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Kraken, part of Payward (a 15-year-old financial infrastructure platform), is seeking an experienced Affiliate Lead to own and scale the global affiliate and KOL (key opinion leader) strategy for Kraken and Krak.
This is a senior individual-contributor role with significant autonomy. You will set global affiliate and KOL strategy, directly own affiliate and KOL execution in North America, and work closely with regional colleagues across LATAM, Europe, and APAC as the distributed team grows. You will decide which affiliate and KOL partners to recruit, scale, improve, or exit; determine how channel budgets are allocated; and personally lead relationships with the most important partners.
Key responsibilities include:
- Own and scale the global affiliate programme, setting strategy, partner priorities, and investment allocation against funded customers, retained revenue, LTV, CAC, ROI, and fully loaded payback.
- Build direct relationships with valuable affiliates, publishers, comparison sites, communities, creators, and KOLs; use networks and agencies selectively.
- Segment the portfolio by audience, model, market, and customer quality; design and negotiate CPA, revenue share, hybrid, or quality-weighted terms that align incentives with sustainable value.
- Remain hands-on with strategic partners through evaluation, onboarding, offers, content, landing experience, verification, funding, first use, and retention.
- Work with Data teams to create partner-level cohort views and tests that separate last-click attribution from incremental growth.
- Decide which partners to scale, improve, cap, or exit based on downstream economics and customer experience—not top-of-funnel volume alone.
- Protect the channel from brand bidding, coupon interception, promotional abuse, fraud, and low-quality traffic, working with Compliance.
- Build the Consumer KOL and creator strategy, personally recruiting, activating, and scaling high-potential KOLs and creators.
- Adapt strategy to local customer motivations, barriers, language, regulation, and channel ecosystems.
Success is measured by incremental funded customers who retain and create long-term value, achieving payback targets—not more links, clicks, or low-cost sign-ups.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Track record of owning and scaling an affiliate programme as a hands-on operator, with clear examples of improving customer and revenue economics.
- Commercial judgement across CPA, revenue share, hybrid, and incentive structures, including ability to calculate fully loaded payback and explain why a deal creates sustainable value.
- Experience sourcing, negotiating, and growing direct partner relationships, including high-value or sensitive accounts.
- Ability to interrogate partner, funnel, cohort, and retention data and work fluently with Data teams to test hypotheses and make investment decisions.
- International experience adapting offers, partner mix, content, and operating approach to local customer behaviour and regulatory constraints.
- Practical command of affiliate tracking, attribution, fraud and abuse controls, and brand and compliance standards.
- Builder's mindset: create missing processes, share learning, and use AI or automation where it improves speed and quality without outsourcing judgement.
Nice to have:
- Experience in crypto, fintech, or another regulated consumer business.
- Exposure to creator or KOL programmes where objectives extend beyond direct response.
