Director of Affiliate Partnerships

The role. 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.

Why now. Bluehost, HostGator, and Hostinger did not reach scale through large integration partnerships. They reached scale through a distributed network of thousands of small affiliates and consistent top-three placement on every "best website builder" comparison list. Bluehost pays out over $5M annually in affiliate commissions across thousands of bloggers, YouTubers, and tutorial sites. That playbook has not been run for a horizontal website builder focused on service-based micro-businesses. You will run it.

Reports to. CEO.

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 setup 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.

What you must have

• 5+ years scaling an affiliate program at a hosting company, domain registrar, website builder, or SMB-focused SaaS. This is non-negotiable. We are not training someone to learn this category.

• Personally scaled a distributed affiliate program to $1M+ in attributable annual revenue. You can talk us through the commission structure you designed, the top partners by revenue, and what you would change if starting over.

• Long-tail affiliate recruitment at scale. You have personally onboarded dozens of small affiliates, not just managed the top 10.

• Demonstrated track record securing editorial placement on major comparison and review sites — Forbes Advisor, NerdWallet, Tooltester, Website Builder Expert, Tom's Guide, PCMag, or equivalent. You can name specific placements you secured and describe what the negotiation took.

• Advanced operator-level fluency with affiliate platforms like PartnerStack and/or Impact. Not user familiarity. You can configure complex commission structures, set up anti-fraud rules, build attribution logic, and pull and interpret cohort-level partner performance reports.

• 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. You think in CAC, LTV, payback, cohort retention, and refund rate by partner. You will defend channel investment with numbers.

• US-based or able to work full US business hours. The affiliate ecosystem is US-anchored; this role requires real-time access to it.

Strongly preferred (not required)

• Direct, hands-on experience integrating a hosting or SaaS product into a partner company's onboarding flow. If you have done it, we want to hear about it; if you have not, do not propose it.

• Creator partnership program experience specifically with YouTube and TikTok vertical SMB creators on performance-weighted deals.

Where you may have worked

We expect strong candidates to come from one or more of:

• 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. You will personally handle affiliate outreach for at least the first six months. You write the cold emails, you take the editor calls, you negotiate the terms.

• A closer. Your reputation in the industry is that you make deals happen. You have personally negotiated terms with named publishers, not just supervised others doing it.

• Comfortable being within a small team. You will not have a team beyond the two marketing members and the CEO, with whom you will collaborate regularly. 

• Self-directed. You build the strategy. You propose it to the CEO. You execute it.

• Detail-obsessed with the numbers. You can talk through a P&L of an affiliate program down to the commission structure, refund rate by partner, and quarterly cohort performance.

This role is not for you if

• Your affiliate experience is e-commerce (Shopify, Amazon Associates) rather than SMB SaaS or hosting. The motions are different.

• 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 recruiting@ueni.com with three things:

• 1. 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.

• 2. 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.

• 3. 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