Associate Director of Affiliate Marketing

Aragon Advertising•New York, NY

About The Position

The Associate Director of Affiliate Marketing will lead the Vibrant Performance team and own the strategy, execution, and growth of the agency's affiliate and influencer marketing programs. This is a highly hands-on leadership role combining client strategy, affiliate recruitment, program growth, operational execution, and people management. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable developing a growth strategy, launching a new client program, recruiting high-value partners, analyzing performance, and coaching a team. You will have direct accountability for the growth and performance of agency-managed affiliate programs, the success of key client relationships, and the operational infrastructure needed to scale the function.

Requirements

6+ years of experience in affiliate marketing, influencer marketing, performance marketing, or a closely related field.
Experience working in an agency environment with responsibility for multiple clients or programs.
Proven experience launching, managing, and scaling affiliate programs.
Strong track record of affiliate/publisher recruitment and partner development.
Experience working with CPA-based performance models and optimizing partner performance.
Prior people-management experience, including managing employees and/or contractors.
Strong client-facing communication and stakeholder management skills.
Highly organized, detail-oriented, and process-driven, with experience developing and implementing SOPs.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a focus on measurable performance and ROI.
Ability to operate independently and make sound decisions in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
Demonstrated ownership mentality and willingness to be hands-on when needed.

Nice To Haves

Experience at an affiliate, influencer, or performance marketing agency.
Experience in fintech, finance, insurance, home services, or other regulated/performance-sensitive verticals.
Familiarity with affiliate tracking networks, partner management platforms, influencer platforms, and reporting/analytics tools.
Experience scaling affiliate programs, teams, or operational processes during periods of rapid agency growth.
Existing relationships with relevant publishers, affiliates, influencers, or traffic partners.

Responsibilities

Lead affiliate and influencer strategy across agency-managed client programs.
Own the growth and performance of onboarded and active affiliate partners.
Develop and execute partner recruitment strategies across publishers, affiliates, influencers, and other relevant traffic sources.
Identify new partners, channels, offers, and traffic opportunities that can drive incremental client growth.
Evaluate partner performance and develop strategies to improve activation, conversion, volume, and profitability.
Identify and execute scaling opportunities while maintaining program quality and performance.
Stay current on affiliate, influencer, and performance marketing trends, platforms, and acquisition strategies.
Oversee end-to-end affiliate program launches, including onboarding, offer setup, tracking, partner activation, and go-live execution.
Serve as the day-to-day strategic lead for key client accounts.
Build trusted client relationships and ensure affiliate strategies align with business objectives, KPIs, and growth targets.
Lead regular performance reviews and provide actionable insights, recommendations, and growth plans.
Proactively identify risks, challenges, and opportunities and communicate them clearly to clients and internal stakeholders.
Ensure client programs are executed with a high degree of accuracy, responsiveness, and accountability.
Lead and manage a team of 2 full-time employees and 2 independent contractors, with the opportunity to grow the team as the business scales.
Establish clear priorities, goals, workflows, and accountability across the team.
Coach team members on affiliate strategy, partner management, client communication, and performance optimization.
Provide regular feedback and support professional development.
Build a high-performance culture focused on ownership, execution, and measurable outcomes.
Develop team capabilities and processes that allow the affiliate function to scale efficiently.
Execute and enforce existing SOPs across affiliate operations, client management, partner workflows, launches, reporting, and compliance.
Identify operational gaps, inefficiencies, and areas for improvement.
Develop, document, and implement new SOPs and workflows as the agency grows.
Establish processes that improve consistency, speed, quality, and scalability.
Maintain operational rigor across tracking, reporting, partner management, launches, and ongoing program optimization.
Partner with leadership to improve the systems and infrastructure supporting the affiliate business.
Collaborate closely with leadership, account management, media, analytics, creative, and other teams to drive client success.
Align affiliate initiatives with broader client and agency growth objectives.
Share performance insights, market intelligence, and best practices across the organization.
Support capacity planning and prioritization as client and program volume grows.