Affiliate and Partnerships Manager, Performance Marketing

About the Role

As a member of the Performance Marketing team, this role owns Step's affiliate and partner marketing program end-to-end. You'll manage and scale our presence on affiliate networks like Impact, recruit and onboard new partners, launch our creator affiliate network, build the tracking infrastructure that makes performance measurable, and optimize commission structures and placements to drive efficient acquisition. Equally important, you'll build and grow a portfolio of direct partnerships that operate entirely outside of affiliate networks, identifying distribution opportunities, negotiating custom deals, and structuring programs from scratch with publishers, creators, brands, and emerging platforms. You'll own the full commercial and operational lifecycle of every partnership, from pricing negotiations and contract execution through invoicing, budget management, creative approvals, and QA tracking. This role is right for someone who can close a deal, build a program, and keep the operational engine running behind it all.

In this role, you will:

• Own and scale Step's affiliate program on Impact and other relevant networks, recruiting and onboarding new partners across publishers, cashback platforms, comparison sites, and content creators, and continuously optimizing commission structures, placements, and incentives to improve CAC
• Build, launch, and scale the affiliate creator program at the company backed by the biggest creator on Earth
• Negotiate pricing, payout terms, and deal parameters across all partnership types, and manage the end-to-end contract process including coordinating reviews, approvals, and maintaining records of all active agreements
• Build and manage a portfolio of direct partnerships outside of affiliate networks, owning the full process from cold outreach through deal negotiation, program design, and ongoing management, spanning publishers, newsletters, media properties, and co-marketing campaigns
• Develop Step's presence in emerging distribution channels, including AI-driven discovery and recommendation surfaces, identifying and securing placements as these platforms grow in reach and influence
• Work with creators and influencers on longer-term direct partnership arrangements, managing relationships, deliverables, and performance outside of a traditional affiliate model
• Own invoicing and budget management for the program, approving partner invoices, reconciling payouts against performance, and keeping spend tracked and on budget
• Build and maintain tracking setups across all partners, ensuring accurate attribution and clean data, and conduct regular QA to catch discrepancies, broken links, and attribution errors before they affect reporting or payouts
• Lead creative development for partner assets, own the review and approval process for brand and regulatory compliance, monitor placements for FTC violations and off-brand activity, and partner with legal on financial-product marketing claims.
• Report on program performance regularly, translating partner-level data into clear takeaways and recommendations for the broader growth team.

You might thrive in this role if you have:

• 4+ years of experience managing affiliate or partner marketing programs, ideally at a consumer app, fintech, or growth-stage startup
• Hands-on experience with impact or a comparable affiliate network, including program setup, partner onboarding, tracking configuration, and commission management
• Demonstrated experience building direct partnership programs from scratch, including identifying the right partners, negotiating deal structures, and executing contracts through to completion
• Comfortable owning program financials, including budget tracking, invoice approvals, and payout reconciliation across a large and varied partner set
• Strong understanding of affiliate and partnership tracking mechanics, including link attribution, postback setups, pixel-based tracking, and MMP integrations, with hands-on experience conducting tracking QA and resolving attribution issues. Experience with AppsFlyer or a comparable MMP is a plus, as is familiarity with GA4
• Experience managing creative development and approval workflows with a strong grasp of brand standards, FTC disclosure rules, and financial marketing compliance, and a sharp eye for fraud and non-compliant promotional activity
• Familiarity with creator and influencer partnership models and how they complement a broader affiliate and direct partnership program
• Strong communicator and relationship builder, comfortable managing partners at all levels from independent creators to large media companies, and analytical and organized enough to manage a high volume of partners, contracts, and projects while making clear decisions from performance data

Logistics

Location:  Remote (US) or San Mateo, CA, with occasional travel for team offsites and key meetings

Education: Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience

We encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every single qualification. Strong candidates rarely check every box, and we'd rather meet you than miss you.