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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Affiliate Account Manager

💰 $50,000 - $95,000

MarketingAdvertisingPartnershipsSales

🎯 Role Definition

An Affiliate Account Manager is responsible for building, managing, and scaling affiliate and partner relationships to drive revenue and profitable customer acquisition. This role combines account management, performance marketing, analytics, and commercial negotiation to optimize partner ROI across affiliate networks, direct publishers, influencers, and CPA/CPL/CPS channels. The Affiliate Account Manager collaborates with product, creative, legal, and BI teams to maintain accurate tracking, reduce fraud, and continuously improve campaign performance and lifetime value (LTV).

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Affiliate Coordinator or Affiliate Marketing Coordinator
  • Performance Marketing / Paid Acquisition Specialist
  • Sales Account Coordinator or Junior Partnership Manager

Advancement To:

  • Senior Affiliate Manager / Lead Affiliate Manager
  • Partnerships Director or Head of Affiliate Marketing
  • Head of Performance Marketing / Growth Lead

Lateral Moves:

  • Paid Search / SEM Manager
  • Channel Marketing Manager
  • Influencer or Creator Partnerships Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Manage a portfolio of affiliate partners (networks, content publishers, coupon & cashback sites, influencers) end-to-end, acting as the primary point of contact to grow revenue, increase conversion rates, and improve partner retention.
  • Develop and execute channel strategies and quarterly plans for affiliate marketing that align with company revenue goals, acquisition targets, and ROI/CAC objectives.
  • Recruit, vet, and onboard new affiliates and partner agencies, negotiating commercial terms (CPA, CPL, CPS, revenue share) and setting performance expectations and KPIs.
  • Set up, validate, and maintain tracking and attribution (S2S, postback, pixel, GTM) across affiliate networks (Impact, Awin, CJ, Partnerize, Rakuten) to ensure accurate conversion measurement and commission reconciliation.
  • Monitor and analyze affiliate performance daily and weekly using GA4, Looker/Tableau, internal BI, and native network dashboards to identify trends, growth opportunities, and at-risk partners.
  • Execute promotional calendars and partner-specific marketing plans including exclusive offers, coupon codes, seasonal campaigns, and co-branded creative to drive incremental volume.
  • Optimize landing pages and conversion funnels in partnership with CRO/product teams to improve EPC (earnings per click), CR (conversion rate), and average order value (AOV).
  • Implement A/B and multivariate tests with partners to improve creative, offers, placement, and funnel performance; quantify uplift and scale winning variants.
  • Manage partner payouts, billing accuracy, commission disputes, and ensure timely invoicing reconciliation with finance.
  • Conduct regular performance reviews and business reviews with strategic partners including scorecards, action plans, and joint growth roadmaps.
  • Detect and mitigate affiliate fraud and compliance issues (bots, cookie stuffing, incentivized conversion violations), working with compliance and legal teams to enforce program policies.
  • Create and maintain partner onboarding materials, best-practice guides, creative asset packs, and API documentation to accelerate partner ramp.
  • Negotiate and close premium partnerships, exclusive arrangements, and strategic integrations to expand channel reach and secure preferred placements.
  • Forecast affiliate channel revenue, model cost-per-acquisition scenarios, and provide input to monthly and quarterly budget planning.
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with paid media, email, SEO, product, and customer success to coordinate multi-channel campaigns and avoid tagging/attribution conflicts.
  • Lead partner-facing enablement sessions, training webinars, and roadmap updates to educate affiliates on product changes, offers, and compliance requirements.
  • Prioritize partner investments by building and maintaining a scorecard based on ROI, margin, growth potential, and strategic fit.
  • Manage technical escalations with engineering and product teams to resolve tracking discrepancies, attribution mismatches, or integration issues.
  • Provide detailed and actionable reporting on LTV, cohort performance, churn, and subscriber metrics to inform partner negotiations and creative strategies.
  • Execute localization strategies for cross-border partners including currency, tax, legal/regulatory compliance (GDPR, CCPA), and language-specific creatives.
  • Maintain an up-to-date competitive intelligence file on affiliate channels, competitor offers, typical commission structures, and promotions to inform strategic pricing and offers.
  • Develop and enforce program policies, terms and conditions, and partner contracts to protect brand integrity and align incentives.
  • Support senior leadership with strategic initiatives such as launching new verticals, expanding into new geographies, or piloting influencer affiliate models.

Secondary Functions

  • Prepare executive-level monthly reports and presentations summarizing affiliate program health, top movers, and strategic recommendations for senior leadership.
  • Assist marketing operations with tag governance, QA testing of new creatives and landing pages, and release notes for partner-impacting platform updates.
  • Contribute to affiliate program documentation, playbooks, and SOPs to capture institutional knowledge and speed up onboarding.
  • Support ad-hoc analysis requests from analytics, finance, or product teams related to partner contribution to revenue and unit economics.
  • Participate in vendor selection and evaluation for tracking, fraud detection, and affiliate management platforms.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Affiliate network platforms: Impact, Awin, CJ Affiliate, Partnerize, Rakuten — setup, reconciliation, and optimization.
  • Performance marketing fundamentals: CPA/CPL/CPS models, EPC, AOV, ROAS, LTV/CAC.
  • Tracking & attribution: server-to-server (S2S), postback, cookies, SKAdNetwork basics, and multi-touch attribution concepts.
  • Analytics & reporting: Google Analytics 4, Looker, Tableau, Excel/Sheets (pivot tables, VLOOKUP, advanced formulas).
  • Tag management: Google Tag Manager (GTM) and pixel implementation verification.
  • Basic SQL for ad-hoc queries and cohort analysis; competency to translate business questions into data pulls.
  • Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) and A/B testing frameworks.
  • Familiarity with fraud detection and affiliate compliance tools and patterns.
  • CRM and partner portals: Salesforce, HubSpot, or internal partner management systems.
  • Commercial negotiation and contract drafting skills for partnership agreements.
  • Basic HTML/CSS understanding for troubleshooting creative and tracking tag placements.
  • Experience with subscription models and recurring revenue measurement is a plus.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional relationship-building and partner-facing communication: proactive, strategic, and customer-obsessed.
  • Strong analytical mindset: converts data into actionable insights and prioritized tactics.
  • Results-driven and KPI-focused orientation with a bias for measurable impact.
  • Excellent negotiation and commercial acumen to structure win-win deals.
  • Project management and organizational skills: able to manage concurrent partner projects and deadlines.
  • Adaptability in fast-paced, cross-functional environments and ability to manage ambiguity.
  • High attention to detail, especially around tracking accuracy and billing reconciliation.
  • Persuasive presentation skills for business reviews and executive updates.
  • Problem-solving mindset and resilience when handling escalations and technical issues.
  • Collaborative team player who can influence without direct authority.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Economics, Communications, or a related field — or equivalent professional experience in affiliate/partnership roles.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree plus certifications or continuing education in digital marketing, analytics, or e-commerce; MBA or master’s degree a plus for senior roles.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Marketing / Digital Marketing
  • Business Administration / Management
  • Economics / Statistics
  • E-commerce / Retail Management
  • Communications / Public Relations

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 2–5 years of hands-on affiliate marketing, performance marketing, or account management experience.

Preferred:

  • 3–7+ years managing affiliate programs, direct partnerships, or performance channels with proven revenue growth, negotiation experience, and technical tracking knowledge. Experience with top affiliate networks and subscription/e-commerce verticals is highly desirable.
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