B2B Email Outreach Operations Specialist — List Research and Campaign Management

We manage outbound B2B sales programs for a Michigan-based functional mushroom brand, selling wholesale to independent health food and supplement stores across the US. Our outbound email infrastructure is already configured and maintained by our technical team. Our copywriter delivers the email scripts. What we need: someone to own list research, campaign management, and deliverability monitoring on an ongoing weekly basis, operating in full compliance with all applicable platform terms of service, CAN-SPAM, and email regulations. FIRST PROJECT — BUILD A 1,000-PROSPECT LIST Scope: Build a validated B2B outreach list of 1,000 prospects for our client, following our internal Operating Manual. You will: Use industry-standard prospect research and B2B data platforms that you have legitimate paid access to Apply our ICP filter criteria: independent health food stores and supplement shops, physical locations only, no franchises, no chains, no co-ops Extract company data: name, website, address, phone, socials Research publicly-listed business contact emails Validate 100% of emails through a paid email verification service Discard invalid and unverifiable addresses Clean lists: strip company suffixes (LLC, Inc), split personal-email vs generic-email files Deliver two CSVs (personal + generic) ready for upload Compensation: $200 fixed price Timeline: 5 business days from kickoff If the work is strong, we move directly into ongoing weekly operations. ONGOING ROLE (IF FIRST PROJECT GOES WELL) LIST RESEARCH (weekly) Build 5,000 new prospects per month for ongoing outreach Rotate geography as territories get exhausted (Ann Arbor → Michigan → Indiana/Ohio → outward) Deliver validated, cleaned, split CSVs on a consistent weekly cadence CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT Upload lists to our sending platform (personal and generic as separate campaigns) Load email scripts from our copywriter into sequences Configure sending settings: daily volume per inbox, hours, days, A/B variants, subject line rotation Schedule campaign launches DELIVERABILITY MONITORING Monitor campaign performance including bounce rate, reply rate, and delivery health Weekly reply rate tracking as inbox health signal Inbox reputation monitoring Proactively flag issues when metrics drift — before we notice them Recommend and execute optimization based on performance metrics REPORTING Weekly stats reporting via Slack every Monday Prospects sent, replies received, bounce rate, reply rate Flags or concerns Recommendations for the coming week WHAT WE HANDLE (NOT YOUR JOB) Domain and inbox setup (already done by our infrastructure vendor) Copywriting (separate copywriter) Reply handling and sales response Qualification calls and closing Ongoing time commitment: approximately 40 hours per month Ongoing rate: $15-20/hour depending on experience and speed of first project Payment: weekly via Upwork REQUIRED EXPERIENCE Must have at least 2 years of hands-on experience with: B2B outbound email campaign management and sending platforms B2B prospect research and list building Email deliverability best practices and troubleshooting Email verification and validation workflows Working within platform terms of service and applicable email regulations (CAN-SPAM, GDPR where relevant) Strongly preferred: Experience across multiple sending platforms Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 mailbox familiarity Understanding of email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR Proactive communicator: you flag issues before we ask, not after we notice Judgment: you know when a filter is dropping too many leads or when a bounce rate needs immediate attention Quality-obsessed on email validation: you understand that bad emails burn campaigns Reliable weekly cadence once ongoing work starts Clear, concise written English in Slack Committed to operating within platform terms of service and email regulations HOW TO APPLY In your application, please include: 1. References or descriptions of B2B outbound email campaigns you've managed (client details can be redacted) 2. Which industries or ICPs you've built lists for 3. How many validated prospects you can deliver in a typical 8-hour work day 4. Your process for handling a bounce rate spike on a single inbox 5. Answer this question: "For a B2B outbound email campaign targeting independent local health food stores in the Midwest US, describe your process for researching qualified B2B wholesale prospects while complying with platform terms of service and applicable regulations, and why?" Applications without answers to these questions will not be considered. Reviewing applications daily. Interviews within 24-48 hours for strong candidates. First project kicks off within a week of hire.