Head of Growth Marketing

Houndsy is a premium pet brand reimagining the dog feeding experience. They are seeking a Head of Growth Marketing to lead customer acquisition, improve conversion rates, and enhance brand presence while managing a team of specialists across various marketing channels.

Responsibilities:

• Full P&L ownership of the growth marketing budget, with clear revenue and ROAS accountability tied to Houndsy’s 2026 revenue plan
• Lead paid media strategy and execution across paid search & social
• Manage channel-tier performance targets: hold scaled channels (Meta, Google) to internal ROAS benchmarks while applying separate CAC and payback-period benchmarks for emerging channels that reflect their maturity curve
• Own the marketing data stack—attribution, reporting dashboards, and testing frameworks—so the team can make fast, confident decisions. Conduct weekly attribution reviews to catch spend drift early
• Systematically reduce Meta dependence by building durable non-Meta acquisition channels, targeting 25–30% of new customers from non-Meta sources by EOY 2026, scaling toward 50% over 24 months
• Build and manage a structured test calendar, allocating 10–25% of paid budget to non-Meta experiments with clear success criteria and kill timelines
• Launch and scale a creator/affiliate program with defined economics and performance targets
• Oversee the influencer program, aligning partnerships with brand positioning and measurable acquisition goals
• Build and support durable, lower-CAC channels: SEO/content, brand PR, and organic social
• Manage outbound sales to drive B2B, partnership, and wholesale revenue opportunities
• Stand up Houndsy’s CRO program from scratch: select and implement testing tooling, define a prioritization framework, and build toward a cadence of 2–4 meaningful tests per month as traffic supports statistical significance
• Coordinate with the web design and development partner on test implementation, landing page optimization, and site performance
• Develop and iterate on bundle strategy, upsell/cross-sell at cart, and PDP optimization to increase AOV and profit per visitor
• Optimize shipping fee strategy in partnership with the Fractional CFO, experimenting with free shipping thresholds based on margin analysis and demand curve modeling
• Own the email and SMS program—automated lifecycle flows, campaigns, segmentation, and deliverability—with clear revenue attribution
• Build and manage loyalty, referral, and win-back programs that drive measurable repeat purchase rate improvement
• Collaborate with the Head of CX on save offers, proactive outreach to high-value customers, and CX-driven referral loops
• Partner with the Product Manager to ensure marketing support is in place for new product launches, bundles, and accessories that drive LTV
• Own Houndsy’s brand presence across all marketing-managed channels—organic social content production, influencer, PR, and content—ensuring cohesive positioning as a premium, design-driven pet brand
• Track brand health indicators: branded search volume growth, social share of voice, and engagement rates as leading indicators of acquisition efficiency
• Coordinate messaging and visual identity across paid and organic touchpoints in partnership with the CEO’s brand storytelling efforts
• Partner with the Fractional CFO to align spend to margin targets, conduct unit economics reviews by channel, and eliminate unprofitable spend
• Work with the Product Manager on pricing strategy, launch timing, and bundling decisions that balance margin improvement with demand impact
• Collaborate with the Head of CX to leverage customer sentiment, ad resonance feedback, and support-driven insights for campaign optimization
• Partner closely with the CEO on brand storytelling, positioning, and investor narratives, and with the COO/CPO on product launches including the smart feeder roadmap
• Lead, mentor, and develop a cross-functional growth marketing team: Paid Search Manager, Paid Social Ads Manager, Paid Media Strategist, Organic Social Media Manager, Email Marketing Manager, Outbound Sales, Influencer Manager
• Coordinate with contractors and agency partners for PR, Web Design & Development, Blog/SEO and Brand IP Protection

Requirements:

• 7+ years in growth marketing, performance marketing, or digital marketing leadership, with at least 3–4 years in D2C eCommerce
• Proven track record scaling a D2C brand to $15M+ in revenue with profitable unit economics
• Deep expertise in paid media (Meta, Google, TikTok), with hands-on experience managing six- to seven-figure monthly ad budgets and holding channel-level P&L accountability
• Deep fluency in paid media metrics, attribution models, and creative testing methodologies. Comfortable with ambiguous attribution in upper-funnel channels
• Experience building non-paid acquisition channels at meaningful scale: affiliate/creator, influencer, SEO, and email/SMS
• Hands-on CRO experience: selecting tooling, designing tests, and interpreting results with statistical rigor
• Strong people leadership—experience managing and developing a team of 5+ across multiple marketing disciplines
• A builder's mindset: comfortable standing up new programs (CRO, affiliate, loyalty) from scratch, not just optimizing existing ones
• Excellent communicator who can present strategy clearly to founders and cross-functional partners
• Entrepreneurial mindset: you take ownership, move fast, and don't wait to be told what to do
• Experience in pet, home goods, or lifestyle D2C brands
• Familiarity with Shopify, Klaviyo, Triple Whale or Northbeam, and similar eComm tools
• Experience launching or marketing connected/smart hardware products
• Background in building growth functions from early stage through scale