Partnerships Manager (Key Opinion Leaders (KOL)/ Creators)

The role

You'll be part of the growth team that builds and runs the KOL and creator programs that bring new players to Punt's products. You'll start exciting new direction for Punt: digital collectibles - such as world of collectibles - Pokémon, sports cards, Magic the Gathering, NBA/NFL memorabilia, pack rips, and grading reveals.

You'll work across Instagram, TikTok, X, Discord, and Telegram, with partners ranging from pack-opening and collecting creators to the KOLs and admins who run gaming, collecting, and crypto communities.

This is a founding role on our newest growth engine. There’s no fixed playbook yet. Which means you won’t be executing someone else’s plan, you’ll be building the one we use going forward. If you want a role where your judgement directly shapes strategy instead of just filling a seat, this is it.

What you'll do

• Source partners: Find creators, KOLs, and community owners across these platforms, from micro-creators to established names, and vet them for real engagement, audience fit, and brand safety.
• Run outreach: Reach out at volume with personalized messages across DMs, email, and community channels, using AI tools where they help, and keep refining what gets replies.
• Pitch and negotiate: Sell our referral program and incentive programs. Structure deals that combine revenue share, boosted incentives and retainers within approved limits, and close them.
• Onboard partners: Get new partners set up with what they need to start posting, such as referral links or codes, briefs, and product walkthroughs.
• Help partners succeed: Guide partners on the content and formats that work best on each platform, and share what's working across the program.
• Build the ambassador program: Help shape and run an ambassador program that turns engaged users and community members into referrers and recruiters.
• Track results: Report weekly on performance metrics and user feedback while scaling the partners who deliver.
• Manage relationships: Be each partner's main point of contact and keep the CRM up to date. Brief partners on launches and promotions ahead of time, and work with Growth Operations to resolve payout and support issues quickly.

What you bring

• 1 to 4 years in KOL or influencer marketing, creator or affiliate partnerships, business development or sales, with a record of sourcing and closing partners yourself.
• Sales, negotiation or partnerships experience. You've pitched cold, handled objections and closed deals, ideally revenue-share, referral or affiliate deals.
• Fluency across social and community platforms. You're native on at least a few of Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Discord, and Telegram, and comfortable on the rest. You know how creators and KOLs grow and earn there, which formats work, and what gets content suppressed or accounts restricted.
• CRM and relationship management. You run a pipeline in a CRM, keep clean notes and follow up without being reminded.
• Clear, persuasive writing and confident calls, with a tone you can adjust based on the channel and target audience.
• Judgment on fit and risk. You spot bought followers on socials, the wrong audience and brand-safety problems before we sign.
• Comfort with a new role. You can work without an established process, adapt as priorities shift and help shape how we do things.

Nice to have

• Experience in Pokémon TCG, pack opening, gacha, or collectibles communities.
• Web3 experience: KOL campaigns, ambassador programs, or running Telegram and Discord communities.
• Experience in iGaming, social casino, or sweepstakes.
• You use AI in your outreach workflow for research, list-building, and personalization.
• An existing network of creators or KOLs in any of these spaces.
• Experience building a referral, affiliate, or ambassador program from scratch.

What Success Looks Like

• Day 30: You know the product, the referral program, and our incentives well enough to pitch them cold. Your pipeline is in the CRM and your first partners are live.
• Day 60: You're signing new partners every week. You've run your first performance review, and refined your outreach and pitch to start scaling the programs.