Director, Partnerships & Affiliate Marketing

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization

The Director of Partnership & Affiliate Marketing is responsible for leading the strategy, performance, and operational excellence of adidas NAM's partnership and affiliate ecosystem. This role owns the development and execution of growth strategies across affiliate marketing, strategic partnerships, branded collaborations, gift card programs, and emerging business development opportunities that drive profitable, incremental revenue growth.

This leader is accountable for delivering commercial and brand objectives through a diversified partnership portfolio, with a strong focus on customer acquisition, revenue contribution, return on investment, and channel innovation.

Working cross functionally across eCommerce, merchandising, analytics, finance, brand marketing, legal, and business development, this role will identify and unlock scalable partnership opportunities that support adidas' broader business priorities.

This role will also contribute to global best practices, help shape the future of partnership marketing within the North America market, and build a center of excellence for partnership driven growth.

Key Responsibilities

Channel Strategy & Business Ownership

• Develop and lead the NAM partnership and affiliate marketing strategy, including annual planning, channel roadmaps, and growth initiatives.
• Own channel performance against revenue, profitability, and return on investment targets.
• Identify and scale new partnership opportunities to drive incremental customer acquisition and revenue growth.
• Establish channel priorities aligned to key commercial moments, product launches, and business priorities.
• Drive annual forecasting, budgeting, and business planning across partnership channels.

Affiliate Marketing Leadership

• Oversee the full affiliate marketing ecosystem, including affiliate networks, publisher relationships, agency partnerships, and channel optimization.
• Own investment planning and budget allocation to maximize efficiency and incremental return.
• Lead performance analysis, testing, optimization, and reporting to identify growth opportunities and improve channel effectiveness.
• Build and strengthen strategic relationships with key affiliate partners and publishers.
• Improve channel efficiency through automation, process improvement, and operational rigor.
• Co-develop and scale the NIL partnership ecosystem with Sports Marketing, identifying athlete and university opportunities that strengthen brand credibility, deepen consumer connection, and drive incremental business impact.

Partnership Development

• Lead commercial partnership opportunities across branded partnerships, business development, and gift card channel growth.
• Build and evaluate partnership business cases that support both commercial and brand goals.
• Partner with internal stakeholders to onboard, launch, and scale new partnership initiatives.
• Maintain strong external relationships to identify and capitalize on emerging partnership opportunities.

Cross Functional Leadership

• Partner closely with merchandising, brand marketing, analytics, finance, and legal teams to align partnership opportunities to broader business priorities.
• Establish strong governance, operational processes, and accountability across partnership and affiliate programs.
• Collaborate with global counterparts to share best practices, learnings, and innovation opportunities.
• Ensure alignment between channel priorities and broader digital commerce objectives.

People Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop a high performing team across affiliate marketing and partnerships.
• Establish team priorities, assign workload, and manage performance.
• Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, collaboration, and performance excellence.
• Build team capabilities and support long term organizational growth.

Key Relationships

• NAM eCommerce Marketing Team
• Brand Marketing & Activations
• Analytics & Finance Teams
• Legal Team
• Global eCommerce Marketing Teams
• Affiliate Networks and Publisher Partners
• External Agency Partners
• Strategic Commercial Partners

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Strong commercial and business acumen with proven experience managing revenue driving channels
• Deep understanding of affiliate marketing, partnership ecosystems, and performance based commercial models
• Experience owning business performance and managing large scale budgets
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to turn data into actionable business decisions
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and lead cross functional initiatives
• Strong relationship building capabilities internally and externally
• Experience developing scalable operational processes and channel frameworks
• Strong leadership capabilities with experience managing and developing teams
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills in a fast paced environment

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required
• Minimum 7+ years of experience in eCommerce, affiliate marketing, partnerships, digital marketing, or business development
• Minimum 4+ years of people leadership experience
• Experience managing agency and external partner relationships
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills
• Advanced Excel and reporting capabilities
• Strong understanding of digital commerce ecosystems and performance marketing principles

At adidas we offer a Hybrid work policy which requires attendance in the office Monday through Thursday, with the flexibility to work remotely on Friday each week. For work requiring a high degree of collaboration or an in-person presentation, in-office attendance is required even on Friday.

adidas celebrates diversity, supports inclusiveness and encourages individual expression in our workplace. We actively encourage individuals with disabilities to apply and will provide reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. We do not tolerate the harassment or discrimination toward any of our applicants or employees. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.