Senior Email Retention Marketing Strategist at Kontak Recruitment

• This is a senior-level retention marketing role for an experienced strategist who owns outcomes end to end. You’ll work with established direct-to-consumer (DTC) eCommerce brands, leading retention strategy across email and CRM channels and acting as a trusted, client-facing partner.
• The role is fully remote and open to candidates based in South Africa. You’ll collaborate with a distributed team and work primarily with US-based clients, requiring consistent overlap with US business hours.
• The position starts on a contractor basis with a structured 90-day probation period and a clear pathway to a long-term, full-time engagement.
• You’ll be responsible for retention strategy across a small portfolio of high-revenue DTC eCommerce brands (typically 5–8 clients). These are sophisticated businesses with strong acquisition engines and high expectations around performance, insight, and communication.
• This is not a junior execution role. You’ll be trusted to operate autonomously, make strategic decisions, and clearly and confidently represent retention performance to clients.

Minimum Requirements

• 3+ years of hands-on experience using Klaviyo at an advanced level.
• Proven experience working with Shopify-based DTC eCommerce brands (agency or in-house).
• A strong background in retention marketing (not just email production).
• Confidence working with data, metrics, and performance analysis (LTV, repeat purchase, cohorts, testing).
• Experience in presenting strategy and performance insights directly to clients.
• Comfort managing multiple accounts and priorities without heavy oversight.
• Active, practical use of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) to improve speed and quality of work.
• Experience with retention-related tools such as subscription platforms, analytics tools, or customer insight platforms is beneficial but not required.

Key Responsibilities

• Owning the retention strategy across email and CRM channels, from planning through optimisation.
• Leading advanced email programmes focused on repeat purchase, customer lifetime value, and engagement.
• Developing testing frameworks with clear hypotheses, observations, and recommendations.
• Analysing performance data and translating insights into clear, commercially grounded recommendations.
• Acting as a senior, client-facing point of contact for strategy discussions, performance reviews, and roadmap planning.
• Creating email and retention briefs for copy, design, and technical teams to execute.
• Collaborating closely with internal delivery teams to ensure strategy is executed accurately and efficiently
• Taking full ownership of outcomes, work quality, and client satisfaction.
• While execution is supported by specialist teams, you must be hands-on enough to validate feasibility, troubleshoot issues, and step in when required.