Associate Director, Strategy | Influencer

Publicis Groupe; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

CJ, part of Publicis Groupe, is seeking an Associate Director of Strategy - Influencer to lead influencer, creator, affiliate and social-commerce initiatives. You will craft differentiated, insight-led strategies and proposals for prospective clients, with a focus on pre-sales strategy, research, proposal design, and executive-ready presentations.

The role emphasizes thought leadership and strategy over day-to-day campaign execution, requiring senior-level communication and collaboration across

Qualifications

• Approximately 7+ years in influencer marketing, creator marketing, affiliate marketing, social commerce, or related fields.
• Experience developing influencer/creator strategies for brands, agencies, platforms or retailers.
• Proven ability to contribute to or lead new-business proposals, RFP responses, pitches.
• Strong knowledge of TikTok Shop, especially Affiliate strategy and creator-led commerce.
• Familiarity with affiliate ecosystems, including LTK and ShopMy.
• Ability to translate data into differentiated recommendations and strategic direction.
• Excellent written, verbal, visual storytelling, and executive communication skills.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.

Responsibilities

• Partner with sales to respond to opportunities, briefs, RFPs, and pitches.
• Translate business objectives into differentiated influencer and creator strategies.
• Develop narratives, proposals, content, and executive-ready presentations.
• Design creator commerce programs across the customer journey: awareness to loyalty.
• Develop TikTok Shop strategies with emphasis on Creator recruitment and segmentation.
• Recommend roles for subaffiliate/creator platforms like LTK and ShopMy.
• Conduct competitive, category, creator, platform, and market research.
• Turn research into clear insights, opportunities, and recommendations.
• Build strategic frameworks, segmentation approaches, and activation roadmaps.
• Develop business cases linking creator activity to outcomes like ROAS and revenue.
• Collaborate with influencer, PM, media, analytics, and operations teams.
• Present strategies to clients and senior stakeholders; participate in pitches.
• Support scope development and identify risks, dependencies, and gaps.
• Stay current on creator economy trends and platform policies.

Skills

Influencer marketing

Creator marketing

Social commerce

Strategic thinking

Client presentations

PowerPoint skills

Data-driven insights

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Tools

TikTok Shop

LTK

ShopMy

Research tools

Job description

Company description

Welcome to Our World
We’ve been leading the charge in the affiliate industry from day one—establishing performance marketing and paving the way for future innovations. We're known for maintaining one of the largest, most reliable partnership platforms with impeccable, personalized service.
Founded in Santa Barbara, California in 1998, CJ (formerly Commission Junction) stands as the most trusted name in performance marketing. We specialize in building partnerships between top brands and reputable publishers to drive revenue and business growth. CJ’s industry-leading solutions make us the platform of choice for over 3,800 global brands across sectors like retail, travel, finance, technology, and home services. As part of Publicis Groupe, our savvy data capabilities, cutting-edge tech, and strategic expertise facilitate genuine connections, allowing brands to reach consumers wherever they are.
A Quick Peek at Affiliate Marketing
Think back to your last online purchase. Did an influencer tip you off about a great product and offer a discount? Or perhaps you relied on a trusted review site to make your decision? Whatever path you took, affiliate publishers likely played a role by influencing, informing, or helping you find the best deal. CJ connects brands with these publishers, creating valuable resources for shoppers like you.

Overview

Reporting to the Senior Director of Business Development and Strategy - Social Commerce, the Associate Director of Strategy - Influencer is a senior individual contributor and strategic partner to the sales and business development team. This role develops compelling, insight-led strategies and proposals for prospective clients across influencer, creator, affiliate, and social commerce. The Associate Director translates business objectives and market intelligence into differentiated, measurable solutions, with a primary focus on pre-sales strategy, research, proposal development, solution design, thought leadership, and persuasive client presentation rather than day-to-day account ownership or campaign execution.

Responsibilities

• Partner with sales and business development leaders to respond to prospective-client opportunities, briefs, RFPs, and proactive pitches.
• Translate prospective clients' business objectives, priority audiences, category dynamics, and commercial needs into differentiated influencer and creator commerce strategies.
• Develop strategic narratives, pitch materials, proposal content, program recommendations, and executive-ready presentations that clearly articulate the opportunity and CJI's approach.
• Design creator commerce programs across the customer journey, including awareness, consideration, conversion, acquisition, and loyalty.
• Develop TikTok Shop strategies, with particular emphasis on TikTok Shop Affiliate, including creator recruitment and segmentation, product seeding, commission strategy, content volume, promotional moments, paid amplification, and performance optimization.
• Recommend the appropriate roles for subaffiliate and creator commerce platforms, including LTK and ShopMy, based on the client's audience, category, objectives, operating model, and measurement requirements.
• Conduct in-depth competitive, category, creator, platform, and market research within the influencer and social commerce ecosystem.
• Turn research, platform intelligence, and performance data into clear insights, strategic opportunities, and actionable recommendations.
• Build strategic frameworks, audience and creator segmentation approaches, channel recommendations, content territories, creator briefs, activation roadmaps, measurement plans, and test-and-learn agendas.
• Develop business cases and opportunity assessments that connect creator activity to measurable outcomes such as engagement, traffic, customer acquisition, conversion, revenue, GMV, ROAS, affiliate sales, and incrementality, where appropriate.
• Partner cross-functionally with influencer, account management, media, analytics, creative, commerce, and operations teams to ensure proposed programs are innovative, differentiated, measurable, operationally feasible, and appropriately scoped.
• Present strategies and proposals clearly and persuasively to prospective clients, senior client stakeholders, and internal leadership.
• Participate actively in pitches and respond confidently to strategic, platform, measurement, and activation questions.
• Support scope development by identifying the capabilities, resources, dependencies, assumptions, deliverables, and measurement requirements required to execute the proposed strategy.
• Identify strategic risks, platform dependencies, operational constraints, and potential gaps before recommendations are presented to a prospective client.
• Stay current on creator economy trends, social commerce developments, platform capabilities, affiliate models, measurement practices, relevant platform policies, and emerging technologies.
• Help CJI develop reusable strategic frameworks, proposal tools, case studies, points of view, and thought leadership that improve the quality and efficiency of business development.

Qualifications

• Approximately 7 or more years of relevant experience in influencer marketing, creator marketing, affiliate marketing, social commerce, digital strategy, integrated marketing, e-commerce, or a related discipline preferred.
• Demonstrated experience developing influencer or creator strategies for brands, agencies, platforms, retailers, or commerce organizations.
• Experience contributing to or leading new-business proposals, RFP responses, pitch development, and client presentations.
• Strong working knowledge of TikTok Shop, particularly TikTok Shop Affiliate strategy and creator-led commerce.
• Familiarity with affiliate and subaffiliate platforms and ecosystems, including LTK and ShopMy.
• Understanding of creator discovery, segmentation, compensation and commission models, product seeding, shoppable content, paid amplification, usage rights, and performance measurement.
• Ability to conduct rigorous competitive research and synthesize complex information into concise, differentiated recommendations.
• Strong analytical fluency and the ability to connect channel metrics to broader business and commercial outcomes.
• Excellent written, verbal, visual storytelling, presentation, and executive communication skills.
• Ability to develop persuasive PowerPoint presentations and work effectively with data, research, and performance-reporting tools.
• Strong collaboration and stakeholder-management skills in a fast-paced, deadline-driven new-business environment.
• Sound strategic judgment, intellectual curiosity, attention to detail, and the ability to balance creative ambition with operational and commercial realities.
• Comfort working through ambiguity and developing strategic recommendations when prospective-client information is incomplete.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent relevant professional experience.

Additional information

This is a hybrid role requiring 3 days a week in office.
CJ is the leader in Performance Marketing. We take pride in our innovative technology, comprehensive data solutions and our people. We equip our teams with advanced tools, training and career development opportunities all to provide modern solutions, strategies and support to deliver high quality results for our clients. We work in an enthusiastic, collaborative team setting that values outstanding performance.

We're a community of creative and passionate problem solvers who go the distance to tackle the tough questions, think creatively, and drive resourceful growth, for our clients—and ourselves. We foster and embody an inclusive and collaborative culture where diverse perspectives are sought, relationships are valued, and people feel accepted with a sense of belonging in expressing themselves authentically. We pride ourselves in having a workplace environment that values both work and play.

Why Our Workplace Stands Out

Apart from offering competitive salaries, 401K matching, wellness programs, and comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, we provide:

• Flexible time off without the hassle of accrual
• A generous number of paid holidays
• Company-sponsored team-building events
• An Employee Referral Program
• Annual recognition awards
• Hybrid work arrangements for optimal work-life balance
• Parental bonding leave
• Backup care options for children and elders
• An employee discount program
• International SOS program for global support
• Business Resource Groups, where employees connect over shared interests to cultivate an engaging, inclusive environment

…and those are just a few of our great perks! Come join us and see what makes our company a great place to work.

If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact [e-mail].

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

#LI-DT1

Compensation Range: USD $ - . This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third-party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 12/23/2026.