Affinity Express

• Candidate must have strong domain knowledge of publishing, print and digital production, including understanding of the market, key players and   solutions in the premedia and retail industry.

• Sale Director is responsible for establishing new revenue opportunities within Premedia/Retail market set by Affinity Express.  The Sales Director is to establish new partnerships and work with existing partnerships to achieve the sales objectives.  This is accomplished through ongoing education and mindshare building activities and through development of strategic Initiatives. The success of these initiatives will be measured based upon quota attainment and development of supporting sales tools that help Affinity Express execute on the programs.

Position Responsibilities and Essential Duties:  (other duties may be assigned)

• • Create new sales opportunities for the MarComm/Premedia segment through developing qualified customers
  • Produce annual and monthly forecasts for allocated prospects and customers
  • Meet or exceed sales targets set by Affinity Express MarComm Division.
  • Assist in product development and costing.
  • Analyze and interpret new business opportunities and develop a sales plan with the strategic partner(s) and direct sales channel client.  The plan will identify revenue targets along with a detailed activity plan for attaining stated program objectives
  • Accountable for growing revenue across strategic partners and meeting revenue targets as assigned
  • Identify new potential partner initiatives and conduct appropriate level of due diligence to evaluate the initiative based on market opportunity, competitive landscape, product fit, partner capabilities and projected ROI to Affinity Express
  • Ensure new business sales target achievement for the business unit through the development of a strong pipeline
  • Continuously analyze market dynamics to formulate strategy and assist the production and project teams with tactical implementation
  • Develop and roll out business initiatives which have satisfied established initiative criteria. Program content to include:
    • Joint Sales Presentations
    • Joint Collateral
    • Success Stories
    • Marketing and Lead Generation plans etc.
  • Articulate value proposition for initiative proposals to key stakeholders (internal and external) and secure buy in and support
  • Work collaboratively and build successful relationships with colleagues to ensure total Affinity Express value proposition is communicated to strategic partners
  • Build relationships with key stakeholders across Affinity Express including, Operations, Production, Marketing, Professional Services, IT , HR and other teams to help their team get input and support for key initiatives

Elgin or surrounding suburbs

This position is open to candidates residing in any U.S. city.

The Salesperson is responsible for supporting in generating new revenue and strategic relationships within the Interactive Online Advertising market. He or she will work closely with the Chief Digital Officer and the marketing team to develop and execute key strategies to grow and expand digital revenue.  This position requires some working knowledge of interactive media experience and a desire for sales/account management. Success will be defined as supporting with closing deals, establishing new partnerships, and growing revenue around high margin products.

Position Responsibilities and Essential Duties:  (other duties may be assigned)

·        Meet and exceed sales and revenues goals by selling our rich media technology solutions, digital advertising, video and online marketing solutions to target markets including newspapers, media companies (targeting SMB market), marketing service providers (targeting SMB market) and corporate marketing groups

·         Directly closing multiple millions of dollars in revenue annually

·         Conduct lead generation, prospect qualification, and new business opportunities

·         Prospect, qualify, negotiate and close deals in an aggressive time frame

·         Lead the preparation of proposals, value propositions, executive presentations, contract negotiations and client meetings

·         Manage and update a sales pipeline and forecast to increase visibility of short and long term prospects

·         Provide frequent communication and update on sales performance and prospecting status

·         Develop and implement both annual and monthly sales funnels and objectives in coordination with the Company's strategic plan

Education/Experience

·         Bachelor’s degree in business or related field

·         3-5 years selling to newspaper, media, yellow page, local broadcast, marketing service providers and similar categories targeting SMB markets

·         Experience selling multiple digital products ranging from advertising, email, social, mobile, websites, directories, ad operations and more.

·         Some working knowledge of media and advertising, online advertising production, applications, multimedia, technology and software concepts

·         Familiarity with a wide range of interactive media technologies, including but not limited to

·         Rich media ad products and services

·         Search engine marketing

·         HTML email marketing

·         Banner campaigns

·         Animated gif/marketing

·         Web design/enhancements

·         Video effects production

·         Paid-search advertising

·         Sweepstakes

·         Social marketing

·         Mobile marketing

·         Online directory marketing

·         Ability to think “outside the box”' to bring new and compelling business opportunities that prove value to the company and the bottom line

·         Solution-focused, results-oriented and self starter able to be successful in a virtual, global organization

·         Effective rapport-building and relationship management skills

·         Strong negotiation skills

·         Strong customer service orientation coupled with exceptional written and verbal skills required

·         Excellent analytical skills with thorough knowledge of strategic analysis to align business with results

·         Exceptional business skills including knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, Project. 

Affinity Express is looking for astrong client-side developer with JavaScript/jQuery expertise to focus on front-end web application development utilizing Salesforce REST AP. The ideal candidate should have a passion for HTML5 and JavaScript development—creating modern UI’s and cutting edge user experiences.  The Senior UI Engineer will have a strong understanding of working with JSON and DOM scripting as well as experience working with either jQuery, Dojo, or Sencha.  Experience in JavaScript MVC framework is a plus!

Position Responsibilities and Essential Duties:  (other duties may be assigned)

• Build next-generation order management web application with a focus on client side technology (AJAX, JavaScript, HTML5)
• Create HTML pages based on JSON output
• Define development strategy for desktop and mobile
• Write front-end code in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
• Help make UI and UX decisions
• Help select, develop and build reusable CSS/JS frameworks and libraries to simplify development
• Design wireframe and develop rapidly with changing requirements
• Advocate for best practices, great usability and exceptional quality

Education/Experience

• Expert knowledge of HTML and CSS
• At least 3 years experience using a JavaScript library or framework (jQuery, Dojo, or Sencha)
• Solid understanding of JavaScript and AJAX - with and without use of a library/framework
• Solid understanding of the challenges of client-side applications
• Strong command of web standards, progressive enhancement and cross-browser compatibility
• Demonstrated design and UX sensibilities
• Strong logic programming ability
• Experience with a version control systems
• A strong attention to detail
• Understanding of client-side performance and how to improve it
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Must be willing to travel up to 30% to customer locations if needed

Position Title:                       Systems Architect/Back End Developer

Experience in designing and leading work groups in the creation of layouts for various products such as newspaper advertising for print and online.   The Systems Architect will be responsible for supporting several production systems. The candidate needs to have prior experience as an analyst in consulting type engagements, such as process definition and analysis.

Position Responsibilities and Essential Duties:  (other duties may be assigned)

• Assist in the design, development and implementation of several web-based and .NET applications
• Collaborate with internal teams to execute on large and small scale projects,manage system performance, optimization of the product, documentation of solution for configuration standards, production materials, workflow and sales tools
• Provide support to internal and external clients to drive maximum benefit of the company-hosted solution
• Provide business process analysis and consulting in layout, design, printing process flow  and online output
• Manage implementation of new and existing customer accounts
• Gather customer requirements for account and/or new service implementation
• Provide development and testing of new services
• Perform complete testing of solutions and system, engaging users as necessary

Education/Experience

• Bachelor's Degree preferred in computer science, multi-media publishing, interactive media; and/or 5+ years experience in related field
• 3+ years of experience as an architect, senior developer or technical team lead
• Excellent troubleshooting skills and able to provide consultative direction to improve operations based on experience in the field and analysis of current operations and business procedures 
• Excellent verbal, written, listening communicationskills and team-building skills
• Highly organized with strong attention to detail; can handle multiple implementations simultaneously
• Documentation development experience
• Proficient in PC and MAC
• Must be willing to travel up to 30% to customer locations if needed

Technical Skills:

• Expert level: PHP, JavaScript, CSS, XML, HTML
• Proficient level: VB. NET, C#.NET, Perl and Windows batch scripting is required

Position Title:     Digital Product Development and Management

The position is responsible for defining, developing and marketing new and existing digital products and services. The ideal candidate will manage all aspects of digital products and service offerings including concepts, requirements gathering, positioning, planning development and implementation.

Position Responsibilities and Essential Duties:  (other duties may be assigned)

• Capture the needs of clients and prospects
• Facilitate the New Product and Service Development (NPSD) process; align and prioritize needs with company growth objectives
• Lead and partner with cross-functional teams to build and launch new products and offerings
• Manage the entire portfolio of digital products and service offerings including conception, business requirements, positioning, packaging, bundling, workflows, service level agreements, pricing, promotion, training, deployment, delivery, quality assurance and tracking
• Develop methodology to track and report on development costs and cycles, adoption rates, ROI and profitability
• Product marketing: determine product offerings, competitive tactics, target customer base, pricing strategies, product position and brand building
• Product development: owner of product development process, evaluate current processes and methodology for product development and recommend enhancements; define product requirements and lead product launch
• Product management: prioritize current and new product management, lead overall product management life cycle; train team, subject matter expert to team and create and update product requirements and recommend improvements

·         Must have newspaper experience and have understanding of the processes of the editorial workflows within newspapers

·         Must be dedicated, committed, on call, professional and able to handle the requirements of working at a start-up engagement

·         Need to understand the relationship of print content to web content

·         Must have prior supervisory experience; can coordinate, coach and lead team

·         Must have excellent knowledge of AP Style guide and ability to transfer knowledge to team members

·         Must be a experienced and talented wordsmith with at least 8+ years of professional copy editing experience

·         Able to lead the editorial team in refining service levels, improving total subject matter expertise, and ensuring high output quality

Position Responsibilities and Essential Duties:  (other duties may be assigned)

·         Edit stories and articles, headline, captions, columns according to publication requirements

·         Write strong, on-brand copy

·         Collaborate with reporters and editors on the production of both print and online content

·         Read copy to detect errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, style and syntax

·         Review all proofs generated in production to ensure accuracy, page design standard and client quality and production standards are met prior to releasing the materials for submission to the client

·         Act as the primary liaison with pagination staff both internally and externally

·         Analyze traffic patterns and optimize for seasonality, relevance, and selection

·         Provide strategic leadership

The web developer will be responsible for supporting the existing infrastructure as well as developing new technologies. The position will report directly to the solutions architect. This role is an integral part of the Client Solutions Team, providing insight to emerging web technologies, with heavy focus on the development of client-facing presentation layer (UI) to drive user-friendly experience. This employee will assist the team in driving internal efficiencies through direct improvement and support of legacy systems, as well as assisting sales in scoping web production opportunities and serving as the company’s web subject matter expert in technical sales planning and definition.      

• CMS Design and Build
  • Actively work with the account team to establish strategy for the account.
  • Handle CMS platform selection, working with stakeholders to understand needs and map them to product capabilities.
  • Compile system design, build, and architecture documentation and all development efforts.
  • Maintain a strong understanding of industry and enterprise-wide trends and best practices.
  • Utilize deep understanding of CMS solutions to help clients make strategic decisions.
  • Translate the client's business requirements into systems design and development.
  • Establish high, mid and micro level plans, and estimates for project teams.
  • Identify and manage risk on projects.
  • Perform configuration planning, building, testing, change management and support.
  • Manage multiple complex projects simultaneously.
• User Efficiency Development
  • Develop process for monitoring the utilization and efficiency of the CMS in daily production.
  • Help ensure all requirements are translated accurately and seamlessly into all solutions.
  • Create technical support and technical training programs for offshore teams.
  • Evaluate, recommend and implement training materials, systems and processes; and ensure constant training maintenance.
• Client Service
  • Act as a liaison between production staff and client’s contacts.
  • Provide Level 3 support to all users of the system.
  • Perform problem analysis by investigating the root causes, summarizing findings for internal and external use and determining corrective actions to resolve them.

• Responsible for the identification of new technology partner opportunities, cultivation of contacts with these partners through industry relationships, and management of partner relationships as part of the overall technology business development program management.
• Map and document business needs and costs to technology solutions.
• Undertake the methodical investigation, technical analysis, review and documentation of new digital products and processes.
• Identify and define requirements for the use of technology to improve any aspect of the processes and systems and quantification of potential business benefits.
• Create viable specifications and acceptance criteria in preparation for the construction of information and communication systems.
• Monitor and manage the completion of multiple, potentially parallel partner integration projects that make up a longer-term or ongoing program.
• Lead the development, distribution, analysis, and presentation of all pilot vendor integrations to full production.
• Work in partnership with legal, marketing, technology, and various business leaders to obtain the necessary sign-off for partnership or alliance agreement creation and sign-off.
• Ensure partner negotiation and integration meets their expectations from a timeline perspective, balanced with the goals of Affinity Express.
• Provide regular status updates to executive leadership teams regarding partner leads, partner opportunity/concept cultivation, partner integration, and partner performance.
• Monitor and mitigate partner/program risks.
• Ensure partner agreements are in compliance with all legal and corporate guidelines and follow all internal approval or sign-off procedures.
• Support all technical vendor escalation and issue resolution.

Design and lead work groups in the creation of various products such as online ads, websites, emails, video and 3D animation. Must have detailed understanding of the processes and technologies involved in online production. A hands-on, working knowledge of scoping, design, programming, traffic and quality assurance is essential.

The project manager must have experience in designing and leading work groups in the creation of layouts for various products such as newspaper advertising for print and online. The project manager will have detailed understanding of the processes involved in preparing materials for reproduction through the use of desktop publishing systems and design tools. A hands-on working knowledge of the processes involved in design, copy fitting, layout, and color separation in the preparation of multiple types of printed material. He or she needs to have prior experience as an analyst in consulting type engagements, such as process definition and analysis.