s NY office.

We are looking for an affiliate earned media relations expert, with 6+ years of prior success in PR agency-based consumer public relations building and managing scalable revenue growth public relations strategies that transform earned media placements into high performing revenue channels for clients in the consumer goods sector, where your depth of work experience has resulted in outstanding partnerships with top-tier publishers and influencers who have acquired high-value consumers for clients that drive client business success. 

The Account Director – Affiliate PR position will manage affiliate PR strategies and program execution and achieve scalable growth for innovative national and global clients in the food, beverage, wellness lifestyle, consumer wearable tech and household technology, and consumer packaged goods sectors.  You will oversee planning and execution of: client affiliate PR and marketing programs, new business development, earned storytelling integration, and RKPR junior level public relations staff mentorship and career development.  This Director will report to and collaborate directly with RKPR senior leadership.  There may be occasional work travel (regional – national - global).  Come join our award-winning, strategic, high-growth PR agency, where you’ll thrive, bring new ideas, positivity, kindness, and your collaborative spirit to work – and be a superstar in our RKPR successful team! 

Responsibilities:

• Drive scalable revenue growth by designing and executing a comprehensive affiliate strategy that transforms earned media placements into high-performing revenue channels, and that consistently hits aggressive monthly and annual GMV (gross merchandise volume) targets for a diverse portfolio of clients.
• Acquire high-value consumers for our clients by leveraging data-driven insights to identify and partner with top-tier publishers and influencers; focus on strategic customer acquisition that lowers CAC (customer acquisition cost) while expanding brand reach into untapped market segments.
• Manage and optimize client presence across major affiliate networks and sub-networks (e.g., Skimlinks, Impact, ShareASale, CJ, Rakuten, LTK), ensuring commission structures, deep links, and tracking parameters are correctly configured for press coverage.
• Audit and advise clients on competitive baseline commission rates, custom publisher rates, and cookie windows to ensure brand offerings are attractive to top-tier commerce editors.
• Build and maintain active relationships specifically with commerce editors, affiliate managers and teams across major digital publishing houses (e.g., Dotdash Meredith, Hearst, Condé Nast, BDG, CNN Underscored).
• Negotiate higher/bespoke commission rates, exclusive product launch windows, and flat-fee hybrid deals (paid + performance) with high-converting publisher networks.
• Track, analyze, and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) beyond traditional PR metrics—focusing on click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, return on ad spend (ROAS), average order value (AOV), and overall affiliate-driven revenue.
• Leverage affiliate-specific PR tools and tech platforms (e.g., BuzzShift, Trackonomics, Koji) to measure cross-channel impact and demonstrate clear ROAS to client leadership.
• Serve as the subject matter expert (SME) internally, training PR team members on affiliate mechanics, compliance, and pitch structuring to embed performance thinking across the agency.
• Onboard new clients by assessing their technical and operational readiness for affiliate PR (e.g., inventory capacity, shop platform integrations, margin flexibility) before campaign launch.
• Master earned storytelling integration by being the bridge between performance marketing and traditional PR; secure high-authority editorial commerce content placements and ensure that affiliate links are seamlessly embedded within authentic brand-elevating narratives that drive both trust a