Director of Social and Influencer Marketing

About Citizens Pet

At Citizens Pet, we create thoughtfully crafted food and treats designed to help pets live healthier, happier lives. Across every brand in our portfolio, we're guided by a simple belief: pets deserve better. 

We combine purposeful nutrition, high-quality ingredients, and rigorous manufacturing standards to create products pet parents can trust. Our products are made in our own U.S.-based facilities, giving us direct oversight of sourcing, production, quality, and food safety. Backed by more than 25 years of expertise in air-dried pet food, we bring deep category knowledge and a commitment to innovation, quality, and nutrition to everything we create.

Our family of brands includes Plato Pet Treats, thoughtfully simple treats made with real ingredients; Furry Republic, playful, nutrient-rich treats crafted with whole food ingredients; and Unconditional, elevated daily nutrition built on uncompromising quality.

Position

The Director of Social & Influencer Marketing will lead the strategy, development, and execution of social media, influencer marketing, creator partnerships, ambassador programs, affiliate initiatives, and community-building efforts across the Citizens Pet portfolio.

This role is responsible for building a modern social and creator ecosystem that drives brand awareness, engagement, ecommerce growth, retail support, and consumer loyalty. A key focus will be establishing scalable influencer and user-generated content (UGC) capabilities, including evaluating and implementing creator platforms, developing creator recruitment and ambassador programs, and creating measurement frameworks that drive business impact.

This role will set the vision for how Citizens Pet and its brands show up across social media, creator channels, and online communities, helping drive brand awareness, advocacy, engagement, and long-term brand growth.

This is a strategic and hands-on leadership role within a fast-growing scale-up environment. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable developing long-term strategies and rolling up their sleeves to execute campaigns, recruit creators, analyze performance, build processes, and launch new programs from the ground up. 

The Director of Social & Influencer Marketing will partner closely with Brand, Creative, PR, eCommerce, Retail Sales, Customer Experience, and external agency partners to deliver integrated campaigns and compelling social-first storytelling that strengthens emotional connections with modern pet parents.

Key Responsibilities

Social & Creator Strategy

• Develop and lead social media, influencer, affiliate, ambassador, and community strategies across the Citizens Pet portfolio.
• Lead the development of social-first content strategies, campaigns, and recurring content series that support key brand, product launch, retail, and seasonal priorities.
• Establish channel, content, and creator strategies that support brand awareness, product launches, retail initiatives, and ecommerce growth.
• Define social content priorities and channel strategies across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Amazon, and emerging platforms.
• Identify opportunities to expand Citizens Pet's presence across emerging platforms, creator ecosystems, and social commerce channels.
• Monitor cultural trends, platform changes, and consumer behavior to identify new opportunities for engagement and growth.

Influencer, Creator & UGC Program Development

• Build and scale influencer, ambassador, affiliate, veterinary, and creator programs across key social platforms.
• Lead the evaluation, selection, implementation, and optimization of influencer marketing, creator management, affiliate, and UGC recruitment platforms.
• Develop scalable creator sourcing, onboarding, content management, licensing, and performance measurement processes.
• Manage creator relationships, outreach, negotiations, contracts, gifting, content approvals, and campaign execution.
• Lead creator seeding, gifting, affiliate, and ambassador programs that generate authentic advocacy and high-performing content.
• Partner with Creative and eCommerce teams to maximize the value of creator-generated content across paid, owned, retail, ecommerce, and Amazon channels.
• Identify opportunities to connect Citizens Pet brands with relevant cultural moments, trends, and communities in authentic and meaningful ways.

Campaigns, Community & Partnerships

• Collaborate cross-functionally to deliver integrated campaigns, product launches, experiential activations, trade shows, retailer support programs, and community initiatives.
• Develop strategies that strengthen engagement, loyalty, and advocacy within the Citizens Pet community.
• Partner with Customer Experience and Social teams to identify opportunities to surprise and delight consumers, creators, and brand advocates.
• Develop both digital and in-person creator engagement opportunities, including events, activations, trade shows, and community experiences.
• Ensure all creator content and partnerships align with brand standards, legal requirements, and campaign objectives.

Analytics & Operations

• Establish KPIs, reporting frameworks, and performance benchmarks across social and influencer programs.
• Track campaign performance, creator effectiveness, engagement, traffic, conversion, and ROI.
• Share performance insights, learnings, and recommendations through regular reporting and cross-functional presentations.
• Manage social, influencer, creator, gifting, and activation budgets to maximize impact and efficiency.
• Maintain agency relationships, creator databases, contracts, reporting, and program documentation.

Education & Experience

• 7 years of experience in social media, influencer marketing, creator partnerships, digital marketing, or brand marketing within CPG, lifestyle, wellness, pet, or consumer brands.
• Proven experience developing and scaling social media and influencer programs from strategy through execution.
• Experience evaluating and implementing influencer marketing, affiliate, creator management, and UGC platforms.
• Strong understanding of creator marketing, social commerce, content licensing, affiliate ecosystems, and digital storytelling.
• Strong point of view on what makes exceptional social, creator, and community programs, with deep knowledge of emerging platforms, creator trends, and consumer behavior.
• Experience managing budgets and making investment decisions across social, influencer, creator, and community initiatives.
• Excellent project management, relationship-building, communication, presentation, and analytical skills.
• Highly proactive, resourceful, and entrepreneurial, with the ability to thrive in a fast-paced growth environment.
• Equally comfortable developing strategic plans and executing programs in a hands-on environment.
• Passion for pets, modern consumer culture, and community-driven brand building.

• This is a hybrid/remote role within a fast-paced, collaborative scale-up environment. Candidates located in the Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona metro area are preferred; however, remote candidates with relevant experience will be considered.