Senior Manager, Partnerships (Influencer & Affiliate), Strategy & Design

At Front Row, we partner with leading brands to accelerate their ecommerce growth. We leverage our capabilities and proprietary technology to design, market, distribute and accelerate brands on a global scale.  We’re continually cultivating functional areas of expertise and retaining the highest caliber of talent — while sharing knowledge and data, creating efficiencies, and looking at every aspect of our client’s business from a 360 perspective. 

We work effectively to give every client the hands-on support, niche knowledge, and first-access they need to win in the world’s most competitive commerce markets and make each of our six capabilities the first to act on the next big things. We live for the exchange of energy between brands and audiences, you should too, and we’ve made it our mission to expand every brand’s market share and heart share. Because we believe every transaction has the potential to be transformational. 

Based in San Diego, California, our content creation & digital marketing agency specializes in the beauty, health, and wellness industry and offers 360 marketing services, including social media marketing, content creation, influencer/creator marketing, paid digital media, creative development, email marketing, and website development. We look at the digital space with a wide-angle lens — making us uniquely qualified to expand and elevate our client’s digital reach while delivering consistency across performance marketing, social marketing, influencer/creator marketing, email marketing and CRM. 

With over $17M in revenue, the current team is over 80 people.  Top clients include Jergens, Bio-Oil, Rimmel, Olaplex, and JLo Beauty.  The San Diego office also has its own studio for shoots, which is a key part of the client offering, developing ongoing social content, email marketing assets, social and streaming ads, photography and video for everything from evergreen messages to product launches.

We lead with instinct. We validate with evidence. And we value add for everyone. 

Job Overview:

As the Sr. Manager, Partnerships, you will be a part of an innovative, fast-paced team dedicated to producing exciting and engaging experiences that reflect a variety of our client’s brand values. Bringing your creative and analytical skills to the position, you will be responsible for the ideation, planning, and execution of the vision for influencer/creator marketing and complementary 360 campaign strategy to expand brand awareness and drive engagement, acquisition, and retention. 

Collaborating cross functionally across teams such as Social Media, Performance Marketing, TikTok Shop, Amazon and DTC you will contribute an in-depth understanding of the influencer/creator landscape and effective creator-first content, driving brand love and brand affinity through a data-first approach. You will lead big picture strategic thinking focused on business and brand-awareness drivers, developing and communicating with an analytical based approach and data-informed decision making. This position requires someone who has a passion for influencer/creator marketing, analytics, and new social platforms. You will report to the Sr. Director, Digital Growth.

Responsibilities: 

Partnership Strategy

• Architect and oversee paid and organic influencer/creator marketing strategy for all key accounts including awareness initiatives supporting brand tentpoles, as well as, consideration pushes to aid priority retailer moments.
• Manage and lead all partnership programming across clients, owning all aspects of the process including talent sourcing, contracts, negotiations, content briefing and final delivery of content.
• Drive accelerated growth and build brand advocacy via influencer/creator led social and digital communications setting and tracking KPIs across influencer initiatives, using data to guide strategy and optimize performance.

• Manage and optimize campaign budgets, forecasting and analyzing return on investment for key launches.

• Translate brand priorities into compelling influencer campaign platforms that connect with core audiences and inspire action.
• Lead creative concepting for always-on and tentpole influencer initiatives, ensuring ideas are insight-driven, socially native, and platform-relevant. Writing inspiring creative briefs and collaborating with influencers and creators to produce authentic, engaging content that feels native to each platform.
• Continuously evolve influencer creative approach in alignment with broader marketing strategy and retail focuses.
• Utilize influencer/creator analytics platforms and survey competitive landscape to share insights and trends to create data-driven strategies and best in class programming.

Cross-Agency Integration & Influence

• Partner with brand and media AORs to champion partnership programming as a strategic channel within integrated campaigns. Collaborate with PR partners to align influencer and press moments, amplifying launches and key cultural moments.
• Act as a consultative partner in shaping how influencers and creators show up across omnichannel retail and marketing moments.
• Report regularly to leadership on progress, insights, and emerging opportunities.
• Collaborate with social and performance teams to ensure cohesive storytelling, alignment with brand strategy, and consistent delivery of KPIs.

Content Governance & Quality Control

• Establish and maintain clear creative guidelines tailored to influencer content while protecting brand integrity.
• Review and approve influencer creative, ensuring alignment with brand standards, tone of voice, and legal compliance.
• Maintain a constant pulse on the influencer landscape education via thought leadership communication, staying atop of shifts in the industry and emerging trends and being able to translate to client business.
• Utilize analytics and testing frameworks to measure campaign effectiveness and inform ongoing media decisions.
• Develop standards, expertise and best practices to inform and scale across all marketing and channel platforms. Establish rules of the road within and outside of the influencer/creator marketing department, creating and implementing processes and timelines and owning big picture 360 go-to-market strategies.

Service Building & Leadership

• Manage direct reports and oversee day-to-day execution of campaigns and partnership programming across clients.
• Work hand-in-hand with business development to develop case studies, white papers, etc to fuel new client flywheel.
• Build relationships with talent agencies and representatives - making appointments, ideating relationship cultivating initiatives, and ensuring Front Row is at the forefront of talent innovation.
• Manage relationships with Creator platform reps (i.e. Creator IQ).
• Take charge of how we are optimizing and growing both our internal partnership networks.

Requirements

• 5-6 years of relevant Agency experience in communications, influencer/creator marketing and PR or related roles including direct experience owning and operating high-growth influencer/creator programs.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, specifically a capacity for collaboration.
• Expert problem solving, prioritization, and decision-making capabilities.
• Strong skills to lead and collaborate with individuals having diverse priorities and goals.
• Proven leadership in guiding and effectively communicating with peers and team members.
• Excellent capability in self-drive, motivation, and emotional management.
• Experience in managing director reports.
• Great at building relationships with clients and prospects. 
• Entrepreneur mind focused on growing current client relationships and new business.
• Innovative thinker.
• Proficient in relevant platforms needed (i.e.: CreatorIQ)

What Success Looks Like:

• Optimize overall strategy for both internal and external processes surrounding partnership programming.
• Stepchange in creator/influencer work we have already done
• Optimize reporting structures and how we storytell the ROI of our partnership programming
• Establish and nurture relationships with top talent agencies 
• Contribute to thought leadership - PR and Marketing 
• Contribute to large pitches

Benefits

• Health, dental, and vision
• PTO
• 401K matching
• Summer Fridays
• Wellness and commuter benefits
• Work with a fun, consultative team of experts
• Location - headquartered in SoHo, New York City with offices in San Diego, Hamburg and Bratislava

Salary: $105,000 - $120,000