amika
Direct-to-consumer, clean, cruelty-free haircare
Assistant Vice President Influencer - Communications + Cultural Strategy
Two days on-site per week required. Must be based in the United States and authorized to work there.
About the job
- 10+ years of progressive experience leading influencer, communications, public relations, advocacy, social, cultural strategy, or integrated brand marketing functions, ideally within beauty, prestige, lifestyle, fashion, or high-growth consumer brands.
- A proven track record building multi-market influencer, earned media, communications, or advocacy strategies that drive brand relevance, consumer engagement, earned conversation, and measurable business impact.
- Deep fluency in the creator economy, including paid and organic partnerships, gifting, seeding, VIP, affiliate partnership models, usage rights, whitelisting, creator licensing, always-on advocacy, and emerging platform behavior.
- A strong understanding of earned media strategy, brand communications, reputation management, and cultural storytelling.
- Demonstrated ability to connect brand storytelling to commercial priorities across retail, direct-to-consumer, professional channels, product launches, social commerce, and paid amplification partnerships.
- Experience managing paid influencer programming, including agency oversight, creator briefs, content strategy, usage rights, approvals, performance reporting, and alignment with paid media partners.
- Experience developing playbooks, regional toolkits, agency models, governance frameworks, and market-level guidance across multiple countries or regions.
- Deep expertise across influencer and advocacy tiers, including VIP, macro, mid-tier, micro, emerging creators, stylists, professional advocates, media, and community voices.
- Strong command of influencer, public relations, and communications measurement, including earned media value, share of voice, sentiment, impressions, earned reach, engagement quality, content efficiency, creator retention, advocacy impact, and brand health indicators.
- Proven experience leading, mentoring, and developing high-performing teams.
- Experience managing external agency partners across public relations, influencer, paid influencer, talent, cultural strategy, events, or communications.
- Strong executive presence with the ability to influence senior leadership, cross-functional partners, agencies, international stakeholders, and external talent partners.
- Demonstrated negotiation skills across talent partnerships, brand collaborations, agency scopes, creator contracts, usage rights, and cultural partnerships.
- Experience developing and executing large-scale influencer, press, VIP, stylist, and advocacy events, including tentpole activations and launch moments.
- Crisis, issues management, and corporate/product communications experience in a fast-moving consumer environment.
- Deep familiarity with the beauty industry, haircare category, competitive landscape, creator culture, cultural trends, and consumer behavior.
- A data-driven mindset with strong analytical, strategic, creative, and commercial thinking skills.
- Architect and lead amika's influence ecosystem spanning organic advocacy, earned media, brand storytelling, and paid influencer programming to drive brand equity, cultural relevance, and measurable business impact.
- Define the annual communications, influencer, and advocacy roadmap, ensuring alignment to brand priorities, product launches, retail moments, professional initiatives, international market needs, and cultural opportunities.
- Continuously benchmark amika against leading beauty, haircare, and lifestyle brands to identify white space, emerging platforms, talent opportunities, cultural shifts, competitive threats, and new models of advocacy.
- Build and evolve a multi-tiered advocacy ecosystem spanning VIP, macro, mid-tier, creator, stylist, micro, emerging, professional, and organic brand advocates.
- Translate beauty, haircare, fashion, entertainment, wellness, professional, and digital culture signals into actionable brand opportunities, storytelling territories, creator partnerships, and campaign ideas.
- Identify breakthrough cultural partnerships, creator-led campaigns, VIP moments, editorial opportunities, stylist advocacy programs, and experiential concepts that generate earned conversation and brand heat.
- Lead earned storytelling strategies that reinforce brand equity, deepen consumer trust, drive cultural relevance, and generate awareness, engagement, advocacy, and brand love.
- Serve as the senior internal authority on influence, communications, advocacy, earned storytelling, creator culture, cultural relevance, and reputation.
- Act as a strategic advisor to senior leadership on brand reputation, issues management, creator risk, corporate/product communications, competitive positioning, and cultural opportunities.
- Lead influencer, public relations, earned media, and advocacy strategy across 360 go-to-market plans from strategic development through activation, optimization, reporting, and post-campaign learnings.
- Own strategic leadership of paid influencer agency programming, including creator selection, briefing, content strategy, usage rights, approvals, and performance learnings, and coordinate with the paid media lead on investment strategy and channel amplification.
- Partner with social, integrated media, brand marketing, creative, professional marketing, international, retail marketing, and sales teams to connect influence and communications strategies to broader brand and business priorities.
- Lead annual influencer, press, stylist, and advocacy event strategy, including tentpole activations, immersive brand experiences, launch moments, and always-on relationship-building programs.
- Identify and negotiate larger-scale brand collaborations, cultural partnerships, and advocacy programs with brand management and cross-functional stakeholders.
- Develop and maintain influencer, communications, and advocacy playbooks, including market prioritization, creator criteria, briefing standards, localization guardrails, key performance indicator frameworks, agency ways of working, and brand safety guidelines.
- Provide strategic direction to international marketing leads and local agency partners on influencer identification, earned media strategy, cultural relevance, and market-specific activation while maintaining amika's brand DNA and community standards.
- Oversee measurement and reporting across earned media value, share of voice, sentiment, engagement quality, creator efficiency, earned reach, advocacy retention, launch impact, and brand health indicators.
- Lead product, brand, and corporate crisis communications management with internal stakeholders and external public relations agency partners.
- Lead, inspire, and develop a high-performing team of six.
- Guide the team across influencer negotiations, talent contracts, creator briefs, product communication, content approvals, event execution, reporting, and relationship management.
- Manage external public relations, influencer, paid influencer, talent, and cultural agency partners, ensuring strategic output, operational excellence, brand consistency, creator quality, and measurable performance.
- Manage influencer, public relations, advocacy, communications, and paid influencer programming budgets with Finance, allocating resources against the highest-impact opportunities.
- Experience leading influencer, communications, public relations, advocacy, social, cultural strategy, or integrated brand marketing functions within beauty, prestige, lifestyle, fashion, or high-growth consumer brands.
About the company
Amika develops and sells a wide range of haircare products and styling tools designed for all hair types, textures, and ages. These products work through clean, cruelty-free formulas organized into 11 specific collections that address various hair needs like frizz control or shine without using sulfates or parabens. The company distinguishes itself from competitors through its Brooklyn-inspired creative culture and a strict commitment to environmental ethics, including Climate Neutral certification and a pursuit of B Corp status. Amika’s goal is to provide inclusive beauty solutions while minimizing its environmental footprint by offsetting carbon emissions and maintaining high social responsibility standards.
Company Size
501-1,000
Company Stage
Acquired
Total Funding
N/A
Headquarters
New York City, New York
Founded
2009
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- The Protector hit Ulta and DTC first, preserving momentum before October Sephora and Amazon.
- Repeat buyers drive 45% of website customers and 58% of channel revenue.
- Tricoci University added Amika across 15 campuses on May 29, 2026.
What critics are saying
- Amika recalled 982,816 Mirrorball shampoos in 2025 after Pluralibacter gergoviae contamination.
- That recall exposes third-party manufacturing control failures and retailer trust damage through 2026.
- Sephora, Amazon, and international launches amplify any quality lapse into a global brand crisis.
What makes amika unique
- Amika spans Sephora, Ulta, salons, Amazon, and DTC, uniting prestige and pro channels.
- The Protector launched August 2026 with 28-month development and 99-stylist testing.
- Bansk Group backs a Brooklyn-born B Corp brand with inclusive, clean-beauty positioning.
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Benefits
Hybrid Work Options
Remote Work Options
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 20%1 year growth
↑ 20%2 year growth
↑ 20%Amika CMO shares how to keep product launch momentum going For months. Amika launches The Protector with limited distribution for the first six weeks. The hair care brand chose its direct-to-consumer website, where 45% of customers are repeat buyers, and Ulta as its initial distribution channels. Hair care brand Amika recently launched its new color protection product line "The Protector" with the goal of long-term storytelling, said Chief Marketing Officer Nilofer Vahora. The brand personified its product line and is staggering its distribution roll out. The product line is designed to protect color-treated hair from fading or shifting no matter what consumers do, such as spending time in the sun or pool, or using heat products to style their hair. The product is clinically proven to keep color for up to 40 washes and leave hair 14 times stronger, according to Amika. The Protector character. While Amika's goal was to have a specific claim, the brand knows consumers often forget or question claims. That's why the brand chose to personify the product with a "protector" character, who gives "big sister" energy, Vahora said. The character has its own Instagram handle (@TheColorProtector). On that channel, the brand can answer product questions and give tips for color-treated hair. "I wanted The Protector to behave like a media property with her own point of view," Vahora said. "If we were going to personify the product as this big sister figure, she needed to have somewhere where she could actually have opinions, answer questions and participate in culture. A dedicated handle really gave us permission to build a character over time instead of asking the main feed to carry every part of that storytelling." The account received 10,000 followers within the first week of launching. This is a fraction of Amika's main account of 700,000-plus followers, but it shows there was an appetite for the content, Vahora said. The followers likely came from consumers who follow Amika on other social media channels and caught wind of the new product line when the brand started teasing it, Vahora said. The brand plans to build a world for The Protector character to evolve with the seasons. "It's not about launching and leaving this product, but really building on the momentum, and so the content is deliberately shifting," she said. Repeat shoppers are 45% of website sales. Amika sells its products at Ulta, Sephora, Amazon, its own website, at salons and beauty distribution stores. For this product launch, Amika strategically chose to stagger the rollout so it can keep the product marketing momentum going. For the first six weeks, The Protector line is only available at its own direct-to-consumer website, Ulta and professional channels like salons. While the majority of Amika's sales are through retailers, direct-to-consumer sales and stylists are critical to its business, Vahora said. At 45%, nearly half of Amika's direct-to-consumer sales from its U.S. website are from repeat customers. These shoppers drive 58% of the revenue in this channel, which points to a healthy customer life time value, the brand said. They order 2.8-times a year on average, often a bundle a products, which shows that they are buying into the brand as a hair care system and not just a single product, Amika said. Amika strategically chose Ulta because the beauty retailer also has salons within its stores. "It's the one channel where we can also talk about that stylist-to-consumer flywheel that we have, that I call the Amika effect, in a cohesive way," Vahora said. Stylists and their recommendations are a key marketing tool for Amika and help drive sales, she said. Consumers - especially those who color their hair - often turn to their stylist for a recommendation, Vahora said. "It's a consumer take-home product, but we really treat our stylist channel as a way that we are driving that trust loop and credibility," she said. "At a moment when consumers and professional stylists are both incredibly skeptical of traditional beauty influencers and brand-led ads, what still carries weight is that peer-to-peer recommendation." Social listening informed Amika's strategy. The brand conducts social listening on channels to discover the questions and concerns consumers have about their hair. On Reddit, Amika learned that shoppers ask others about spending time in the sun and pool with their color-treated hair. "I would've been an anthropologist if I wasn't a marketer," Vahora said. That listening informed Amika that there was an opportunity to elongate the storytelling for this product because consumers are looking for content around this topic, she said. "We didn't want to just talk about the clinical performance and the stylist," Vahor said. "Yes, we have the stylist validation, but the expression is that character and that character is bringing that effortlessness, that approachability, that closeness, and that friend vibe and our way of talking about those real-life tensions that people have to life." Staggering the roll out. In October, Amika will launch the product at Sephora and Amazon. In January 2027, The Protector will launch internationally. "There is a real momentum that we need to sustain and build with this campaign and The Protector character and leaning into that handle, our influencer and our community strategy to continue to tell that story around those touch points and those cultural moments," Vahora said. Amika developed the product over 28 months, much longer than the 16-20 months that it typically brings a product to market. The brand tested 35 formulas with 99 stylists until it found the winning one. Creative agency Shadow created the launch campaign.
Tricoci University of Beauty Culture partners with Amika. Tricoci University now carries a range of Amika's most popular products, which are being incorporated into classroom curriculums. May 29, 2026 Assistant Editor Tricoci University of Beauty Culture announced its partnership with Amika. This brings the brand's professional haircare products into Tricoci University and student salons across all 15 campuses. The partnership reflects Tricoci University's continued commitment to providing students with hands-on experience using modern, in-demand products that align with current beauty industry trends. Tricoci University now carries a range of Amika's most popular products, including dry shampoos, dry hair masks, frizz treatments, hair primers, mousse, hairsprays, and finishing products. Amika products are also now being incorporated into classroom curriculum and hands-on training experiences for students across all Tricoci University campuses. Larry Foster, Chief Operating Officer at Tricoci University of Beauty Culture, commented, "Partnering with Amika allows us to provide students with exposure to innovative, salon-quality products they will encounter throughout their careers. By incorporating these products into both our classrooms and salon environments, we're helping students build the technical skills, product knowledge, and confidence needed to succeed in today's beauty industry." The partnership was introduced through SalonCentric, and facilitated by Tricoci University representative Kandace Smith. Smith also helped coordinate Amika's visit to Tricoci University's Libertyville and Rogers Park campuses as part of the "Amika Means Friend Tour." While the tour primarily visited SalonCentric locations, Tricoci University was the only beauty school selected as a stop. The visit provided students and educators with a unique opportunity to engage directly with the brand and learn more about its products, culture, and approach to professional haircare.
NEW YORK, NY, Nov. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- amika, the Brooklyn-born, B Corp-certified haircare brand, announces the recipients of its third...
NEW YORK, April 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizen Scientist, amika, and Airthings are collaborating on the #CleanerAirHaircare initiative to evaluate indoor air quality and resulting potential health risks in salons across the amika network. The initiative will start with air quality testing in five salons throughout New York and New Jersey, focusing on VOCs, CO2, and particulate matter, and raising awareness about occupational health risks in the beauty industry.The #CleanerAirHaircare initiative aims to:
Amika recently launched in South East Asia in the latter half of 2023 in partnership with beauty retailer Sephora.