Director, Brand Partnerships (Americas)
Shopify · NAMER
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $200,000 / year
- NAMER
Job highlights
- Lead brand partnerships for creators and icons.
- Negotiate high-stakes deals with agents and talent.
- Manage a global team of partnership crafters.
- Connect partnerships to brand, growth, and revenue.
- Drive scalable processes for high-volume partnerships.
About the role
About The Role
Shopify's brand partnerships program is built on a counterintuitive premise: the most powerful marketing we can do is invest in our merchants. We partner directly with influential creator-merchants who actually run businesses on Shopify - from the world's largest content creators like MrBeast (Feastables), Emma Chamberlain (Chamberlain Coffee), and Alix Earle (Reale Actives), to the most recognizable names in culture: actors like Seth Rogen (Houseplant) and Pamela Anderson (Sonsie), musicians like Cardi B (Grow-Good) and Drake (OVO), athletes like Luka Dončić (77X) and Serena Williams (Wyn Beauty).
When partners talk about Shopify, they're not selling software, they’re promoting entrepreneurship - making a direct tie between Shopify and the agency that comes from starting a business, relatable to hundreds of millions of people. Everything we do is then intentionally woven into Shopify's full marketing strategy: crafting world class stories on owned and earned surfaces, enabling real world product marketing moments (Shopify POS powering retail activations, Shopify’s AI innovation, Shop’s retail companion), generating billions of earned views at industry-leading CPMs, even producing authentic creator content that fuels performance marketing with real acquisition outcomes.
This role leads a proven, growing program that Shopify is deeply committed to. You'll own two interconnected teams — Creator and Icon Partnerships — while serving as a key connector across Brand and the broader marketing and product organization. The program has scale, craft, and momentum. The role is to take it further.
What You'll Do
- Own the full brand partnerships function: 100–150 creator deals and :10 celebrity/icon partnerships annually, across North America and Europe
- Lead deal origination, shaping, and negotiation end-to-end — including complex multi-deliverable deals with agents, managers, and talent teams
- Lead and manage a team of 10 crafters split between North America and Europe; maintain presence on the highest-stakes partnerships
- Connect the partnerships program to Shopify's broader brand, growth, revenue, and international marketing goals — not just brand awareness
- Drive process and systems that allow the team to operate at volume without losing quality or accountability
- Partner internally with our product teams to showcase the future of commerce within partnership activations that enhance retail moments and create memorable experience featuring Shopify’s platform advantage
- Travel to marquee activations, pop-ups, and events across North America and Europe to represent Shopify and strengthen partner relationships
What We're Looking For
- Proven external-facing dealmaker: you've negotiated directly with talent, agents, and managers at a senior level
- Experience in celebrity marketing, cultural marketing, or premium brand deals leading complex, high-stakes celebrity partnerships
- In-house background required: you've owned a brand partnership function, not just supported one through an agency
- Budget ownership: managed $10M+ in partnership investment with accountability to ROIC
- Cross-functional fluency: you've worked closely with legal, finance, comms, product marketing, and growth teams
- Cultural instinct: understands the creator economy and entrepreneur-first culture — can identify a good story and match, not just close a deal
- Builder mindset: you've created or significantly evolved process, tooling, or org structure in a partnership function
- Reflexive AI use: you’re comfortable leveraging AI tools for rapid concepting and prototyping but also know when to tap others for craft expertise
- Proven track record as a people manager with 8+ years of experience building, developing, and leading high-performing teams
About Shopify
Opportunity is not evenly distributed. Shopify puts independence within reach for anyone with a dream to start a business. We propel entrepreneurs and enterprises to scale the heights of their potential. Since 2006, we’ve grown to over 8,300 employees and generated over $1 trillion in sales for millions of merchants in 175 countries.
This is life-defining work that directly impacts people’s lives as much as it transforms your own. This is putting the power of the few in the hands of the many, is a future with more voices rather than fewer, and is creating more choices instead of an elite option.
About You
Moving at our pace brings a lot of change, complexity, and ambiguity—and a little bit of chaos. Shopifolk thrive on that and are comfortable being uncomfortable. That means Shopify is not the right place for everyone.
Before you apply, consider if you can:
- Care deeply about what you do and about making commerce better for everyone
- Excel by seeking professional and personal hypergrowth
- Keep up with an unrelenting pace (the week, not the quarter)
- Be resilient and resourceful in face of ambiguity and thrive on (rather than endure) change
- Bring critical thought and opinion
- Put AI agents and tools to work on the tasks they're built for, and focus on the work only humans can do
- Embrace differences and disagreement to get shit done and move forward
- Work digital-first for your daily work
We may use AI-enabled tools to screen, select, and assess applications. All AI outputs are reviewed and validated by our recruitment team.
Key skills/competency
- Brand Partnerships
- Creator Economy
- Deal Negotiation
- Talent Management
- Marketing Strategy
- Cross-functional Collaboration
- Budget Management
- Relationship Building
- Cultural Marketing
- AI Tools
Skills & topics
- Director Brand Partnerships
- Brand Partnerships
- Creator Marketing
- Celebrity Partnerships
- Talent Negotiation
- Marketing Leadership
- Partnership Strategy
- Icon Marketing
- Deal Making
- Influencer Marketing
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight senior-level dealmaking, brand partnerships, and team leadership experience relevant to Shopify's unique merchant-focused approach.
- Showcase your impact: Quantify your achievements in managing $10M+ budgets and driving ROI through celebrity or creator collaborations.
- Demonstrate builder mindset: Provide examples of how you've created or evolved partnership processes, tooling, or organizational structures.
- Emphasize cross-functional collaboration: Detail your experience working with legal, finance, product marketing, and growth teams to achieve partnership goals.
- Prepare for behavioral questions: Be ready to discuss how you handle ambiguity, thrive in a fast-paced environment, and leverage AI tools.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What is the primary goal of Shopify's Brand Partnerships program?
- The primary goal of Shopify's Brand Partnerships program is to invest in and elevate its merchants, particularly influential creator-merchants and cultural icons. The program aims to promote entrepreneurship by creating a direct, relatable tie between Shopify and the act of starting a business, thereby driving brand awareness and acquisition outcomes.
- What experience is required for the Director, Brand Partnerships role at Shopify?
- The ideal candidate for the Director, Brand Partnerships role at Shopify needs proven external-facing dealmaking experience, including negotiating directly with talent, agents, and managers at a senior level. An in-house background owning a brand partnership function, significant budget ownership ($10M+), cross-functional fluency, and a builder mindset are also essential.
- How does Shopify leverage AI in its hiring process for this role?
- Shopify may utilize AI-enabled tools to screen, select, and assess applications for the Director, Brand Partnerships position. However, all AI outputs are thoroughly reviewed and validated by the recruitment team to ensure a comprehensive and fair evaluation.
- What does 'in-house background required' mean for this Director, Brand Partnerships position?
- The 'in-house background required' means that candidates must have direct experience working within a company to manage its brand partnerships function. This is distinct from supporting a brand partnership function through an agency; Shopify is looking for someone who has owned and been accountable for a brand's partnership strategy and execution internally.
- What is Shopify's culture like, and who thrives there?
- Shopify's culture is fast-paced, complex, and often ambiguous, with a degree of 'chaos.' Employees, referred to as 'Shopifolk,' thrive in this environment, embracing change and ambiguity. Key cultural traits include caring deeply about commerce, seeking hypergrowth, resilience, critical thinking, leveraging AI, embracing differences, and working digitally.
- What kind of partnerships does Shopify focus on for this role?
- Shopify focuses on partnerships with influential creator-merchants and cultural icons. This includes content creators like MrBeast, actors like Seth Rogen, musicians like Cardi B, and athletes like Luka Dončić, all of whom have businesses built on Shopify.
- What is the expected deal volume for the Director, Brand Partnerships?
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