Chief Merchant at Forter

About the role:

We are seeking a Chief Merchant to serve as our ultimate customer champion and the authentic voice of the merchant within Forter and across the market. This is a unique and career-evolving opportunity for a seasoned retail leader to bring their deep merchant expertise into the heart of a high-growth technology company. 

This is not a traditional SaaS role; in fact, no SaaS experience is required. We are looking for a leader who has built their career leading digital, e-commerce, or product functions at a top-tier apparel, accessories, beauty, or retail organization. You will leverage your experience—and your extensive network—to build an unparalleled customer advocacy and community engagement engine at Forter.

As the Chief Merchant, you will report to the Chief Marketing Officer and be a key member of the marketing leadership team and a critical partner to our entire go-to-market organization. Your primary mission is to embed the customer perspective into everything we do and to build a thriving community that drives growth through advocacy, referrals, and deep strategic relationships. Your success will be primarily measured by the growth of referral-based pipeline that drives new business and customer expansion.

What you’ll be doing:

• Be the Authentic Voice of the Merchant: Serve as Forter’s chief ambassador and thought leader in the commerce community. Participate in market events, including conferences, trade shows, and regional activations, as a credible, respected peer to our customers and prospects.
• Influence and Educate the Market: Play a critical role in delivering thought leadership and education to target audiences and the market at large in partnership with the VP of Growth and VP of Market Strategy.
• Cultivate C-Suite Relationships: Leverage your network and expertise to open doors and build trusted relationships with C-suite executives and senior leaders within our customer and prospect organizations.
• Build a Thriving Customer Community: Architect and lead our market community development strategy, creating forums and programs that foster engagement, knowledge-sharing, and loyalty among our customer base.
• Drive Our Referral and Reference Engine: Partner with your team to identify and nurture reference-ready customers, and build a scalable program that generates a significant volume of high-quality, referral-based pipeline.
• Lead the Customer Advocacy & Engagement Team: Manage and mentor the Senior Director of Customer Advocacy and Engagement, guiding the team's execution of world-class Voice of the Customer (VoC) and advocacy programs.
• Partner to Accelerate Growth:
  • Collaborate with the VP of Growth to strategically infuse the customer voice into demand generation, growth, and partner marketing activations.
  • Work alongside the VP of Market Strategy to bring powerful customer stories and proof points into our product marketing, PR initiatives, and brand campaigns.
  • Serve as an essential partner to the Sales organization, helping to integrate customers and the merchant perspective directly into our sales motion to build credibility and accelerate deals.
• Champion the Merchant Perspective Internally: Partner with the VP of Market Strategy to bring critical "outside-in" thinking to our Product and Engineering teams, ensuring they understand the buyer perspective and are building solutions that create unique value for merchants.

What you’ll need:

• 15+ years of senior leadership experience working directly for an enterprise apparel, accessories, beauty, or retail organization in a digital, e-commerce, or product leadership role.
• No prior SaaS or enterprise software experience is required
• Active engagement in commerce and retail industry communities and networks 
• A natural connector and storyteller with executive presence and public speaking skills. 
• A commercially-minded leader who understands how to translate customer relationships and community engagement into measurable business outcomes, specifically pipeline and revenue.
• Proven ability to operate strategically and cross-functionally in a fast-paced environment.
• A passion for mentoring and leading teams, fostering a culture of excellence and customer-centricity.

About us:

Digital commerce is built on trust. At every point along the eCommerce journey, businesses must make a critical decision: Can I trust this customer? Answering this simple question accurately and instantly is powerful—it can accelerate revenue growth and strengthen a company’s connection with its customers. How do we do it? Forter was founded on the insight that it's not about what is being purchased, nor where— but who is behind the interaction.

The Forter Decision Engine finds patterns across more than one billion identities in our dataset. We isolate fraudsters and protect customers—ensuring everyone gets the experience they deserve.  Given that trust is central to how we operate, Forter is very much driven by a defined set of values. We attract remarkable talent and have retention and engagement levels that are well above benchmarks. We’re meticulous about strengthening our culture as we grow and ensuring this is an environment where people can have outsized impact. 

Trust is backed by data –  Forter is a recipient of over 10 workplace and innovation awards, including: 

• Great Place to Work Certification (2021, 2022, 2023)
• Fortune’s Best Workplaces in NYC (2022, 2023 and 2024)
• Forbes Cloud 100 (2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024)
• #3 on Fast Company’s list of “Most Innovative Finance Companies” (2022)
• Anti-Fraud Solution of the Year at the Payments Awards (2024)
• SAP Pinnacle Awards “New Partner Application Award” (2023) 
• Fintech Breakthrough Awards – Best Fraud Prevention Platform (2023)

Life as a Forterian:

We are a team of over 500 Forterians spread across 3 different continents. Since 2013, we've raised $525 million from investors such as Tiger Global, Bessemer, Sequoia Capital, March Capital and Salesforce Ventures. We're on a mission to bring trust to global digital commerce so that companies like Nordstrom, Priceline, Instacart and ASOS can block fraud, drive revenue and improve customer experience.

At Forter, we believe unique people create unique ideas, and valuable experience comes in many forms. So, even if your background doesn't match everything we have listed in the job description, we still encourage you to apply and tell us why your skills and values could be an asset to us. By welcoming different perspectives, we grow together as humans and as a company.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary 
• Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
• Matching 401K Plan 
• Comprehensive and generous health insurance, including vision and dental coverage
• Home office allowance 
• Generous PTO policy 
• Half day Fridays

At Forter, we embrace a hybrid work model that blends in-person connection with the flexibility of remote work. Team members based near our key hubs are expected to work from the office at least three days per week. We believe that regular face-to-face collaboration fuels professional development, strengthens our culture, and builds the relationships that help teams thrive.

*Forter does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to Forter (or any related) jobs alias or directly to any Forter employees. Forter will not be responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.

Salary Range: $238,000 - $322,000 annually + bonus + equity + benefits
The referenced salary range is based on the Company's good faith belief at the time of posting. Actual compensation may vary based on factors such as geographic location, work experience, market conditions, and skill level.