Senior Affiliate Manager

Role Overview

Maxima — parent company of Pro Standard — is hiring a Affiliate Manager to lead and scale our affiliate and creator partnerships program. You'll own the strategic side of the program — the architecture, the partner mix, the senior creator and athlete relationships — while mentoring our Junior Affiliate Influencer Manager. This is a relationship-driven role with deep operational discipline underneath. You'll work closely with the Brand & Social Lead on creator brand fit and with the Performance Marketing team on amplification opportunities (whitelist, spark).

What You'll Own

• The full affiliate program — strategy, structure, growth, and ongoing optimization.
• Strategic creator and athlete partnerships — the senior tier of relationships we don't have today and want to build.
• Onboarding new affiliates and creator partners — legal, technical, creative briefing, and the relationship work that makes the program land well.
• Affiliate platform management — Impact, ShareASale, PartnerStack, Awin, or any other platform we choose.
• Commission structure and deal architecture — flat vs. tiered, performance-bonus, exclusivity, term length, the pieces that shape long-term partner economics.
• Direct outreach, negotiation, and contracting with senior creators and athletes — this is hands-on relationship work, not just program management.
• Mentorship of the Junior Affiliate Influencer Manager — direction, growth conversations, and clear scope.
• Cross-functional partnership with the Brand & Social Lead on creator brand fit and approval cycles.
• Cross-functional partnership with the Performance Marketing Director on whitelist and spark amplification — deciding which creators get paid amplification dollars and why.
• Performance reporting — what the program contributes by partner tier, by channel, by content type.
• Campaign-aligned creator activations — when launches and brand moments need creator amplification, you build the partner roster.
• The roadmap — what creators we want next, what new program structures we want to test, what we want to retire.

Strategy Testing Mindset

This role is about building a creator program that compounds, not just running affiliate links. We're looking for someone who:

• Treats the partner roster as a portfolio — different tiers, different deal structures, different expectations for each.
• Designs partnerships with clear success criteria and graceful exit paths — not every partnership works, and that's fine.
• Tests deal structures (flat vs. tiered vs. performance), content angles, and amplification strategies with real measurement underneath.
• Holds the long view (creator-brand fit, sustained partnership value) and the daily numbers (revenue per partner, click-through, conversion) at the same time.
• Documents reasoning so the team learns what kind of partnerships actually drive long-term revenue, not just first-month spike.
• Is curious about why partnerships fail — fit, content, cadence, channel — and applies the learning.
• Knows when a partnership is worth investing more in (paid amplification, exclusive content) versus letting it run organic-only.

You should be comfortable laying out a six-month creator strategy and then quietly executing the next twelve outreach conversations without losing focus on the long arc.

Working With AI

Maxima uses AI tools to handle creator discovery, scoring, outreach drafting, and pipeline tracking. Your role is to direct that work, validate it, and bring the relationship judgment AI can't have. We're looking for someone who treats AI as a teammate that surfaces leads and patterns — and who applies their own taste and brand judgment to decide which partnerships to actually build.

Required Experience

• 5-7 years in affiliate, influencer, or creator marketing.
• DTC or ecommerce experience — apparel, sports, or streetwear preferred.
• Track record of growing affiliate-attributed revenue, with specific numbers you can discuss.
• Direct experience with affiliate platforms (Impact, ShareASale, PartnerStack, Awin, or equivalents).
• Creator and athlete contract negotiation experience.
• Comfortable mentoring junior team members.
• Strong existing creator and athlete network in the US, especially New York.

Nice to Have

• Athlete partnership experience — sponsorships, endorsements, or NIL-era deal structures.
• Sports, streetwear, or licensed apparel category fluency — you know the names that matter in our space.
• Experience with influencer whitelisting or spark ads (paid amplification).
• TikTok Shop or Amazon Influencer Program experience.
• Comfort presenting creator strategy and performance to executive leadership.

Why This Role Matters

Affiliate and creator-driven revenue is one of the most efficient growth channels we have when it's run well. Doing it strategically — with the right partner mix, deal architecture, and amplification choices — turns a supporting program into a meaningful revenue line.