Director of Affiliate Partnerships

Role Description

Scale UENI's affiliate program from its current footprint to a step-change in US customer acquisition. UENI runs affiliate programs on PartnerStack and Impact today and has an established partner base. The job is to take this from where it is now to the scale that hosting companies achieved — hundreds to thousands of small content creators, bloggers, and tutorial publishers each driving steady signup volume — and to secure top-three placement on the comparison and review sites where micro-business owners go when researching website builders.

Year 1 outcomes

• Active affiliate base scaled from the current to a meaningful multiple, with sustained monthly attributable signup volume. Specific targets to be set in the first 30 days against the current program data.
• Top-three placement secured on at least five publishers such as:
  • Forbes Advisor (Small Business Website Builders)
  • NerdWallet
  • Tooltester
  • Website Builder Expert
  • Tom's Guide
  • PCMag
  • TechRadar
  • Wirecutter
  • CreateAProWebsite
  • Style Factory
  • WebsiteSetup
• Ten or more anchor publisher relationships with custom commercial terms, each producing 50+ attributable paid signups per month by month 12.
• Creator partner program with 30+ active vertical SMB creators on performance-weighted deal structures (no flat-fee sponsorships in year one).
• Affiliate channel delivering required US new-customer acquisition by the end of year one, at a blended CAC at or below an agreed target.

What you will do

• Month 1: Build the pipeline
  • Understand the product, the business, and how our partnerships/affiliate program is set up today.
  • Build the recruitment pipeline. Reverse-engineer the referring domains of Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, and Hostinger. Identify at least 300 priority recruitment targets.
• Months 1–3: Secure top-three editorial placements
  • Directly negotiate with editors at Forbes Advisor, NerdWallet, Tooltester, Website Builder Expert, and equivalent SMB-focused review publications. Secure top-three placement in their comparison content.
  • This is a sales motion as much as a partnerships one. You write the pitches, you present the case, you make the trade-offs (custom commercial terms, exclusive data, editorial access to product). You close.
• Months 2–6: Volume affiliate recruitment
  • Recruit at scale. The hosting playbook is built on volume: thousands of small affiliates each producing 1–10 signups per month. Get UENI's partner count in that range.
  • Build self-serve recruitment infrastructure: pre-built landing pages, content kits, a partner portal that allows onboarding without manual intervention.
  • Aggressively target categories where UENI is currently absent: "how to start a [trade] business" content sites, vertical SMB tutorial publishers, freelance designers and consultants who serve micro-business clients, accountants and bookkeepers serving SMBs.
  • Identify under-monetized vertical SMB creators on YouTube and TikTok: cleaning, lawn care, mobile detailing, food trucks, salons, Etsy sellers, bookkeepers serving SMBs, side hustle channels.
  • Negotiate performance-weighted deal structures (pure affiliate, recoupable advances, performance floors with upside, contest pools). No flat-fee sponsorship deals in year one.
  • Test, measure, kill the underperformers, double down on the winners. Build a working portfolio of 30+ creators by end of year one.
• Ongoing
  • Own weekly and monthly reporting on attributable signups, CAC, retention, and partner-level economics.
  • Run anti-fraud, dispute resolution, refund clawback processes, and partner support.
  • Quarterly business reviews with the top 20 partners.
  • Maintain the partnership commercial terms playbook — know what every competitor offers and where UENI sits on payout, cookie window, and partner support.

Qualifications

• 5+ years scaling an affiliate program at a hosting company, domain registrar, website builder, or SMB-focused SaaS. This is non-negotiable.
• Personally scaled a distributed affiliate program to $1M+ in attributable annual revenue.
• Long-tail affiliate recruitment at scale.
• Demonstrated track record securing editorial placement on major comparison and review sites.
• Advanced operator-level fluency with affiliate platforms like PartnerStack and/or Impact.
• Existing relationships with at least some of, for example: WPBeginner, Tooltester, Website Builder Expert, Authority Hacker, Adam Enfroy, Pat Flynn's team, Neil Patel's team, NerdWallet small business editorial, Forbes Advisor editorial, or comparable SMB content publishers.
• Strong commercial instincts.
• US-based or able to work full US business hours.

Strongly preferred (not required)

• Direct, hands-on experience integrating a hosting or SaaS product into a partner company's onboarding flow.
• Creator partnership program experience specifically with YouTube and TikTok vertical SMB creators on performance-weighted deals.

Where you may have worked

• Hosting and domains: Bluehost, HostGator, iPage, Newfold Digital, Hostinger, GoDaddy, Namecheap, DreamHost, A2 Hosting, WP Engine, Kinsta, Cloudways.
• Website builders: Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, Webflow, Duda, Strikingly, Jimdo.
• SMB SaaS with major affiliate programs: Shopify, ClickFunnels, Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign, Teachable, Thinkific.

Who you are

• An operator.
• A closer.
• Comfortable being within a small team.
• Self-directed.
• Detail-obsessed with the numbers.

This role is not for you if

• Your affiliate experience is e-commerce (Shopify, Amazon Associates) rather than SMB SaaS or hosting.
• You want to focus on a small number of large strategic deals.
• You expect inbound deal flow or pre-warmed introductions.
• You want to manage a team before producing results.
• You see this role as primarily about brand or content marketing.

How to apply

Send a note to View email address on remotive.com with three things:

• A one-paragraph summary of the largest affiliate program you have personally scaled — commission structure, top five partners by revenue, what made it work, what you would do differently.
• A specific example of an editorial placement you secured on a major comparison or review site — the publication, what you offered, and what the negotiation actually took.
• Three specific affiliates or publishers you would target first for UENI in your first 30 days, and why.

We will respond to every serious applicant within 5 business days.

Location:

Flexible

Compensation:

Competitive executive compensation and equity