Director, Personalization & Retention

Job Summary:

iHerb is a multi-billion dollar, global powerhouse in health and wellness that has experienced some of its fastest growth internationally despite being headquartered in the United States. We are masters of global logistics, operating in 180 countries including major markets like Saudi Arabia, Korea, and Japan where we are the #1 brand and a household name. iHerb is seeking a visionary Director of Personalized Marketing to lead the creation of an AI-driven personalization ecosystem that transforms how we engage customers across every touchpoint—email, app, web, and push notifications. This leader will architect and execute a personalization strategy that replaces broad, mass discounting with highly individualized offers, content, and recommendations. The goal: to make personalization the cornerstone of the iHerb brand, delivering exceptional growth in customer lifetime value, order frequency, and average order value (AOV), and building a rewards experience that rivals the best in the world. We need a data-driven innovator with entrepreneurial DNA who can work fast in a large company environment, to build an exceptional personalization capability for over 13 million active iHerb customers around the world.

Job Expectations

Strategic Leadership

• Develop and execute a company-wide personalization strategy to maximize customer engagement, retention, and revenue.

• Lead and develop a high-performing team of marketing professionals responsible for personalization and retention initiatives.

• Provide coaching, mentorship, and professional development to direct reports to foster innovation and growth.

• Define KPIs for personalization success, including revenue per customer, AOV, order frequency, conversion, and engagement lift.

• Establish clear goals and performance standards to ensure alignment with organizational priorities and cross-functional objectives.

• Partner cross-functionally with Marketing, Product, BI, and Engineering to design and implement a scalable personalization engine.

AI-Driven Personalization Development

• Lead the design and implementation of a real-time personalization platform that delivers the right message, offer, and content to the right customer at the right time.

• Leverage generative AI, machine learning models, and predictive analytics to power customer segmentation, product recommendations, and lifecycle triggers.

• Build and manage a library of thousands of dynamic offers and messages, optimized through continuous testing and reinforcement learning.

• Collaborate with Data Science to develop customer propensity models and “next best action” algorithms.

Customer Experience Innovation

• Redefine the customer journey by embedding personalization into every channel—site, app, email, push, and loyalty program.

• Partner with Creative and CRM teams to scale personalized content generation using AI tools and templates.

• Design and launch a next-generation personalized rewards and loyalty ecosystem, surpassing traditional programs in perceived and delivered value.

Measurement and Optimization

• Establish a robust experimentation framework (A/B and multivariate testing) to continuously improve personalization performance.

• Build real-time dashboards with the BI team to measure personalization impact on conversion, retention, and customer value.

• Partner with analytics and finance teams to quantify ROI and optimize investment in personalization initiatives.

The duties and responsibilities described above may provide only a partial description of this position. This is not an exhaustive list of all aspects of the job. Other duties and responsibilities not outlined in this document may be added as necessary or desirable, with or without notice.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• 12+ years of experience in digital marketing, CRM, personalization, or growth roles, with at least 12 years in a leadership capacity.

• Proven experience building or leading AI/ML-driven personalization programs at scale (eCommerce, retail, or digital-first business).

• Solid understanding of marketing technology, including CDPs, recommendation systems, and targeted marketing mechanics.

• Expertise in data-driven customer segmentation, lifecycle marketing, and offer optimization.

• Demonstrated ability to translate data insights into actionable marketing strategies that drive measurable business impact.

• Exceptional leadership, collaboration, and communication skills; ability to inspire cross-functional teams.

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or advanced degree in Marketing, Data Science, or related field preferred.