Head of Growth Jobs in USA

Owns the growth function end-to-end: acquisition channels, activation, retention, and monetization. Reports to CEO or CMO. Manages a team of 2-15 people across paid, SEO, lifecycle, and analytics.

Most commonly classified under Marketing, but the line is blurry. In DTC and consumer SaaS, Head of Growth sits in Marketing and owns acquisition + retention. In product-led B2B SaaS (PostHog, Linear, Notion, Figma) the role is closer to Product and reports to a CPO. Our internal taxonomy maps Head of Growth to the growth-marketing category, which spans both functions.

Three patterns: (1) Reports directly to CEO as a peer of CMO and CPO (early-stage, common up to Series B). (2) Reports to CMO inside Marketing, owns demand gen + lifecycle while CMO owns brand (Series C+). (3) Reports to CPO inside Product, owns product-led growth + activation (PLG companies). The salary and scope are similar across all three.

Growth marketing. On Growth.Talent, Indeed, and LinkedIn it's tagged growth-marketing (vs performance-marketing, product-marketing, demand-generation, content-marketing). When a Head of Growth focuses primarily on paid channels, it overlaps with performance-marketing; when product-led, with growth-engineering or product-marketing.

Same scope, different stage. Head of Growth is the title at seed-Series B (operator-heavy). VP of Growth is the title at Series C+ (leader-heavy, multi-team). Compensation scales with company stage rather than the title flip; a Head at Series B and a VP at Series C often earn the same base.

In the US: $140K-$280K base. With equity and bonus, total comp typically lands $200K-$450K. Higher in SF/NYC, lower in remote-only or smaller-stage companies. France: €90K-€170K base. LatAm: $80K-$160K base.

Operator experience in at least one channel you scaled to material revenue (paid, SEO, lifecycle, partnerships). Comfort with SQL or analytics tools. Hiring and team-building. Strategic thinking under ambiguity.

Head of Growth is more performance-focused, full-funnel, often product-led. CMO is broader: brand, PR, comms, sales enablement, analyst relations. In smaller companies the two roles merge. At Series C+ the CMO owns brand and demand while Head of Growth owns acquisition + retention.

Head of Growth owns the entire funnel (acquisition + activation + retention + monetization). Head of Performance Marketing owns paid channels only (Google, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn). Performance Marketing is one of several channels a Head of Growth manages.

Usually yes — most postings require 5-10 years of experience and prior people management. A small subset of seed-stage startups hire 'Head of Growth' as a first growth hire with 3-4 years experience.