Senior Email Deliverability Consultant

Client is seeking a senior email deliverability specialist to audit and improve the performance of our permission-based email marketing program. We have an established brand, a substantial database of prior subscribers, website visitors, email openers and charter-request prospects, and a history of sending marketing communications. We want an expert who can help us maximize legitimate inbox placement, protect our sending reputation, and establish a repeatable process for reviewing every major campaign before it is sent. This is not a cold-email lead-generation position, a copywriting position, or a basic SPF/DKIM setup project. We need someone with deep, demonstrable experience managing deliverability for established bulk-email programs. Current Environment Approximately 110,000 established contacts Permission-based and historically engaged audience - 60k Newsletter-style and promotional campaigns Current sending through Sender.net Separate salesperson-style outreach infrastructure that should remain isolated from the main marketing domain from SmartLead.Ai and Lemlist. Primary emphasis on Gmail, Google Workspace, Microsoft/Outlook and Yahoo placement Scope of Work Conduct a comprehensive deliverability audit covering: Sending domains and subdomains SPF, DKIM and DMARC configuration and alignment Return-Path, From domain and link-domain alignment Domain and IP reputation Google Postmaster Tools and available Microsoft/Yahoo reporting Blocklist status Bounce, complaint and unsubscribe performance Historical sending volume and cadence ESP configuration and shared-versus-dedicated infrastructure List sources, age, engagement and segmentation Tracking links, redirects and branded tracking domains Current email HTML, MIME structure and plain-text alternatives Test actual inbox placement: Establish a documented baseline before changes Test across Gmail Primary, Gmail Promotions, Gmail Spam, Outlook, Microsoft 365, Yahoo and other material providers Use recognized seed-testing or inbox-placement tools Distinguish between delivery, inbox placement and Gmail-tab placement Report results by provider rather than presenting only a blended score Optimize campaign HTML and message structure: Review and simplify existing HTML templates Remove unnecessary or problematic markup Reduce HTML weight and prevent Gmail clipping Evaluate image-to-text balance Review CSS, hidden elements, tracking parameters and redirect chains Create an optimized lightweight HTML version Create a suitable plain-text or minimal-HTML alternative Preserve brand presentation and required unsubscribe/compliance elements Develop a sending and segmentation strategy: Identify the safest initial audience based on recency and engagement Design a controlled volume-ramp plan Establish active, cooling, inactive and suppressed segments Recommend treatment of older and previously unengaged contacts Develop a safe re-engagement strategy Establish bounce, complaint and inactivity thresholds Prevent sudden volume changes that could damage reputation Implement monitoring and pre-send quality control: Configure or review Google Postmaster Tools Implement DMARC reporting and monitoring Establish a campaign preflight checklist Test important campaigns before deployment Monitor reputation, complaints, bounces and provider-level placement Provide concise weekly reports with findings and recommended actions Required Deliverables Written baseline deliverability audit Authentication and DNS findings Provider-by-provider inbox-placement baseline Prioritized remediation plan Implementation of approved technical corrections Optimized reusable email template Before-and-after HTML size and structure comparison Engagement-based segmentation framework Recommended sending schedule and volume-ramp plan Re-engagement and suppression policy Weekly performance report Final report comparing baseline and post-remediation results Required Experience Applicants should have significant hands-on experience with: High-volume permission-based email marketing Google Postmaster Tools SPF, DKIM and DMARC Gmail bulk-sender requirements Microsoft and Yahoo deliverability Inbox-placement testing platforms such as GlockApps, Validity/Everest, Inbox Monster or comparable tools DMARC reporting platforms HTML email diagnostics and optimization Branded tracking domains List hygiene, segmentation and re-engagement Diagnosing spam-folder and Gmail Promotions-tab placement Sender.net, ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, Brevo, Klaviyo or comparable ESPs Please Do Not Apply If: Your primary experience is setting up cold-email mailboxes Your proposed solution is simply warming domains You measure success solely by reported open rates You guarantee 100% Primary-inbox placement You cannot provide anonymized examples of prior deliverability reports Your experience is limited to configuring SPF, DKIM and DMARC You plan to use artificial engagement or questionable warm-up networks on our primary brand domain Application Questions Please answer each of the following: Describe a permission-based bulk-email program where you materially improved inbox placement. What was the sending volume, what problems did you identify, and how did you measure the result? Which tools do you use for seed testing, reputation monitoring, DMARC analysis and list validation? How do you distinguish Gmail Promotions placement from a true sender-reputation problem? What specific HTML characteristics do you inspect, and under what circumstances does HTML compression meaningfully affect placement? How would you safely approach a list of approximately 36,000 contacts with mixed levels of recent engagement? How do you measure improvement given Apple Mail Privacy Protection and the limitations of open-rate data? Please provide an anonymized sample audit or weekly deliverability report. What access would you require to our DNS, ESP, Postmaster Tools and analytics? What would you expect to accomplish during the first two weeks? Please provide separate pricing for the initial audit and implementation, followed by ongoing weekly monitoring. Engagement Structure We anticipate an initial paid audit and implementation project followed by a two- to three-month monitoring and optimization engagement. The selected consultant will begin with read-only or limited access wherever practical. DNS and other material changes must be documented and approved before implementation. Success Metrics Success will be evaluated through a combination of: Provider-level inbox-placement testing Google Postmaster domain and IP reputation Spam-complaint rates Hard- and soft-bounce trends Authentication and alignment Click and response performance Conversion or RFQ activity Stable placement as sending volume increases Performance of engaged and re-engagement segments We understand that no legitimate consultant can guarantee Gmail Primary placement for every recipient. We are looking for rigorous diagnosis, technically sound implementation, measurable improvement and an ongoing system that protects our sender reputation.