Head of E-Commerce & DTC

Topson Downs of California, LLC; Culver City (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Topson Downs is seeking a commercially minded Head of E-commerce & DTC to lead day-to-day performance and growth for AFRM and Kittenish across e-commerce, CRM, and digital trading. You will align product, merchandising, retention and digital performance into one clear commercial plan.

The role requires deep Shopify and Klaviyo expertise, a retailer mindset, and strong cross-functional collaboration with the CMO, Brand, Finance and Operations to drive profitable direct businesses.

Qualifications

• Experience leading multi-brand DTC businesses.
• Shopify and Klaviyo expertise.
• Strong CRM, segmentation and retention knowledge.
• Ability to forecast and manage a revenue plan.
• Cross-functional collaboration with marketing, product and operations.

Responsibilities

• Own day-to-day DTC performance for AFRM.com and Kittenish.com.
• Develop distinct DTC strategies for AFRM and Kittenish based on brand customers and product propositions.
• Own weekly and monthly DTC forecasts and close gaps with action plans.
• Lead the CRO roadmap and optimize conversion across both brands.
• Partner with Planning, Operations and Finance to manage inventory depth and profitability.
• Translate performance learnings into merchandising, product and CRM strategies.

Skills

E-commerce leadership

DTC strategy

CRM & lifecycle marketing

Data-driven decision-making

Forecasting

Tools

Shopify

Klaviyo

CRM platforms

Job description

Topson Downs is looking for a commercially minded Head of E-commerce & DTC to lead the day-to-day performance and growth of two of our brands' direct-to-consumer businesses across e-commerce, digital merchandising, CRM, retention, conversion and digital trading.

This is not simply a site-management role. We need someone who thinks like a retailer, CRM operator and commercial growth lead - someone who understands product, customer, merchandising, conversion, retention, inventory and digital performance, and can bring all of those pieces together into one clear commercial plan.

AFRM and Kittenish are distinct brands with different customers, product propositions and growth opportunities. This person will build the right DTC strategy for each brand while creating shared operating discipline, reporting and best practices across the portfolio.

The role is highly cross-functional, working closely with the CMO, Brand, Creative, Social, Planning, Operations, Finance and the performance agency. The objective is simple: build larger, healthier and more profitable direct businesses for both AFRM and Kittenish.

What you'll own

1. DTC commercial performance & trading

• Own the day-to-day commercial performance of AFRM.com and Kittenish.com.
• Build distinct DTC strategies for AFRM and Kittenish based on each brand's customer, product proposition, positioning and growth opportunity.
• Own weekly and monthly DTC forecasts for both brands; identify gaps to plan and build clear actions to close them.
• Own the DTC trading calendar around product drops, launches, restocks, promotions and key commercial moments.
• Create a clear weekly trade view for each brand: what is selling, what is not, where demand is coming from, who is buying, what inventory needs support and what actions should happen next.
• Lead the weekly DTC commercial meeting and turn performance data into decisions, actions, owners and deadlines.
• Build the weekly commercial plan across product, inventory, customer, CRM, site, creative needs and media support.
• Own digital merchandising across both sites, including product hierarchy, collections, navigation, onsite discovery and product storytelling within the approved brand direction.
• Identify hero products, acquisition products, basket builders, retention products and high-inventory opportunities.
• Partner with Planning and Operations on inventory depth, availability and replenishment before scaling demand.
• Own the CRO roadmap and drive materially stronger conversion across both brands.
• Develop campaign-specific and product-specific landing-page strategies.
• Improve product discovery, search, collection merchandising, PDP/PLP performance, cross-sell and basket building.
• Build and manage a clear testing roadmap across site, merchandising, product presentation, offers and customer experience.
• Ensure the digital experience reflects each brand's strategy without taking ownership of creative direction.
• Own CRM and lifecycle strategy across email and SMS for both AFRM and Kittenish.
• Own the email and SMS commercial calendars around weekly drops, launches, restocks, new arrivals, promotions and key customer moments.
• Own triggered and automated lifecycle journeys, including welcome, browse abandonment, cart abandonment, post-purchase, order 1 -> order 2, restock/back-in-stock, lapsed customer, win-back, VIP and high-value customer journeys.
• Build meaningful customer segmentation across first-time buyers, repeat buyers, VIPs, lapsed customers, high-value customers and product/category behavior.
• Make order 1 -> order 2 conversion a core business KPI and build specific programs to improve it.
• Improve email and SMS capture and grow the contribution of owned channels to DTC revenue.
• Use customer behavior and purchase data to create more relevant messaging, cadence and product recommendations.
• Own CRM testing across content execution, cadence, timing, segmentation, offers and customer journeys.
• Monitor email/SMS performance, deliverability, list health and incremental revenue contribution.

4. Growth & performance partnership

• Partner closely with the performance agency on traffic quality, acquisition economics, CAC, MER and channel growth.
• Ensure paid acquisition is connected to the right product, landing page, inventory position and customer strategy.
• Translate the commercial needs of each product drop into clear briefs for Brand, Creative, Social and Performance teams, identifying the products, customer segments, inventory opportunities and commercial objectives that need support.
• Translate performance learnings back into merchandising, product, CRM and customer strategy.
• Help reduce reliance on paid acquisition by growing repeat revenue, owned channels, direct demand and customer value.
• Ensure that performance marketing is evaluated against real business outcomes, not platform reporting alone.
• Own a clear commercial scorecard for each brand, including:
• Net sales and contribution
• Conversion
• AOV and units per order
• New vs. returning customer revenue
• Repeat purchase rate and order 1 -> order 2 conversion
• Email/SMS contribution and incrementality
• CAC, LTV and MER
• Margin and promotional impact
• Returns and return-adjusted performance
• Inventory availability and productivity
• Partner with Finance to improve reporting around contribution, customer economics, return-adjusted performance and profitability.
• Create one version of the truth across Shopify, CRM and paid-media reporting so the business can distinguish attribution from actual revenue.
• Help define and build the reason customers should shop each brand directly rather than buying the same product through third-party retailers.

What we're looking for

• Strong e-commerce experience within fashion, beauty, lifestyle or another highly visual consumer category.
• Experience commercially owning or helping scale a meaningful DTC business; multi-brand experience is a plus.
• Deep Shopify experience.
• Strong experience with Klaviyo, email, SMS and lifecycle marketing.
• Proven understanding of CRM, segmentation, triggered flows and retention.
• Strong digital merchandising and trading instincts.
• Commercial understanding of conversion, AOV, UPT, CAC, LTV, retention, repeat rate, margin, returns and contribution.
• Experience managing a fast-moving promotional and product-launch calendar.
• Strong forecasting skills and comfort being accountable to a revenue plan.
• Comfortable working across product, brand, creative, marketing, operations, planning and finance without needing to own each function.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to turn data into clear commercial decisions and priorities.
• Able to move quickly, make decisions without perfect information and create accountability across cross-functional teams.
• Strong merchandising judgment and an understanding of how to translate brand strategy into a commercially effective digital customer experience.

Success looks like

AFRM and Kittenish operate as disciplined, insight-led DTC businesses with clear commercial ownership.

We know what is selling, who is buying it, where customers are coming from, whether they are new or returning, what drives the second purchase and where we should invest next.

Site conversion improves. Product drops are traded more effectively. CRM becomes a meaningful growth and retention engine. Returning-customer revenue grows. Inventory becomes more productive. Traffic lands on the right products and experiences.

Creative, product, inventory, CRM and marketing work from one commercial plan, while AFRM and Kittenish retain distinct brand identities and customer strategies.

The businesses become progressively less dependent on paying to reacquire customers they already know.

Ultimately, this role helps build AFRM.com and Kittenish.com into meaningfully larger, more valuable and more profitable direct businesses.

THE MANDATE: Run the commercial DTC engine for two distinct brands - with clear ownership of trading, e-commerce, CRM, retention, conversion and customer economics, while Brand and Creative remain focused on brand strategy and creative direction.

IMPORTANT: This is a commercial e-commerce role, not a brand or creative role. Brand, Creative and Social own the creative direction and expression of each brand. This role translates that strategy into the most commercially effective customer journey across site, CRM and digital trading.