Referral & Affiliate Manager

DropXcell; Dubai; On-site; AED 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Finanshels is seeking a Referral & Affiliate Manager to transform our existing SME network into a scalable customer acquisition engine in the UAE. You will own channel growth, revenue, and activation, building referral journeys, campaigns, and incentive structures to continuously optimize results.

You will recruit and onboard affiliates, identify new distribution sources, and work with RevOps/CRM to ensure measurability and attribution.

Qualifications

• Experience in affiliate growth, referrals or channel partnerships.
• Strong analytical mindset with ability to measure CAC, LTV and funnel performance.
• Ability to recruit and activate partners or affiliates.
• Proven track record in building scalable growth channels.

Responsibilities

• Own referral and affiliate acquisition targets.
• Build monthly channel plans and revenue forecasts.
• Design referral incentives and campaigns.
• Create referral journeys and communications.
• Activate and onboard affiliates and partners.
• Collaborate with CS and Sales to drive activation.

Skills

Affiliate marketing

Growth strategy

Partnerships

Relationship building

Tools

CRM

Job description

Finanshels is looking for a Referral & Affiliate Manager to build referrals and affiliates into a meaningful

customer acquisition channel. We already have thousands of SME customers, partners and a growing presence across the UAE.

Your job is to turn that network into a scalable acquisition engine. This is not just a relationship-management role. You will own channel growth and revenue.

What You Will Own

Customer Referrals:

• Build and run the Finanshels customer referral program
• Identify customers most likely to refer
• Design referral incentives and campaigns
• Create referral journeys and communication
• Work with Customer Success and Sales to activate customers
• Track referral leads, conversion and revenue

Affiliate Program

• Recruit high-quality affiliates
• Activate and onboard affiliates
• Build affiliate incentives and commission structures
• Develop affiliate toolkits, messaging and landing pages
• Keep affiliates engaged and productive

New Distribution Channels:

• Identify and test new referral sources such as:
• Business communities
• Founders
• Creators
• Consultants
• Freelancers
• Business setup advisors
• SME influencers
• Accountants
• Finance professionals
• Industry communities
• Professional networks

Growth & Revenue:

• Own referral and affiliate acquisition targets
• Build monthly channel plans
• Track leads, customers, CAC and revenue
• Improve activation and conversion
• Kill channels that do not produce economic value
• Scale channels that work

Systems:

• Build tracking and attribution
• Ensure every referral source is measurable
• Work with RevOps to integrate referral data into CRM
• Automate affiliate onboarding, communication and payouts where possible

What Good Looks Like

• Within 6–12 months:
• Referral becomes a predictable acquisition channel
• Active affiliate base grows consistently
• Clear revenue generated from referrals
• Low CAC compared with paid acquisition
• Strong affiliate activation and retention
• Repeatable acquisition playbooks across multiple referral sources
• Reduced dependence on paid marketing

Who We Are Looking For

• 4–7 years in affiliates, partnerships, referral growth, channel growth or community-led acquisition
• Experience owning revenue targets
• Proven ability to recruit and activate partners or affiliates
• Strong relationship-building ability
• Commercial and analytical mindset
• Strong understanding of acquisition economics
• Comfortable building something from zero
• Strong execution and follow-up
• Existing SME, founder or business ecosystem relationships are a major advantage

Ideal Background

Candidates may come from:

• Fintech
• SaaS
• Marketplaces
• PropTech
• Business services
• Payments
• Insurance
• Telecom
• High-growth startups

Key Metrics:

You will be measured on:

• Referral leads
• Affiliate leads
• Activated affiliates
• Revenue generated
• CAC
• Conversion rate
• Repeat referral rate
• Channel contribution to total new customers

Location

UAE

Why This Role Matters

Finanshels should not depend only on paid ads and inbound marketing to grow. A trusted SME finance brand should naturally create referrals, advocates, partners and distribution. The opportunity is to turn that trust into a structured, measurable and scalable growth channel.