Job description
Apollo.io is the leading go-to-market solution for revenue teams, trusted by over 500,000 companies and millions of users globally, from rapidly growing startups to some of the world’s largest enterprises. Founded in 2015, the company is one of the fastest growing companies in SaaS, raising approximately $250 million to date and valued at $1.6 billion. Apollo.io provides sales and marketing teams with easy access to verified contact data for over 210 million B2B contacts and 35 million companies worldwide, along with tools to engage and convert these contacts in one unified platform. By helping revenue professionals find the most accurate contact information and automating the outreach process, Apollo.io turns prospects into customers. Apollo raised a series D in 2023 and is backed by top-tier investors, including Sequoia Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and more, and counts the former President and COO of Hubspot, JD Sherman, among its board members.
Why This Role Matters
At Apollo, we’re revolutionizing how small and medium businesses go to market. As the world’s leading sales intelligence platform, email deliverability isn’t just a feature—it’s the backbone of our clients’ success. With over 1 billion emails sent annually (and growing), ensuring those emails land in the right inboxes is critical. We need an expert who can architect and optimize our and our user’s sender reputation, turning technical nuances into revenue-driving strategies.
Position Overview
As Apollo’s first Email Deliverability Expert, you will define the gold standard for inbox placement in an ever-evolving landscape of ISP policies, privacy regulations, and AI-driven spam filters. You’ll develop frameworks to safeguard deliverability for Apollo’s managed services, consult with high-profile enterprise clients, and shape the future of email outreach through continuous innovation.
This is a contract 20-30 hour per week role.
Key Responsibilities
Infrastructure & Compliance
- Audit and fortify Apollo’s email infrastructure: Optimize IP warmup, domain rotation, and list hygiene automation.
- Build and implement proactive monitoring systems for blacklists, spam complaints, and reputation shifts.
- Partner with Engineering to drive the roadmap for improving the effectiveness of Apollos users’ email deliverability
Client Impact
- Consult with enterprise clients to diagnose and resolve deliverability challenges.
- Optimize email content (subject lines, CTAs) to maximize inbox placement and engagement.
- Lead high-stakes “Deliverability Rescue” missions for clients experiencing issues.
- Develop transparent, client-facing dashboards to track and improve inbox placement performance.
Innovation & Thought Leadership
- Innovate with our R&D teams on developing tools that predict and prevent deliverability risks.
- Experiment with emerging channels: Dark social, BIMI-certified branding, AMP for Email.
- Publish Apollo’s annual “State of Deliverability” report—establishing yourself as an industry authority.
- Contribute to Apollo Academy’s thought leadership initiatives.
Who You Are
- Deep Technical Mastery: 5+ years of experience owning deliverability for large-scale email operations (10M+ sends/month).
- Deliverability Specialist: Strong knowledge of SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI, and emerging authentication protocols. Hands-on experience with deliverability tools like Google Postmaster, MXToolbox, Everest, 250ok, and leading ESPs (SendGrid, Mailgun, etc.).
- Problem Solver: Proven track record of resolving spam traps, blacklistings, and sender reputation challenges.
- Data-Driven Mindset: Ability to interpret inbox placement rates, bounce metrics, and engagement data to drive strategic optimizations.
- Adaptable & Innovative: Passionate about staying ahead of ISP algorithm updates (Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo), MTA behaviors, and new standards like TLS-RPT.
- Builder Mentality: You thrive in 0-to-1 environments, creating scalable solutions from scratch. Whether it’s writing DNS records or advising CROs, you get it done.
- Industry Veteran: If you successfully navigated the 2024 Gmail/Yahoo mass-filtering crisis, we want to hear your story.
Who Should Apply
- You can explain DMARC to a 5th grader but also geek out over RFC 5322.
- You dream about pre-header optimizations and have strong opinions on subject line structures.
- You understand that “deliverability” isn’t just about hitting the inbox—it’s about driving replies that close deals.
What You’ll Love About Apollo
- Ownership: Define and execute the deliverability strategy for a $10B+ industry—no red tape.
- Scale & Impact: Protect deliverability for 30K+ businesses and 1.5M+ Apollo users.
- Cutting-Edge Tech: Leverage Apollo’s AI engine, world-class email infrastructure and massive amounts of real-time engagement data.
Why You’ll Love Working at Apollo
At Apollo, we’re driven by a shared mission: to help our customers unlock their full revenue potential. That’s why we take extreme ownership of our work, move with focus and urgency, and learn voraciously to stay ahead.
We invest deeply in your growth, ensuring you have the resources, support, and autonomy to own your role and make a real impact. Collaboration is at our core—we’re all for one, meaning you’ll have a team across departments ready to help you succeed. We encourage bold ideas and courageous action, giving you the freedom to experiment, take smart risks, and drive big wins.
If you’re looking for a place where your work matters, where you can push boundaries, and where your career can thrive—Apollo is the place for you.
