Partnerships & Influencer Marketer (First Hire)

About the Role

This is a founding role for a Partnerships & Influencer Marketer at a bootstrapped consumer fintech company focused on credit building. You'll build the creator and affiliate acquisition channel entirely from scratch, owning the full deal lifecycle — from sourcing and negotiation through measurement and optimization — at a small, fast-moving company where this channel is already showing strong signal.

What You'll Do

• Source, vet, and negotiate deals with creators, influencers, and affiliate partners, driving toward performance-based and hybrid CPA structures.

• Own end-to-end partnership outcomes, including channel CPA and acquisition volume — not just deal count.

• Secure usage rights and whitelisting permissions in every deal, then feed creator content into paid social as Spark Ads and whitelisted placements alongside performance marketing teammates.

• Build and maintain a high-velocity pipeline from first contact through live placement, managing relationships and keeping deals on schedule.

• Read attribution and incrementality data (promo codes, vanity URLs, holdouts) to reprice deals, cut underperformers, and double down on what's working.

• Create scalable systems — deal templates, standard terms, partner scorecards, and processes — that allow this function to grow beyond one person.

• Extend brand reach through secondary channels including organic social, co-marketing, podcasts, and earned media with finance publishers, always with acquisition outcomes as the north star.

What We're Looking For

• 4+ years in influencer, affiliate, partnerships, or performance-partnership marketing at a consumer startup, with a demonstrated track record of deals that drove measurable acquisition.

• Proven ability to negotiate and close performance-based deals, including moving partners from flat-fee to CPA or hybrid structures.

• Fluency in performance data — CPA reports, incrementality readouts, attribution — with the ability to act on insights and defend channel numbers.

• Hands-on experience with creator content as paid media: whitelisting, Spark Ads, usage rights negotiation, and what makes in-feed creator assets convert.

• Experience structuring and scaling affiliate and performance partnership programs with publishers, comparison sites, and communities.

• Comfortable using AI tools to stay efficient and operate independently in a lean environment.

• Self-starter who thrives in ambiguity and takes full ownership of outcomes.

• Bonus: Experience in consumer fintech, credit, lending, or other regulated/consideration-heavy categories.

• Bonus: Hands-on experience with Meta Ads Manager or TikTok Ads Manager.

• Bonus: Experience building a partnerships or influencer function from the ground up.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary range: $120,000 – $200,000 USD annually. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

Location

Fully remote within the United States.