How to hire an affiliate manager

How to hire an affiliate manager, step by step

Here's a step-by-step affiliate manager hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an affiliate manager job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new affiliate manager
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The affiliate manager hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   An affiliate manager's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, affiliate managers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of affiliate manager salaries for various roles:

   Type of Affiliate Manager	Description	Hourly rate
   Affiliate Manager	Advertising, promotions, and marketing managers plan programs to generate interest in products or services. They work with art directors, sales agents, and financial staff members.	$20-46
   Marketing Strategist	The marketing strategist is an executive who works with the members of the marketing team to ensure the implementation of high-quality marketing strategies within a given time frame. Marketing strategists examine data to find out the best way to administer resources to increase revenue and profits... Show more	$25-57
   Manager, Field Marketing	A field marketing manager oversees a company's field marketing operations, aiming to improve brand awareness and reach sales goals. Their responsibilities primarily revolve around devising marketing strategies, participating in organizing campaigns and trade shows, setting objectives for the team, and monitoring the progress of marketing programs, ensuring they are functioning effectively and efficiently... Show more	$32-61

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Digital Marketing
   • Affiliate Marketing
   • Analyze Performance
   • SEO
   • CPA
   • Email Campaigns
   • Business Development
   • Affiliate Program
   • CPL
   • CPC
   • ROI
   • Affiliate Relationships
   • Optimize Campaigns
   • Revenue Growth

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage internal PPC traffic campaigns on Facebook, Myspace and Google Adwords.
   • Recommend and manage external partners for e-commerce and marketing initiatives; negotiate media buys across multiple channels.
   • Work with clients to create banner advertisements for CPA, CPM, CPC base campaigns.
   • Used HTML and CSS skills to implement website updates.
   • Establish quantitative and quantifiable metrics to determine ROI of community outreach programs.
   • Implement initiatives that enhance affiliate productivity, create new growth opportunities and increase ROI.

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your affiliate manager job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. An affiliate manager can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, affiliate managers' average salary in montana is 39% less than in rhode island.
   • Seniority. Entry-level affiliate managers 56% less than senior-level affiliate managers.
   • Certifications. An affiliate manager with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in an affiliate manager's salary.

   Average affiliate manager salary

   $64,051yearly

   $30.79 hourly rate

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   Entry-level affiliate manager salary

   $42,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

4. Writing an affiliate manager job description

   An affiliate manager job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of an affiliate manager job description:

   Affiliate manager job description example

   Readdle is looking for a Senior Affiliates Manager to help us realize our mission of harnessing technology to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people across the globe. You'll support us in taking control of our existing affiliate marketing program and growing it to new heights where it becomes a significant part of our broader marketing strategy.
   
   In this role, you will be a commercially-minded and highly motivated marketeer who has experience both leading and scaling an affiliate and partners channel. You'll be tasked with delivering the strategy, and implementing best practice tools and platforms while identifying new opportunities and partners to ensure this channel scales with pace and efficiency to deliver against agreed growth and ROI KPIs for all Readdle consumer products. You'll work closely with the VP of Marketing, Product Managers, Content Managers & Designers to align our vision and long-term goals for the channel.
   
   We want to be famous, and famously loved for changing the world for the better and we want to rewrite the marketing rulebook as we do it.
   
   What will you do:Deploy affiliate program for cross-platform products (working across Mac OS, iOS, Windows, Android) Find and validate scalable strategies for growing the Affiliate channel. Increase main marketing metrics by launching sustainable and revenue-generating affiliates, resellers, partners, and networks (Affiliate Partners) Developing and pro-actively managing a portfolio of affiliate partners and ensuring you have an in-depth understanding of the financial value of your portfolio Manage the onboarding, account management, and performance goal setting of affiliate partners Implement best practice Affiliate Partner tracking, platform, payment, and other tools in order to offer the best affiliate experience making us a preferred program Analyzing affiliate program activity to identify growth opportunities Delivering affiliate partner reports and optimization plans to management and partners Take ownership and optimization of affiliate channel P&L, including communicating performance to senior leadership Grow and manage the affiliate team based on channel success
   
   About you:5 to 10yrs experience in Affiliate marketing ideally within a B2C subscription business English language proficiency (B2 level) Hands-on experience managing affiliate programs Experience with CPA (Cost Per Action), CPC (Cost-Per-Click )and CPM (Cost-Per-Mille), and Revenue share payment models. Comfortable working in a KPI and ROI focused environment Have a deep understanding of how affiliate tracking, AppsFlyer, or other MMPs work Strong analytical skills, confidence with analyzing data in Amplitude, Excel, and other tools Strong negotiating skills: experience negotiating commercial terms and contracting Knowledge of best practice affiliate platforms and capabilities required An analytical mindset is a must. Must be very data-driven and competent with numbers
   
   Also nice to have:Managing affiliate program for a cross-platform product Experience in launching affiliate channels from a scratch Strong understanding of the international affiliate landscape and specialist knowledge of at least one key territory (US, UK, Europe)
   What you'll get:Customer-centric culture. We put our customers first. It means that every employee can benefit from interacting with our customers directly. It enables us to create and deliver the best solutions for millions of our users Professional growth. We are professionals at everything we do. It means we own our decisions, our work, and our results. We provide quality feedback to others and welcome feedback as an opportunity to learn and improveA team of amazing people. The greatest power we have is the team. It means we care about each other, ensure transparency, and invest in everyone's success Impact on our products. We aim to create valuable products. It means that we improve ourselves constantly by overcoming constraints, simplifying our processes, and improving our capacity Innovative culture. We try to be innovative and creative in everything we do. It means that we expect, appreciate and value new ideas

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5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find affiliate managers for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your affiliate manager job on Zippia to find and recruit affiliate manager candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with affiliate manager candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new affiliate manager

   Once you've found the affiliate manager candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new affiliate manager. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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