Affiliate Media Manager

Risepoint is an education technology company that provides world-class support and trusted expertise to more than 100 universities and colleges. We primarily work with regional universities, helping them develop and grow their high-ROI, workforce-focused online degree programs in critical areas such as nursing, teaching, business, and public service. Risepoint is dedicated to increasing access to affordable education so that more students, especially working adults, can improve their careers and meet employer and community needs. The Impact You Will Make The Affiliate Media Manager provides input on and executes the strategy and performance of Risepoint’s affiliate media channel. This role directs budget allocation across the vendor portfolio, sets and maintains the channel roadmap, leads affiliate contract modernization, and drives both the optimization of existing partners and the sourcing and testing of new ones. The Affiliate Media Manager also directs the external agency partner that provides supplemental channel support, defining scope, priorities, and performance expectations and adjusting that engagement as the channel matures. This role serves as the primary point of contact for the affiliate channel and acts as its subject matter expert. The Affiliate Media Manager coordinates across Paid Media, Finance, Marketing Operations, Analytics, and Technology teams to resolve operational issues, maintain data integrity, and drive progress toward enrollment and revenue targets. The Affiliate Media Manager leads the transition from agency-led to in-house affiliate management by owning knowledge transfer, documentation, and process continuity. The Affiliate Media Manager identifies and develops AI and automation opportunities to streamline channel workflow and reporting, builds the testing roadmap, and establishes the operational foundation for long-term channel growth. How You Will Bring Our Mission to Life What You Will Do: Own day-to-day affiliate channel operations and budget allocation across the vendor portfolio, including campaign execution, pacing, optimization, and troubleshooting to ensure alignment with spend targets and performance goals. Direct the external agency partner that provides supplemental affiliate support, setting scope and priorities, aligning on SOPs and QA standards, holding the partner accountable to performance expectations, and scaling the engagement up or down as channel needs and internal capacity evolve. Manage and grow the affiliate vendor portfolio, including performance monitoring, issue resolution, and ongoing communication with existing partners, plus sourcing, outreach, and piloting of new vendors to close coverage gaps. Lead affiliate contract modernization in partnership with Procurement and Legal. Support campaign planning and launch readiness by coordinating across creative, tracking, data, and analytics functions prior to activation. Execute QA processes to prevent tracking issues, billing discrepancies, and data integrity gaps across affiliate programs. Support monthly and quarterly budget pacing, accruals, and billing reconciliation in coordination with the budget manager and Finance team. Produce affiliate reporting outputs and translate channel performance into clear insights for internal stakeholders and partner-facing reviews. Own the affiliate channel roadmap and testing agenda, identifying and developing AI and automation opportunities to streamline workflow and reporting, and translating hypotheses, results, and recommendations into prioritized channel improvements. Lead the transition from agency-led to in-house affiliate management by owning knowledge transfer, documentation, and process continuity. What Success Looks Like: Affiliate campaigns are launched on time, tracked accurately, and pacing to budget with minimal escalations. Vendor and agency partners have clear expectations, consistent communication, and performance is monitored against established benchmarks. Affiliate Roadmap is built and actively maintained to drive channel innovation and incremental growth Reporting is accurate, timely, and connects affiliate activity to enrollment and revenue outcomes in a way stakeholders can act on. How Impact Will be Measured: Budget pacing accuracy and adherence to monthly and quarterly spend targets. Data quality and reporting timeliness across affiliate dashboards and partner-facing deliverables. Vendor and campaign performance against established CPL, CPA, and ROAS benchmarks. What You’ll Bring to the Team Experience That Matters Most: A completion of a bachelor’s degree is required. 5+ years of experience managing affiliate or performance media campaigns in a hands-on operational capacity. Strong understanding of affiliate marketing models, including CPL, CPC, and fee-for-service structures. Demonstrated ability to manage and direct agency and vendor partners, setting scope and priorities and holding partners accountable to performance. Experience with campaign trafficking, tracking, QA, and performance optimization across multiple programs. Hands-on experience with Salesforce or a comparable CRM for lead management and reporting is strongly desired. Experience That’s Great to Have: Experience working in higher education or lead-based performance marketing environments. Experience sourcing and onboarding new media partners, and supporting vendor contract or procurement processes. Experience supporting budget processes including pacing, accruals, and billing reconciliation with Finance partners. Exposure to testing, process improvement, or automation within paid media or affiliate programs. Comfort using AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT to streamline workflows is a plus, and curiosity here matters more than deep prior experience. #LI-AD1 Risepoint is an equal-opportunity employer and supports a diverse and inclusive workforce.