Account Director, Affiliate Public Relations – Consumer Brands

Location: New York, NY. This is a full-time, hybrid role requiring 1 day per week in-office and 4 days remote. Applicants must reside in the NYC metropolitan area.

About the role

We are seeking an affiliate earned-media relations expert with 6+ years of PR agency experience in consumer public relations. The Account Director will manage affiliate PR strategies and program execution to achieve scalable revenue growth for national and global clients in food, beverage, wellness lifestyle, consumer wearable tech, household technology, and consumer packaged goods sectors. This role reports to RKPR senior leadership and includes occasional regional, national, or global travel.

Responsibilities

• Drive scalable revenue growth by designing and executing a comprehensive affiliate strategy that transforms earned media placements into high-performing revenue channels, consistently hitting aggressive monthly and annual GMV (gross merchandise volume) targets.
• Acquire high-value consumers for clients by leveraging data-driven insights to partner with top-tier publishers and influencers, lowering CAC (customer acquisition cost) while expanding brand reach.
• Manage and optimize client presence across major affiliate networks (e.g., Skimlinks, Impact, ShareASale, CJ, Rakuten, LTK), ensuring commission structures, deep links, and tracking parameters are correctly configured.
• Audit and advise clients on competitive baseline commission rates, custom publisher rates, and cookie windows to ensure attractive offerings for top-tier commerce editors.
• Build and maintain active relationships with commerce editors, affiliate managers, and teams at major digital publishing houses (e.g., Dotdash Meredith, Hearst, Condé Nast, BDG, CNN Underscored).
• Negotiate higher/bespoke commission rates, exclusive product launch windows, and flat-fee hybrid deals (paid + performance) with high-converting publisher networks.
• Track, analyze, and report on KPIs beyond traditional PR metrics, focusing on click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, ROAS, AOV, and overall affiliate-driven revenue.
• Leverage affiliate-specific tools (e.g., BuzzShift, Trackonomics, Koji) to measure cross-channel impact and demonstrate clear ROAS to client leadership.
• Serve as the internal subject matter expert, training PR team members on affiliate mechanics, compliance, and pitch structuring.
• Onboard new clients by assessing technical and operational readiness for affiliate PR (e.g., inventory capacity, shop platform integrations, margin flexibility).
• Master earned storytelling integration by bridging performance marketing and traditional PR to secure high-authority editorial commerce content placements with seamlessly embedded affiliate links.
• Lead execution of integrated PR campaigns that exceed client goals.
• Maintain clear client communications, providing direction, counsel, and problem-solving solutions.
• Develop and grow senior client relationships.
• Secure consistent media coverage across consumer, food and beverage, wellness lifestyle, and news publications using established contacts.
• Expand media reach by establishing new contacts across print, online, TV, social, and podcasts.
• Generate new business opportunities, participate in presentations, and execute proposals showcasing unique capabilities and proven results.
• Mentor and support the career development of RKPR junior-level public relations staff.

Requirements

• 6+ years of PR leadership roles focused on consumer public relations strategies and program execution for food, beverage, wellness lifestyle, and consumer tech brands.
• Consumer PR agency-based experience strongly preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in public relations, communications, or a related field.
• Proven history of leading affiliate PR teams and driving results.
• True passion for staying abreast of industry and consumer trends and creatively capitalizing on them.
• Exceptional media relations with top-tier national and trade outlets; proven history of media placements and established contacts.
• Ability to develop and execute successful media relations, affiliate, and influencer programs.
• Excellent writing and editing skills (familiar with AP style).
• Strong communications, project management, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and meet deadlines.
• Collaborative team player who shares information freely and supports common goals.
• Detail-oriented, organized, hardworking, flexible, and thorough.

Pay

Salary range: $95,000 – $110,000. The offered salary will be commensurate with experience and dependent on the workplace location.