Social Commerce Specialist
Location: Remote with travel to Costa Mesa, CA – Contract to hire
About the Role
We are building an AI-native brand launch pipeline for a global apparel and footwear company — designing, manufacturing, and selling real products in 90 days without the traditional wholesale calendar, without a legacy agency model, and without the 18-month product creation cycle that currently defines the industry.
The selling strategy for this pilot is social-first. The COO has explicitly said the entire go-to-market can happen on TikTok, Instagram, and AI-powered shopping assistants — without necessarily routing through the company’s existing e-commerce platform. Three influencers aged 14–17 are already being recruited for the launch. The products will be backpacks targeting a back-to-school audience.
The Social Commerce Specialist owns the selling chevron end-to-end — from setting up the commerce infrastructure on social platforms to ensuring Client products are findable and recommendable by AI shopping assistants.
What You Will Do
• Set up and operate TikTok Shop and Instagram Shopping storefronts for the pilot products — product listings, pricing, inventory sync, checkout configuration, and fulfilment integration
• Brief and manage the influencer go-to-market strategy in coordination with the client’s AI-native marketing lead — content formats, posting cadence, affiliate or commission structures, and performance tracking
• Implement AI Engine Optimisation (AEO) fixes for the pilot brand’s digital presence — structured data (JSON-LD), product schema, bot access configuration — so that ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude can discover and recommend the products
• Monitor real-time sell-through data across social commerce channels and feed signals back to the ML Engineer for demand forecasting model updates
• Identify and resolve friction points in the discovery-to-purchase journey — the goal is a collapsed funnel where a consumer goes from influencer post to completed purchase in a single session
• Document the social commerce setup and operating playbook so it is repeatable for the next category and the next brand
What You Need
• Demonstrated experience driving measurable revenue through TikTok Shop, Instagram Shopping, or equivalent social commerce channels — you must be able to cite specific GMV, sell-through rates, or conversion metrics from a real campaign or brand
• Hands-on experience setting up and operating social commerce storefronts — product catalogue management, pricing rules, inventory integration, and fulfilment coordination
• Working knowledge of influencer commerce mechanics — affiliate structures, commission models, content briefing for commerce-first posts, and performance measurement
• Familiarity with AI Engine Optimisation — structured data, JSON-LD, product schema, and bot crawl configuration
• Ability to read and act on real-time sell-through data — the pilot’s success metric is 90% full-price sell-through on 5,000 units; you will be watching that number daily
• Comfort operating in a lean team without a media budget safety net — the go-to-market is influencer-led and organic-first
What You Do Not Need
• Experience in traditional retail merchandising or wholesale channel management — the pilot is explicitly designed to bypass the wholesale calendar
• Social media management experience without a commerce component — sell-through is the only metric that matters here
• Fashion industry background — understanding what appeals to a back-to-school audience matters more than knowing how the apparel industry has traditionally gone to market
Nice to Have
• Experience with GPT-based product discovery optimisation — structuring product content to surface in ChatGPT Shopping, Perplexity, and Claude recommendations
• Familiarity with the TikTok Shop affiliate programme and creator marketplace
• Experience launching a brand or product with zero paid media
• Understanding of back-to-school retail dynamics and the youth consumer (14–21 year old) purchase journey on social platforms
Location & Commitment
Remote-first. Available and responsive during the pilot launch window — sell-through monitoring and influencer coordination will require real-time responsiveness during peak periods. Travel to Costa Mesa, CA for key tiger team milestones. Full-time commitment for the duration of the pilot.
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