How It Works
Executive IntegratorMarketing OperatorOperations ArchitectRevenue OperationsSystems Builder
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PricingThe Caliber StandardWhy CaliberFind Your Operator
For E-commerce

Scale the brand without scaling the chaos.

Caliber places the operators who own paid, email, and lifecycle and the builders who deploy AI, so the brand runs on systems instead of hours.

Browse Caliber TalentSee What Changes
90 days
Tailored onboarding program
85%+
Match floor for placement
$80K+
Typical annual savings per role
2 yrs
Replacement program

Target ranges drawn from active DTC and e-commerce engagements. Outcomes vary by business and scope.

Sound Familiar?

If any of these land too close, keep reading.

A growing brand, real revenue, and a team still running on effort the founder can't scale.

“

CAC keeps creeping up. Your ads guy ghosted.

Spend drifts between vendors with no disciplined creative cadence, so acquisition cost climbs and nobody owns the trend.

“

Returns and CS tickets eat the team's day.

Order status, sizing, and shipping questions get answered by hand, so the team spends its hours on Tier 1 instead of growth.

“

Klaviyo sends the same email to everyone, every time.

Flows do not segment by behavior, so lifecycle revenue stays a fraction of what the list could actually produce.

“

Product launches feel like fire drills every time.

Creative, dev, fulfillment, and paid never line up, so every launch rebuilds the timeline and the chaos from scratch.

“

The founder is still approving every ad creative.

Nothing ships without a founder sign-off, so the approval loop becomes the ceiling on how fast the brand can move.

“

The AI tools you bought aren't doing anything yet.

Licenses sit idle because nobody owns deploying them, so the leverage you paid for never reaches the customer.

The Roles That Fit Your Business

Three Caliber placements that solve the real problems in DTC.

All eleven Caliber roles are available to e-commerce brands. These three are where most DTC clients start.

Operator Track

Marketing Operator

Owns paid ads, email, lifecycle, and the marketing spend that actually converts.

What they own
  • Paid ads execution across Meta, Google, and TikTok
  • Klaviyo and Postscript lifecycle flows: welcome, abandoned, win-back
  • Content calendar, creative cadence, and UGC pipelines
  • Reporting on CAC, ROAS, and retention metrics
See Marketing Operator Talent
Operator Track

Executive Integrator

Gets the founder out of every approval loop and keeps launches running on time.

What they own
  • Founder calendar, priorities, and approval-flow management
  • Launch coordination across creative, dev, fulfillment, and PR
  • Vendor and agency follow-up: creative, paid, fulfillment partners
  • Team accountability, meeting cadence, and decision documentation
See Executive Integrator Talent
Builder Track

Systems Builder

Deploys AI workflows where the leverage is highest in a DTC business.

What they own
  • AI customer service deflection across Gorgias, Zendesk, or Re:amaze
  • Returns automation and post-purchase flow infrastructure
  • Subscription churn intervention and retention sequences
  • Custom integrations between Shopify, ad platforms, and CRM
See Systems Builder Talent

Need a different role? See all eleven Caliber placements on the homepage.

What Changes For Your Business

Four shifts you can point to by Day 30.

Not theory. Not aspiration. The work that actually shows up on Monday.

01

Ad spend that compounds.

Creative cadence gets disciplined, targeting gets sharper, and ad accounts stop drifting between vendors. Reporting actually informs next week's spend, so your CAC stops being a coin flip and starts trending in a direction you can plan around.

02

Customer service that resolves itself.

AI handles the routine: order status, returns, sizing, shipping. Your team handles the exceptions and the relationship-building tickets. Tier 1 deflection rates that used to be aspirational become baseline within the first 60 days.

03

Email that segments and converts.

Klaviyo flows that treat customers like individuals: first-purchase, post-purchase, win-back, VIP. Triggers tied to behavior, not to whoever happened to be on the list. Lifecycle revenue stops being a percentage of total and starts being a strategy.

04

Launches that don't burn the team.

Coordinated cadence across creative, dev, fulfillment, and paid, with clear ownership at every step. The founder stops being the person who keeps the launch from falling apart, and each launch gets faster, cleaner, and more predictable than the last.

See what one placement can own, end to end.
Browse Caliber TalentSee Pricing
The Caliber OS, Tuned For This Vertical

A DTC operating system, deployed Day 1.

Four components, tuned to the tools you run and the work that moves your numbers.

01Toolkit

The DTC toolkit, pre-installed.

  • Shopify, Klaviyo, Postscript, Triple Whale, Gorgias, and Yotpo playbooks
  • Meta, Google, and TikTok ads ops templates and creative briefs
  • PDP optimization patterns and post-purchase flow templates
  • Subscription management workflows for Recharge, Skio, and Bold
02Playbook

90-day onboarding, tailored to your business.

  • Day 1 audit: ad accounts, email lists, CS volume, attribution baseline
  • Day 30: creative cadence reset and email lifecycle redesign
  • Day 60: CS automation deployment and conversion infrastructure
  • Day 90: end-to-end CAC, LTV, and retention review
03Continuous AI Education

Your operator stays current as the tools move.

  • New AI tools for CS: Gorgias AI, Siena, Re:amaze AI agents
  • Ad platform algorithm shifts across Meta, Google, and TikTok
  • Patterns from the DTC placement network, quarterly
  • Attribution and pixel changes: iOS, cookies, server-side tracking
04Market Intelligence

Cross-placement intelligence from DTC.

  • Tool benchmarks: which ad, email, SMS, and CS platforms are winning
  • Vertical conversion benchmarks: CVR, AOV, repeat rate, CAC/LTV
  • Stack architecture references for AI-augmented DTC brands
  • Patterns by category: apparel, beauty, food, home, supplements
Who Does What

A builder ships it. An operator runs it.

Two jobs in sequence. The builder constructs the AI infrastructure. The operator runs the marketing and recovers the growth.

Builder Track · Systems Builder

Builds the engine

Constructs the integrations, automations, and AI tooling. Technical work that ships once and runs.

  • AI customer service deflectionOrder status, returns, sizing, and shipping handled across Gorgias or Siena
  • Returns automation and routingSelf-serve portal that routes by reason and triggers win-back offers
  • Subscription churn interventionRetention sequences and dunning recovery for Recharge or Skio
  • Post-purchase and review captureConfirmation to delivery to review request, compounding automatically
  • Shopify, ads, and CRM integrationsConnects the stack so data and attribution roll up in one place
  • Idle AI tools put to workThe licenses you already bought, finally deployed against real tickets
Operator Track · Marketing, Integrator

Runs the business

Owns the spend, the lifecycle, and the launches. Operational work that turns infrastructure into revenue.

  • Paid ads creative cadenceDisciplined briefs and iterations across Meta, Google, and TikTok
  • Email and SMS lifecycleWelcome, post-purchase, win-back, and VIP flows tracked against revenue
  • CAC, ROAS, and retention reportingNumbers that inform next week's spend instead of explaining last week's
  • Launch coordinationCreative, dev, fulfillment, and paid lined up with clear ownership
  • Founder leverage and approval flowThe approval bottleneck removed so the brand stops waiting on one person
  • Vendor and agency follow-upCreative, paid, and fulfillment partners managed to deadline
+

Together, they compound. The builder's infrastructure gives the operator leverage on every channel. The operator's discipline turns that leverage into revenue and retention. Most DTC brands start with one and add the second within 30 to 60 days.

Build the engine, or run it. Start with the seat that hurts most.
Browse Caliber TalentHow It Works
The Math

What this saves a DTC brand.

Three Caliber placements owners commonly start with. Each priced against the U.S. loaded salary for the same role.

Marketing Operator (Tier 1)
Caliber: $4,593/mo · $55,116/yr
U.S. Loaded: $122,500/yr
Annual Savings: $67,384 (55.0%)
Best for paid ads, email, lifecycle, and the marketing function end-to-end.
Executive Integrator (Tier 1)
Caliber: $3,813/mo · $45,756/yr
U.S. Loaded: $122,500/yr
Annual Savings: $76,744 (62.6%)
Best for founder leverage, launch coordination, and the approval loop.
Junior Systems Builder
Caliber: $6,240/mo · $74,880/yr
U.S. Loaded: $162,300/yr
Annual Savings: $87,420 (53.9%)
Best for AI customer service, returns automation, and subscription infrastructure.
All three placements, annually
Caliber: $175,752/yr · U.S. Loaded: $407,300/yr
Combined annual savings: $231,548

U.S. Loaded Annual based on salary plus benefits plus payroll taxes (~30% load). Onboarding ($2,500 one-time per placement) and 3% annual escalator not reflected. See full rate card.

FAQ

Common questions.

Do Caliber operators understand Shopify, Klaviyo, and Triple Whale?
Some Caliber operators and builders have experience with DTC and e-commerce brands. The Caliber Toolkit ships with platform-specific playbooks for Shopify, Klaviyo, Postscript, Triple Whale, Gorgias, and Yotpo. Coverage includes checkout optimization, lifecycle flow setup, attribution, customer service routing, and review capture. Your operator walks in with working knowledge of the tools your brand already runs on.
What about ad platforms specifically: Meta, Google, TikTok?
Marketing Operators placed into DTC brands run paid ads operations across Meta, Google, and TikTok. The Toolkit includes creative brief templates, campaign structure patterns, and reporting dashboards specific to each platform. Continuous AI Training keeps your operator current on platform algorithm changes: Meta's signal loss, Google's PMax updates, TikTok's evolving Shop ecosystem. They run ad ops as a discipline, not as guesswork.
Can you handle our customer service volume with AI?
Yes. This is one of the highest-leverage workstreams in DTC. A Systems Builder can deploy AI customer service across Gorgias, Siena, Re:amaze, or Zendesk to handle Tier 1 tickets: order status, returns, sizing, shipping. Most DTC brands we work with see Tier 1 deflection rates climb meaningfully within the first 30 to 60 days. Your team handles the relationship-building tickets and exceptions only.
What if I just need help getting myself organized as the founder?
That is the Executive Integrator role. Calendar management, priority triage, launch coordination, vendor and agency follow-up, decision documentation, and team accountability. The point is not to run your business for you. It is to remove the founder approval bottleneck so launches do not drag, vendors do not ghost, and your team has someone to escalate to when you are heads-down on the work that only you can do. Most founders feel the impact within the first two weeks.
What about subscription brands on Recharge or Skio?
Subscription work is a common fit for both the Systems Builder and Marketing Operator roles. A Systems Builder can deploy AI-driven churn intervention and the retention infrastructure behind it. A Marketing Operator can own the email and SMS flows that keep subscribers engaged. The Caliber Toolkit gives them a running start with playbooks for Recharge, Skio, and Bold, covering churn sequences, retention offer logic, swap and skip flows, and dunning recovery. The work they own makes subscription LTV a tracked KPI.
Do you support multi-channel brands (Amazon, Shopify, retail)?
Yes. The Caliber OS handles multi-channel brands well. The Toolkit includes channel-specific patterns for Amazon (Vendor and Seller Central), Shopify, Faire, and direct retail accounts. The 90-day Playbook can be scoped to focus on the highest-leverage channel first. Most multi-channel brands use a Marketing Operator to coordinate strategy across channels and a Systems Builder to handle the data and integration layer between them.
How do you handle attribution post-iOS14 and cookie deprecation?
Attribution is one of the topics covered explicitly in the Caliber OS for e-commerce. The Toolkit ships with playbooks for Triple Whale, Northbeam, and similar tools, plus server-side tracking patterns and conversion API setups. Continuous AI Training updates your operator on iOS, ATT, and cookie changes as they happen. Attribution stops being a black box and becomes a tracked discipline with documented assumptions.
What is the right first hire for a DTC brand?
It depends on where the most pain is. If your founder is the bottleneck on every launch and approval, start with an Executive Integrator. If your CAC is rising and your email is generic, start with a Marketing Operator. If your CS volume is overwhelming or you have bought AI tools that are not doing anything, start with a Systems Builder. Most DTC brands start with one role and add a second within 30 to 60 days. The most successful are those pairing a founder-leverage or marketing role with a Junior to Mid Systems Builder to compound output.
Get Started

Ready to get the founder out of the bottleneck?

Pick your operator or builder. Work starts this Monday.

Browse Caliber TalentSee Pricing