The Hard Truth About Hiring a Head of Growth In DTC

How To Do It – And Why It's Hard

August 22, 2025

By far the worst defined role in e-commerce is Head of Growth.

It’s the second most common placement we make at ConstantHire, yet still one of the hardest to hire for.

Why? Because most brands approach it the wrong way.

When you hire a customer service rep, the role is clear:

  1. Respond quickly

  2. Help customers

That’s it.

But when brand owners come to us for a Head of Growth, the expectations often sound like this:

“I need someone who can take us from $10M to $100M.” 🙄

And then they tack on an impossible wishlist:

  • Media buying

  • CRO

  • Offer testing

  • Creative testing

  • TOFU content

  • Retention

In other words—a one-person marketing org. That’s how the role gets set up for failure.

So what actually defines a successful Head of Growth?

It comes down to one thing: acquiring new customers cheaply.

That means on Day 1, they should own just three areas:

  1. Media Buying – scaling spend profitably across Meta, Google, YouTube, or TikTok.

  2. Offer Testing – building compelling value props that move the needle on CAC.

  3. Creative Testing – running structured tests and killing losers fast.

Everything else: retention, AOV, top-of-funnel content, etc. – can come later.

What to Look for in Interviews:

  • Can they explain CAC, LTV, AOV, and CRO fluently?

  • Have they scaled ad spend (not just managed it)?

    • 💡 Try to avoid asking company growth spend. This can be easily influenced by retail.

  • Do they have a structured testing process for creative and offers?

  • Do they think like a direct-response marketer—not just a “brand” marketer?

The best candidates light up when talking about experiments: advertorial landing pages, retention hacks, influencer whitelisting. They’ve been in the trenches, run the numbers, and can show you how they turned dollars into customers.

👉 If you’re thinking about hiring a Head of Growth but aren’t sure where to start, reply to this email. We’ll help you define the role properly and introduce you to candidates who can actually deliver.

PS – Here’s a full breakdown with more details & here’s a video I made on the subject.