Founding Merchant Success & Partnerships Specialist

Company: ClothME Location: Austin, Texas, USA Employment Type: Full-Time Work Arrangement: On-site / Hybrid Reports To: Founder & CEO (initially) Compensation: Competitive Base Salary + Performance Incentives + Equity Eligibility Relocation Assistance: May be available

About ClothME

ClothME is building a better way for people to discover and shop for fashion.

We're creating a fit-first fashion marketplace that helps people discover clothing likely to fit them and their families, while helping fashion brands, boutiques, and retailers reach relevant shoppers.

Our platform brings together personalized fit intelligence, product discovery, merchant technology, and creator-driven commerce to make fashion shopping more convenient, personalized, and accessible.

For fashion businesses, ClothME provides an opportunity to acquire new customers, increase online and in-store sales, and reduce fit-related returns through a performance-based model.

There are no setup, subscription, or listing fees. ClothME earns a commission when it generates a sale.

Our long-term vision is to become the operating system for fashion retail.

We're an early-stage technology company with ambitious plans to grow across North America and eventually expand into international markets.

We're looking for a Founding Merchant Success & Partnerships Specialist who wants to help build that future.

About the Role

As a Founding Merchant Success & Partnerships Specialist, you'll play an important role in building and supporting the network of fashion brands, boutiques, retailers, and independent merchants that power the ClothME marketplace.

You'll work directly with our Founder and collaborate with Growth, Product, Engineering, and Customer Experience to identify prospective merchants, introduce them to ClothME, guide them through onboarding, and help them succeed on the platform.

This is a hands-on position combining business development, merchant acquisition, relationship building, onboarding, and customer success.

You'll be involved in everything from researching potential brand partners and conducting outreach to helping merchants create their storefronts, publish products, and improve their marketplace performance.

We want someone who understands that acquiring a merchant is only the beginning. The real goal is to build long-term relationships with businesses that see genuine value from ClothME.

As the company grows, there will be opportunities to develop professionally, specialize in different areas, and take on broader responsibilities.

Your Mission

Help fashion businesses discover ClothME, join the marketplace, successfully publish their products, and build long-term relationships that create value for merchants and shoppers.

What You'll Do

Merchant Acquisition & Business Development

Help grow ClothME's merchant network across our launch markets.

Responsibilities include:

• Research and identify prospective fashion brands, boutiques, retailers, and independent designers.
• Develop and execute merchant outreach strategies.
• Introduce ClothME to potential merchant partners.
• Communicate the benefits of fit-first shopping and performance-based customer acquisition.
• Conduct introductory calls, product demonstrations, and partnership discussions.
• Build and maintain a qualified pipeline of prospective merchants.
• Follow up consistently with interested businesses.
• Work with Growth & Marketing on merchant acquisition campaigns.
• Identify promising fashion categories, geographic markets, and merchant segments.
• Support merchant acquisition initiatives as ClothME expands into additional cities.

Merchant Onboarding & Activation

Help merchants successfully establish their presence on ClothME.

Responsibilities include:

• Guide merchants through account registration and initial setup.
• Help merchants create and complete their brand profiles.
• Explain brand verification requirements and submission processes.
• Support merchants as they add and manage their product catalogs.
• Help merchants understand product information, sizing, images, variants, and inventory requirements.
• Assist merchants with available store integrations.
• Troubleshoot onboarding difficulties and coordinate technical support when needed.
• Develop onboarding checklists and educational resources.
• Monitor onboarding progress and follow up with merchants who become inactive.
• Help merchants move from registration to having approved brands and published products.

Merchant Success & Retention

Develop long-term relationships with merchants and help them receive meaningful value from the platform.

Responsibilities include:

• Maintain regular communication with active merchants.
• Understand merchant goals, challenges, and business needs.
• Help merchants improve catalog completeness and product presentation.
• Encourage merchants to maintain accurate product and inventory information.
• Educate merchants about available platform features.
• Identify opportunities to improve merchant engagement.
• Support merchants in understanding their marketplace performance.
• Coordinate with internal teams to resolve merchant concerns.
• Identify merchants at risk of becoming inactive.
• Help improve merchant satisfaction and long-term retention.

Merchant Education & Enablement

Help make ClothME easy for fashion businesses to understand and use.

Responsibilities include:

• Create merchant onboarding guides and checklists.
• Develop educational emails and tutorials.
• Support webinars, product demonstrations, and onboarding sessions.
• Explain platform features in clear, practical language.
• Help merchants understand how fit-based product matching works.
• Communicate new features, product updates, and improvements.
• Gather common merchant questions and contribute to help resources.
• Identify opportunities to simplify the merchant experience.

Merchant Partnerships & Industry Relationships

Help establish ClothME as a trusted partner within the fashion industry.

Responsibilities include:

• Build relationships with independent fashion brands and boutiques.
• Connect with retail associations, fashion communities, and industry organizations.
• Identify opportunities to collaborate with emerging designers and fashion schools.
• Support partnerships with Shopify merchants and other commerce ecosystems.
• Represent ClothME professionally at relevant events and industry gatherings.
• Explore opportunities with multi-brand retailers and larger fashion businesses.
• Help develop referral opportunities through existing merchant relationships.
• Maintain accurate records of partnership discussions and next steps.

Marketplace Quality & Product Availability

Work with internal teams to help ensure customers discover useful, accurate, and relevant products.

Responsibilities include:

• Monitor merchant catalog completeness.
• Identify missing or inconsistent product information.
• Encourage merchants to provide accurate sizing and product details.
• Help merchants understand product quality and listing standards.
• Identify common reasons products fail to publish.
• Report recurring onboarding and catalog issues.
• Coordinate with Product and Engineering on merchant-facing improvements.
• Help maintain a reliable and high-quality merchant ecosystem.

Merchant Feedback & Product Improvement

Become an important source of merchant insights within ClothME.

Responsibilities include:

• Collect merchant feedback about the platform.
• Identify recurring technical or operational problems.
• Document feature requests and product improvement opportunities.
• Share merchant insights with Product and Engineering.
• Participate in discussions about merchant experience improvements.
• Help evaluate new merchant tools and features.
• Support testing of merchant-facing workflows when needed.
• Communicate product updates back to merchants.

Reporting & Performance

Help build a measurable, repeatable merchant acquisition and success process.

Responsibilities include:

• Maintain accurate CRM records.
• Track prospective merchant outreach and responses.
• Monitor merchant registrations and onboarding progress.
• Track brand verification and product publishing.
• Measure merchant activation and retention.
• Identify acquisition channels producing quality merchants.
• Prepare regular merchant growth and success reports.
• Recommend improvements based on performance data.
• Document successful outreach and onboarding approaches.

Required Qualifications

We're interested in demonstrated experience, strong communication, relationship-building ability, and a genuine desire to help businesses succeed.

You should have:

• 3+ years of experience in business development, partnerships, account management, merchant success, customer success, B2B sales, or a related field.
• Experience communicating with business owners or decision-makers.
• Strong relationship-building and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Experience conducting outreach, follow-ups, and professional business conversations.
• Ability to explain products and services clearly.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• Experience maintaining CRM records or managing prospect pipelines.
• Good problem-solving and analytical abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple merchant relationships simultaneously.
• Comfortable working independently and collaborating with internal teams.
• Willingness to learn new technologies and processes.
• Interest in fashion, retail, e-commerce, or technology.

A specific degree is not required if you can demonstrate relevant experience and results.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with any of the following would be an advantage:

• Fashion brands, boutiques, or retail businesses.
• E-commerce marketplaces.
• Shopify and merchant-facing commerce tools.
• Merchant onboarding and activation.
• Customer success or account management.
• B2B partnerships and business development.
• Early-stage technology companies.
• Fashion industry relationships.
• Product catalog and inventory management.
• CRM and sales automation.
• Merchant education and training.
• Retail technology or SaaS platforms.
• International merchant relationships.

Tools & Technology

You don't need experience with every tool listed below. We're looking for someone who can learn quickly and use technology effectively.

CRM & Merchant Relationships

• HubSpot
• Salesforce or comparable CRM platforms
• CRM pipeline and contact management tools

Commerce Platforms

• Shopify
• ClothME Vendor Platform
• Product catalog and inventory systems
• Stripe-related merchant workflows

Analytics & Reporting

• Google Sheets
• Microsoft Excel
• Looker Studio
• Marketplace reporting dashboards

Communication

• Google Workspace
• Zoom
• Google Meet
• Loom
• Calendly

Collaboration & Documentation

• Notion
• Slack
• Linear or comparable project management tools

AI & Productivity

• ChatGPT
• Claude
• AI-assisted research, communication, and productivity tools

Experience with equivalent tools is welcome.

What Success Looks Like

First 30 Days

• Understand ClothME's mission, business model, and merchant value proposition.
• Become familiar with the Vendor Platform and merchant onboarding process.
• Learn the brand verification and product publishing workflows.
• Review existing merchant outreach and onboarding materials.
• Understand the initial target merchant categories and markets.
• Begin contacting prospective merchants and supporting existing signups.
• Identify opportunities to improve the merchant experience.

First 90 Days

• Build and maintain an active pipeline of prospective merchants.
• Establish consistent merchant outreach and follow-up processes.
• Help new merchants complete onboarding and submit their brands for verification.
• Increase the number of merchants with published products.
• Identify and address common merchant onboarding difficulties.
• Develop repeatable merchant communication and onboarding resources.
• Establish regular reporting on acquisition and activation.
• Build strong relationships with early merchant partners.

First 12 Months

• Help establish a growing network of active fashion merchants.
• Develop repeatable merchant acquisition processes.
• Improve merchant onboarding and activation rates.
• Help maintain strong merchant engagement and retention.
• Support merchant expansion across additional cities and categories.
• Build trusted relationships with independent brands and larger retail partners.
• Contribute merchant insights that improve the platform.
• Help create scalable merchant success processes as ClothME grows.

How Performance Will Be Measured

We believe merchant success is more important than simply increasing signup numbers.

Performance may be evaluated through:

Merchant Acquisition

• Qualified merchant leads.
• Merchant outreach conversion rates.
• New merchant registrations.
• Cost and efficiency of merchant acquisition.

Merchant Activation

• Percentage of merchants completing onboarding.
• Brand verification submissions and approvals.
• Percentage of merchants publishing products.
• Time from registration to first published product.
• Number of active merchants with complete catalogs.

Merchant Success

• Merchant retention.
• Merchant satisfaction.
• Merchant engagement.
• Time to first sale, once sufficient customer demand exists.
• Percentage of merchants generating sales.
• Quality of merchant relationships and feedback.

Marketplace Quality

• Product catalog completeness.
• Accuracy of merchant information.
• Merchant responsiveness.
• Resolution of onboarding problems.

Specific targets will be established based on ClothME's growth stage, available resources, and business priorities.

Who Will Thrive Here

You'll likely enjoy this role if you:

• Love helping businesses succeed.
• Enjoy meeting people and building relationships.
• Are comfortable reaching out to prospective partners.
• Take ownership of your work.
• Follow through on commitments.
• Are patient and persistent.
• Communicate clearly and professionally.
• Enjoy solving problems.
• Are comfortable working in an early-stage company.
• Can balance relationship-building with measurable results.
• Care about customers and merchants.
• Want to help build a technology company with global ambitions.

We're looking for someone who is proactive, dependable, thoughtful, and motivated by meaningful results.

Compensation & Benefits

ClothME aims to provide competitive compensation and opportunities for professional development.

Depending on eligibility and finalized company policies, benefits may include:

• Competitive base salary.
• Performance-based incentives.
• Equity participation for eligible employees.
• Health, dental, and vision benefits.
• Paid time off and company holidays.
• Flexible working arrangements.
• Learning and professional development opportunities.
• Modern work equipment.
• Relocation assistance where applicable.
• Long-term career development opportunities.

Final compensation and benefits will be communicated during recruitment.

Career Growth & Development

This is a founding position with opportunities to grow as ClothME expands.

As our merchant ecosystem grows, we expect opportunities to emerge across merchant acquisition, partnerships, merchant success, marketplace operations, and international expansion.

Depending on your interests, performance, and company needs, potential career paths include:

• Senior Merchant Success & Partnerships Specialist
• Merchant Partnerships Lead
• Merchant Success Lead
• Director of Merchant Partnerships
• Director of Marketplace Growth
• VP of Merchant Success
• VP of Marketplace

These are potential career paths, not guaranteed promotions.

We believe career advancement should reflect demonstrated results, leadership ability, collaboration, and the evolving needs of the business.

We want people who join ClothME early to have the opportunity to develop professionally and take on greater responsibilities as the company grows.

Interview Process

Our interview process focuses on practical experience, relationship-building, problem-solving, and the ability to help merchants succeed.

Stage 1 — Initial Conversation

Discuss your background, relevant experience, and interest in ClothME.

Stage 2 — Founder Interview

Meet with the Founder to learn more about ClothME's mission, marketplace model, and merchant growth opportunities.

Stage 3 — Merchant Acquisition & Success Discussion

Walk us through examples of merchants, customers, or business partners you've personally recruited, onboarded, or supported.

Stage 4 — Practical Merchant Scenario

Complete a focused, job-relevant exercise involving a realistic merchant outreach, onboarding, or success challenge. We aim to respect candidates' time and avoid unnecessarily lengthy assignments.

Stage 5 — Collaboration & Values Interview

Discuss your approach to teamwork, communication, customer focus, and problem-solving.

Stage 6 — References & Offer

For shortlisted candidates, complete reference checks and discuss compensation, responsibilities, and next steps.

Why Join ClothME?

At ClothME, you'll have the opportunity to help build the merchant ecosystem behind a new fashion technology marketplace.

You'll work closely with the Founder and collaborate across Growth, Product, Engineering, and Customer Experience.

Your work will directly influence how fashion businesses discover, join, and succeed on ClothME.

You'll have opportunities to contribute ideas, build meaningful relationships, and grow professionally as the company expands.

We're building a team that values ownership, curiosity, collaboration, and measurable results.

If you're excited about helping fashion businesses reach relevant customers, supporting independent brands, and building a technology company with global ambitions, we'd love to hear from you.

Join us in building a better future for fashion commerce.

Equal Opportunity

ClothME is committed to providing equal employment opportunities.

We welcome qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds and evaluate candidates based on their experience, capabilities, and ability to contribute to our mission.

Reasonable accommodations are available throughout the recruitment process.

How to Apply

Apply through the ClothME Careers page:

https://clothme.io/careers

Please include your resume and, if available, examples of partnerships, merchant acquisition initiatives, or customer success projects you've worked on.

We'd especially love to learn about a business relationship you helped establish, how you supported that business, and the results you achieved.