Senior Strategist, Retail Media Partnerships

Job Description

Sr. Strategist, Retail Media Partnerships

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Surfside is the advertising operating system built for the retail majority, powering retail media and closed-loop measurement across more than 10,000 independent, regional, and specialty retailers. By aggregating fragmented retail supply into a single, addressable network and unifying first-party data, audience creation, media activation, and measurement into one platform, Surfside enables brands and retailers to reach verified shoppers and measure performance based on real outcomes.

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The Opportunity

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We are hiring a Senior Strategist to lead the strategy, RFP responses, and pitch development behind signing new retail partners. You will work alongside our sales and business development leaders to win retailers, from first meeting through proposal, commercial terms, and signed agreement.

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Retailers evaluating a retail media partner are making a multi-year decision that touches their data, their digital properties, their stores, and their P&L. They compare us against large retail media platforms, in-house builds, and point solutions. Your job is to understand each retailer's business well enough to show them a credible, specific path to new revenue, and to make Surfside the clear choice.

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Key Responsibilities

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• RFP and Proposal Ownership (Primary Focus): Own the response process for retailer RFPs and RFIs end to end. Coordinate inputs from Sales, Product, Engineering, Data, Legal, and Finance; manage timelines; and deliver responses that are complete, accurate, and tailored to the retailer's stated goals and scoring criteria. Build and maintain a reusable content library of answers, case studies, and technical documentation.
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• Retailer Pitch Strategy: Research each prospective retail partner's business, including store footprint, digital and app properties, loyalty and POS data, in-store screens, shopper base, and category mix. Translate that into a retailer-specific pitch: what their network could look like, which brands and categories would buy it, and how Surfside would operate it.
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• Business Case and Revenue Modeling: Build the financial case for each retailer, including projected media revenue, ramp timelines, revenue share scenarios, and the operating lift required on their side. Pressure-test assumptions so that what we present is defensible in front of a retailer's finance and executive team.
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• Solution Scoping: Work with Product and Engineering to scope integrations for each prospect: catalog and product feeds, first-party data onboarding, onsite and in-app placements, headless delivery via API and SDK, in-store screens, and closed-loop measurement. Make sure what we propose is what we can deliver.
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• Security, Privacy, and Compliance Reviews: Manage vendor security questionnaires, privacy and data processing reviews, and category-specific compliance questions (for example, beverage alcohol and cannabis advertising rules). Partner with Legal and Engineering to give procurement teams clear, accurate answers.
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• Pitch Materials and Playbooks: Build and refine partner pitch decks, one-sheets, proposal templates, and vertical-specific playbooks for convenience, travel centers, grocery, quick commerce, specialty retail, and other categories as we expand.
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• Competitive Intelligence: Track competing retail media platforms, in-house build approaches, and incumbent vendors. Arm the sales team with positioning, objection handling, and win/loss insights.
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• Deal Support Through Close: Support the sales team in executive presentations, follow-up sessions, commercial negotiations, and the handoff to onboarding, so that commitments made in the sales process carry through to launch.
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Qualifications

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• Retailer-Side Sales Support (Primary Requirement): 5+ years supporting the sale of retail media, adtech, marketing technology, or data/SaaS solutions to retailers, marketplaces, or commerce businesses, with direct involvement in winning retail partners.
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• RFP Experience: Proven track record managing complex, multi-stakeholder RFP responses and enterprise procurement processes, including security and privacy reviews.
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• Commercial Fluency: Comfortable building revenue models, revenue share structures, and business cases in spreadsheets, and presenting them to finance and executive audiences.
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• Retail Media Knowledge: Working understanding of how retail media networks operate: onsite sponsored products and display, offsite audience extension, in-store media, first-party data activation, and closed-loop measurement (ROAS, incrementality, sales attribution).
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• Retail Operations Understanding: Familiarity with how regional and mid-tier retailers operate, including store operations, category management, trade and vendor funding, loyalty programs, and ecommerce. Experience in convenience, grocery, delivery, or specialty retail is a strong plus.
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• Technical Aptitude: Able to discuss data feeds, APIs, integrations, and privacy requirements credibly with a retailer's technical team, and to know when to bring in an engineer.
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• Communication: Clear, precise writer and presenter who can turn a complex platform into a specific, credible proposal for a retailer's executive team.
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• Collaboration and Organization: Able to run multiple concurrent deals and RFPs against hard deadlines while coordinating across Sales, Product, Engineering, Legal, and Finance.
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• Education: Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Finance, Analytics, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
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What We Offer

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• Competitive compensation package with performance-based incentives.
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• Comprehensive benefits, including health, dental, vision, and 401(k).
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• A dynamic, supportive, and innovative work environment.
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• Flexible PTO.
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• Monthly wellness stipend.
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• The opportunity to shape how Surfside brings new retail partners onto the platform, with direct impact on company growth.
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Equal Opportunity Statement

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Surfside is an Equal Opportunity Employer and recognizes that a diverse workforce is crucial to our success as a business. We encourage and welcome you to apply irrespective of age, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, color, pregnancy, family responsibilities, national and social origin, political opinion, marital, veteran, or disability status.

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