Not a freelancer. Not a consultant who advises and leaves. A named senior leader — Michael Keeling — accountable for your Amazon strategy, advertising, operations, and profit. Engage Michael on his own from $5K/month, or add a senior team behind him as you scale. The executive depth of a full-time Head of Amazon, for a fraction of the cost.
What is a fractional Head of Amazon?
A fractional Head of Amazon is a senior Amazon leader who owns your marketplace P&L on a part-time, embedded basis — setting strategy, directing advertising, overseeing listings and inventory, and carrying accountability for overall channel performance.
The distinction is ownership. A consultant advises. An agency delivers a defined set of services. This role sets the priorities, coordinates execution, and is accountable for the outcome — the same way a full-time Head of Amazon would be, without the full-time cost or headcount risk. It's the right structure when Amazon is strategically important but you can't yet justify a full-time senior executive, or when several agencies and employees are touching the account but nobody clearly owns the P&L.
The person who owns your Amazon P&L should have owned one before. Michael has — from every side of the platform.
Started 11 years ago as a third-party Amazon seller, building and launching his own brand — learning the ad structure, the listing game, and the inventory math with his own money on the line. He's sat where you sit.
Then went inside Amazon itself — in the Sponsored Ads organization, the team behind the PPC system he now runs for brands. Almost no fractional operator has actually worked inside Amazon's ad org. That vantage point is the difference.
Managed brands agency-side at Amplify Goods and as an Amazon Strategist / Brand Manager at aggregator Lyra Collective — plus enterprise work with HSAD (LG). Across those roles he's worked with 70+ brands.
Then brand-side as Head of Amazon at Triquetra Health, where he managed over $70M in Amazon revenue on more than $1M a month in ad spend — owning the entire channel P&L, from ad strategy to inventory pacing to creative direction. This is the exact role a fractional Head of Amazon fills, done full-time first.
Seller, Amazon insider, agency and aggregator operator, brand-side Head of Amazon — 11 years and 70+ brands, in one senior leader. When Michael owns your P&L, you get judgment built from every side of the platform, not a template. Read more on the about page.
Two ways to engage. Hire Michael on his own — the Fractional Strategy engagement at $5K/month: monthly strategy sessions, account oversight and direction, quarterly competitive intelligence, and on-demand senior judgment. Best if your Amazon person executes well but needs senior judgment in the room. Or add a senior team behind him — advertising, creative, and operations specialists — when you want execution owned too. You start with the leader; the team is optional, not required.
Not a task list handed off to juniors — a single senior owner accountable for the whole channel, with a senior team executing behind him.
Sales, contribution margin, and forecasting owned end to end — the number that matters is profit, not top-line revenue or ad spend.
Full advertising strategy across Sponsored Products, Brands, Display, and DSP — built around TACoS, not vanity ACoS.
Day-to-day marketplace operations, account health, case work, and the platform curveballs that eat an internal manager's week.
Keyword-rich listings, A+ Content, and conversion-rate work — the half of SEO that turns rank into revenue.
Demand forecasting, restock planning, FBA fee audits, and stranded-inventory recovery — where margin leaks silently.
Executive reporting, a 90-day plan with financial KPIs, and coordination of any agencies, freelancers, or internal staff on the account.
Most brands weigh a freelancer, a consultant, an agency, or a full-time hire. Here's where each fits — and where a fractional Head of Amazon wins.
| Option | Owns the P&L? | Seniority | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelancer (Upwork) | No — executes tasks | Varies widely | $15-$85/hr |
| Consultant | No — advises only | Senior, but hands-off | $200-$400/hr |
| Agency | Rarely — runs plays | Junior-mid AMs | $6-10K/mo + fees |
| Fractional Head of Amazon | Yes — full ownership | Senior operator, embedded | $5-25K/mo, no fees |
| Full-time hire | Yes | Senior — if you can recruit | $280-340K/yr loaded |
If you want one senior leader accountable for the whole channel — not a freelancer executing tasks or an agency running plays — this model is the fit. If you'd rather see the full team model behind that leader, see the fractional Amazon team page, or the deeper explainer on what a fractional Amazon manager is.
A note on the numbers. Results cited here (3.54% average TACoS and 87% organic sales for Athlean-X; +48% first-month revenue for Sunmed) are from Brand GrowthIQ's own engagements — see the case study and results. Michael's background — ex-Amazon (Sponsored Ads) and Head of Amazon at Triquetra Health, where he managed over $70M in Amazon revenue — is verifiable on LinkedIn.
A fractional Head of Amazon is a senior Amazon leader who owns your marketplace P&L on a part-time, embedded basis — setting strategy, directing advertising, overseeing listings and inventory, and being accountable for overall channel performance. Unlike a consultant who only advises or an agency that delivers a defined set of tasks, a fractional Head of Amazon takes ownership of the outcome. It is the right structure when Amazon is strategically important but you cannot yet justify a full-time senior Amazon executive.
A fractional Head of Amazon owns the Amazon channel as a business unit: sales, profit, and contribution-margin forecasting; Seller Central or Vendor Central operations; PPC strategy and advertising oversight; listings, SEO, and A+ Content; inventory planning, FBA issues, and account health; pricing and promotions; coordination of any agencies, freelancers, or internal team; and executive reporting with a 90-day plan and clear financial KPIs. The defining feature is ownership of priorities and accountability for results.
A fractional Head of Amazon typically costs $5,000-$25,000 per month depending on scope. Compare that to a full-time Director or Head of Amazon at roughly $280,000-$340,000 fully loaded in year one once you include salary, benefits, recruiting, and ramp time. The fractional model delivers senior leadership at 30-50% of the internal cost, with no headcount risk. Brand GrowthIQ also offers a $3,000 flat, one-time Diagnostic that rolls into the first retainer month if you continue.
A consultant advises from a distance and hands you a plan to execute yourself. A fractional Head of Amazon owns the plan and its execution — running the account, directing the team, and carrying accountability for the P&L. If your problem is 'we don't know what to do,' a consultant can help. If your problem is 'nobody senior owns Amazon end to end,' you need a fractional Head of Amazon.
Hire a fractional Head of Amazon when Amazon is strategically important but you can't yet justify a full-time senior executive, or when several agencies and employees are working on the account but nobody clearly owns the P&L and overall strategy. It is most common for brands doing $5M-$100M in revenue that have outgrown an agency but aren't ready to build a $300K+ internal department.
For a full checklist, see how to hire a fractional Head of Amazon. Look for a leader who has actually owned an Amazon P&L brand-side — not just run ad campaigns — plus real Amazon-insider and seller experience. Confirm the senior person, not a subordinate, will attend your leadership meetings and own your P&L review. Ask for two client references and verifiable results. Favor a capped client roster over a large agency book. Michael Keeling of Brand GrowthIQ fits this profile: 11+ years as a seller, Amazon employee, and brand-side Head of Amazon, with a roster capped at four clients.
No. A fractional Head of Amazon is the leadership model, but the same senior operators also run standalone Amazon account management for brands that need execution without the embedded executive. See our Amazon account management service, or read our guide to choosing between fractional and account management.
Everything a brand evaluating this role needs — the definition, the cost, the comparisons, and how to vet one.
The full scope of the role, the six areas it owns, and what the first 90 days look like.
PricingThe 2026 pricing tiers, what drives the range, and the math against a full-time hire.
VettingThe criteria that matter, 9 questions to ask, red flags, and where to find one.
CompareAdvice vs. ownership — the side-by-side and how to tell which you need.
The ModelWhat the fractional consulting model is, what it costs, and when it fits.
Compare ProvidersAn honest, named comparison of the top providers — and who each is best for.
The MathThe cost comparison against building an internal Amazon department.
30 minutes, senior-led — with Michael. We'll pull up your account live, walk through exactly what's holding back your growth, and tell you whether this is the right structure for where you are now.
Answer 8 quick questions and get a category-by-category estimate of where your Amazon business is leaving money on the table — and what to do about each leak.
2 minutes. No call required.
We'll pull up your account live, walk through exactly what's holding back your growth, and show you the specific changes we'd make — with the data to back it up.
$3,000 flat Diagnostic — rolls into month one if we continue.
