Top 10 Growth Hackers to Hire in 2024
Master the art of growth this 2024 by hiring an expert in the field with deep knowledge of growing momentum.
Published February 22, 2024.
Companies live or die based on their ability to grow their customer base, revenue, market share, and other key metrics. Stagnation means failure for most startups and businesses. That's why hiring a skilled growth hacker can give your company the boost it needs to thrive.
Adding a talented growth hacker to your team could be the smartest move you can make this year. With their relentless focus on growth, creative thinking, and technical knowledge, a good growth hacker will find ways to move the needle where other marketing tactics fail.
Our picks for the top growth hackers
1. Josh R. - Best overall
2. Adam M. - Best for innovative new growth strategies
3. Dan G. - Best for growth hacking concerning CMO and CRO
4. Rob G. - Best for growth in the gaming and entertainment industries
5. Laureen B. - Best for growth with high-value marketing budgets
6. Anthony K. - Best for paid media with app development growth
7. Irina B. - Best for personalized growth strategies
8. Chris W. - Best for omnichannel growth hacking
9. Justin S. - Best for identifying KPIs for growth strategies
10. Paulina S. - Best for embracing trendy marketing and growth tactics
What is a growth hacker?
A growth hacker is a T-shaped marketer who uses data-driven strategies to increase the sales and profitability of a company. Growth hackers are typically well-versed in search engine optimization, user experience design, customer acquisition, and analytics.
Growth marketing relies heavily on experimentation to identify which marketing or product strategies work best for a company.
Growth hackers are often tasked with finding new and innovative ways of getting customers for their business. This could include developing partnerships with other companies, leveraging viral marketing campaigns, setting up referral programs, or optimizing websites for search engines.
A growth hacker aims to quickly identify and implement strategies that generate the biggest impact on a business's revenue.
1
Josh R.
Expert growth hacker
Experience
12+ years
Country
USA
Industry focus
Real estate | Finance | Health & wellness | Professional services | Technology
Brief overview
Josh is driven by the pursuit of business growth through digital marketing. With 12 years of experience as a results-focused PPC expert, he specializes in pushing the boundaries of business expansion through growth hacking.
Specialties
- Google Shopping
- Search ads
- Social ads
- Growth hacking
- Tracking and implementation
Why hire Josh?
Josh crafted a customer acquisition strategy for digital advertisements and brought it to life. He orchestrated a full-funnel campaign, integrating various ad types and implementing multiple touchpoints. Josh tailored problem/solution messaging to resonate with various buyer personas. He meticulously optimized keyword structures and messaging.
2
Adam M.
Growth hacker and marketer
Experience
10+ years
Country
Canada
Industry focus
Technology | Travel | Art & entertainment | Finance | Professional services
Brief overview
Adam boasts over a decade of experience in the realm of digital marketing, primarily within tech firms specializing in apps and marketplaces. His journey commenced with a focus on SEO and SEM, swiftly expanding into Paid Media.
Specialties
- Social ads
- Google Shopping
- Growth hacking
- Data onboarding
- Google Ads
Why hire Adam?
Adam spearheaded the creation and development of the growth marketing practice from the ground up. He was instrumental in establishing the team's vision and mission, assembling the right talent, implementing robust systems and processes, and fostering a culture centered around testing, learning, and scaling. Adam orchestrated the transition of Turo from an agency partnership to an in-house marketing team, complete with creative resources and a content production engine.
3
Dan G.
Freelance growth hacker
Experience
8+ years
Country
Canada
Industry focus
Health & wellness | Stye & fashion | Baby | Home & garden | Sports, outdoors & fitness
Brief overview
Consider Dan as your Growth Therapist. His role is to comprehend the challenges you encounter and utilize his wealth of channel expertise and process-oriented methods to swiftly overcome obstacles and advance toward your objectives.
Specialties
- Growth hacking
- Social ads
- Search ads
- CMO
- CRO
- SEO
Why hire Dan?
Dan is highly proactive, deeply inquisitive, and enthusiastic about collaborating to enhance your understanding of your customers and business, all in pursuit of growth.
4
Rob G.
Pro marketing growth hacker
Experience
20+ years
Country
UK
Industry focus
Gaming | Art & entertainment
Brief overview
Rob is a results-oriented Growth Marketer who boasts two decades of experience cultivating highly engaged customer bases for the most groundbreaking entertainment brands worldwide.
Specialties
- Marketing strategy
- Growth hacking
- Tracking and implementation
- SEO
- App store optimization
- Community management
- Google Ads
Why hire Rob?
His expertise lies in efficiently guiding established companies back to the track of profitable growth and return on investment. Additionally, Rob excels in crafting compelling go-to-market strategies to introduce captivating new brands to the market.
5
Laureen B.
Transformative freelance growth hacker
Experience
10+ years
Country
Canada
Industry focus
Pets | Sports, outdoors & fitness | Electronics | Finance | Food & drink | Gaming
Brief overview
Laureen is a proactive, data-driven growth marketer with a strong focus on achieving tangible results. With a decade of hands-on experience in performance strategy, she has successfully navigated a diverse range of paid channels and platforms across various industries.
Specialties
- Search ads
- Social ads
- Growth hacking
- Google Shopping
- CRO
- Marketing strategy
Why hire Laureen?
Having worked in-house, spanning startups to public companies, and within agencies, Laureen brings expertise across a wide spectrum of business models, including B2C, D2C, B2B, and P2P. Her experience extends to diverse sectors such as eCommerce, marketplace, and subscription-based businesses.
Laureen's track record includes scaling global campaigns exceeding $10 million in value and showcasing her proficiency with notable brands such as Turo, Shutterstock, HelloFresh, Best Buy, WestJet, Telus, and L’Oréal.
6
Anthony K.
Professional growth hacker
Experience
8+ years
Country
USA
Industry focus
Art & entertainment | Food & drink | Automotive | Electronics | Education | Finance
Brief overview
Anthony serves as the Growth Marketing Lead at Cash App, overseeing a substantial paid media budget exceeding $30 million, covering both brand marketing and acquisition efforts.
His primary focus is driving growth marketing strategies and efficiently managing campaigns, drawing from his extensive experience across various channels.
Specialties
- Search ads
- Social ads
- Apple Search Ads
- App store optimization
- Growth hacking
Why hire Anthony?
Anthony's channel expertise spans Google Ads, Snapchat, Facebook/Instagram, TikTok, and CTV platforms.
Before his role at Cash App, Anthony contributed to paid acquisition teams at esteemed companies, including Via, Spotify, Uber, and various startup ventures.
7
Irina B.
Agile marketing growth hacker
Experience
8+ years
Country
USA
Industry focus
Health & wellness | Beauty | Food & drink | Home & garden | Style & fashion
Brief overview
Irina is a dynamic and fervent marketer driven by the pursuit of profitable growth. Her unique ability lies in empathizing with the target consumer, allowing her to craft strategies that effectively drive sales and ensure a profitable return on marketing investment.
Specialties
- Search ads
- Google Shopping
- Amazon PPC
- Growth hacking
Why hire Irina?
Irina approaches her work from a consumer's perspective, leveraging this insight to inform her marketing strategies and decisions. Her track record includes surpassing prior target benchmarks by over 150%.
8
Chris W.
Innovative freelance growth hacker
Experience
8+ years
Country
UK
Industry focus
Gaming | Travel | Technology | Home & garden | Real estate | Automotive
Brief overview
Over the last 8 years, Chris has honed his skills in driving growth for startups, scale-ups, and businesses. His approach involves delving into customer research to uncover pain points contributing to revenue growth or decreasing customer acquisition costs.
Specialties
- Search ads
- Growth hacking
- CRO
- Marketing strategy
Why hire Chris?
Through methods like CRO and targeted marketing campaigns, Chris identifies and addresses these pain points to propel business success.
In addition to customer research, Chris specializes in formulating and implementing growth marketing strategies across various channels. This multifaceted approach allows him to maximize outreach and effectiveness in reaching target audiences.
9
Justin S.
Growth-focused consultant
Experience
8+ years
Country
USA
Industry focus
Pets | Beauty | Sports, outdoors & fitness | Health & wellness | Style & fashion
Brief overview
Justin is a seasoned digital marketing expert focusing on strategizing and executing projects from inception to completion. He excels in constructing marketing channels from scratch and implementing a test-and-learn approach that enables companies to expand upon existing foundations, thus elevating the growth trajectory of brands to new heights.
Specialties
- Marketing strategy
- Yahoo Gemini
- Growth hacking
- Search ads
- Social ads
- Taboola
- Outbrain
Why hire Justin?
With a positive and professional demeanor, Justin prioritizes dedicating time to thoroughly comprehend pain points and key performance indicators (KPIs). This commitment ensures that strategies are tailored to address specific challenges and drive measurable results effectively.
10
Paulina S.
Marketing solutions growth hacker
Experience
8+ years
Country
Canada
Industry focus
Automotive | Finance | Health & wellness | Technology | Art & entertainment
Brief overview
Paulina is dedicated to assisting companies in establishing and expanding their digital presence to foster growth and scalability. Her expertise is leveraging paid media and growth strategies to achieve these objectives. Specializing in lead generation, Paulina focuses on key channels such as Google Ads, LinkedIn, and Facebook to drive results for her clients.
Specialties
- Google Ads
- Growth hacking
- YouTube Ads
- Facebook Ads
- Marketing strategy
Why hire Pouria?
Driven by a passion for innovation, Paulina is enthusiastic about exploring new platforms and embracing emerging trends. She thrives on challenging industry norms, continually seeking out opportunities to push boundaries and drive impactful results for her clients.
Why you need a growth hacker
Growth hacking focuses on rapid results, user testing, and out-of-the-box marketing strategies. This approach is especially useful in startups pushing their product to market for the first time. As these brands are still unknown, they need a quick way to drive awareness and customers.
Some things growth hackers can do include:
- Develop and execute targeted marketing campaigns
- Identify and test new marketing channels and tactics to reach your target audience
- Use data and analytics to continually optimize and refine the acquisition strategy
- Improve the user experience and make the product more appealing
- Tap into untapped potential by identifying and testing new marketing channels and tactics
- Execute strategic marketing campaigns that leverage word-of-mouth and user engagement
- Set up tracking and reporting systems, which they can use to make improvements
- Analyze and improve key metrics, such as user engagement, retention, and lifetime value
- Take a cross-skilled approach to marketing and manage your marketing team
- To drive user acquisition and increase the exponential growth rate of your product or service
- Optimize conversion rates by improving the user experience and making the product more appealing
- To develop and execute viral marketing campaigns to rapidly increase brand awareness
When you shouldn't hire a growth hacker
Hiring a growth marketer shouldn't be a band-aid for all your product and marketing problems. Although hiring for this position can be extremely beneficial for your business, there are situations where you might want to reconsider the type of marketer you're looking for.
- For example, a growth hacker isn't an "acquisition only" role—they can do a lot more than just that. A senior marketer will want to work with every touchpoint in your sales funnel, from acquisition to retention and loyalty.
- Also, if you don't have a solid understanding of growth hacking, it will be hard for you to evaluate and manage the marketer—not to mention enable them to do their best work. So, if you want to hire the right person, ensure you're ready to invest in the process and dedicate resources to your growth strategy.
- A growth hire is also a bad idea if you don't have a team to support them. You're aiming for sustainable growth, not one-off projects that may or may not work—and for that to happen, you need to make sure your growth person has all the support they need to perform.
- Finally, a growth hacker isn't a miracle worker and will need time to adjust to your business, market, product, and audience. Just because growth hacking is labeled as a "quick" way to fuel a sales funnel, it doesn't mean that your marketer can whip out a wand and magically pour leads into your business. And just because all the hot companies work with growth hackers, it doesn't mean you have to.
Analyze your needs and hire for your specific situation rather than whatever trends dictate at any given moment. And remember that Mayple can help you with whatever marketing professionals you seek. Just contact us, and let's chat; we'll ensure your success is our priority!
7 growth hacker skills to look for
Every growth hacking job is different, and the requirements should be adapted to the project. However, here are some general skills you should be after if you're hiring for this role:
- Data analysis and experimentation: strong analytical skills and be able to design, execute and interpret results from experiments.
- Customer empathy: the ability to understand the motivations, pain points, and behavior patterns of the target audience.
- Creativity: growth marketing requires creating innovative and out-of-the-box solutions to problems.
- Technical chops: familiarity with web and mobile technologies, marketing and analytics tools like Google Analytics and Google Data Studio, SEO tools, A/B testing tools, and more.
- Cross-functional collaboration: the ability to work effectively with teams across the organization, such as engineering, design, and product teams
- Strategic thinking: the ability to identify and prioritize opportunities, develop and execute a plan, and continuously iterate and improve is critical for success in growth marketing
- Agility and adaptability: the marketing landscape is constantly evolving, and marketers need to pivot quickly and adapt to new tactics and technologies.
Generally, growth marketers are T-shaped professionals with a broad set of knowledge and skills, and expertise in certain areas. They should have a good understanding of the entire customer journey and how to leverage it for growth.
How to hire a growth hacker
Want to hire a growth hacker? Here are some steps to help you through the process.
Define your needs
You can't find the right candidate if you don't know what you need. Clearly define the scope of the project, your budget, and the specific skills you're looking for in an effective growth hacker. Also, consider whether you need a full-time, part-time, or freelance partner for your project—this will help you narrow your search and focus on the options that fit your needs.
Come up with your goals
Before looking for a growth hacker or a growth marketing agency, you need to set the specific growth goals you want to achieve. Be as clear as possible – do you want to increase the number of users, boost engagement, or improve the customer experience? Having an idea of your desired outcomes will help you find the right candidate for the job.
Look for candidates
The good news is that the market abounds with experienced and qualified growth hackers, so you should have no trouble finding the right fit for your company. However, it's essential to start your search in places with a high likelihood of quality candidates, such as:
- Referrals: if someone recommends a growth hacker, it's worth considering them, as you can be sure they have good references.
- GrowthHackers: this growth hacker job board is an excellent source of quality candidates, as it specializes in this niche
- AngelList (now Wellfound): a job board that fuels the global startup scene by connecting talented candidates with interesting projects
- Mayple: a platform that allows you to hire pre-vetted marketing specialists with a track record of success in different areas
Although there may be other places where you can start your search, these are tried, tested, and well-known in the industry. The market is full of self-proclaimed growth hackers, so staying clear of unbeaten paths is better.
Interview
Once you have a list of suitable candidates, you should interview them. This is the part where you can better understand whether they are a good fit for your project and needs, so ask as many relevant questions as you see fit. For example, here are some questions you should ask each candidate:
- How do you identify and prioritize growth opportunities?
- Can you give an example of a successful marketing campaign you’ve executed in the past?
- How do you measure the success of a campaign or channel and determine if it’s worth scaling?
- How do you approach A/B testing and data analysis for experiments?
- Can you share your experience acquiring and retaining users through referral programs and viral loops?
- How do you stay up-to-date on the latest techniques and tools?
- How do you balance short-term gains with long-term sustainability and scalability?
- Can you share your experience with mobile apps versus web products?
- How do you involve other teams, such as product and engineering, in your processes?
- Can you give an example of how you’ve used non-standard or unconventional tactics to drive results?
Conduct a test project
Words are one thing, but where a growth marketer will truly show their worth is actual work. Conducting a test project can help you assess a candidate’s skills, see if they understand your objectives, and determine if a partnership between you two can be successful. It also eliminates the risk of hiring a candidate who doesn’t meet your expectations or isn't a good fit for your company.
Here are some test project ideas to inspire you:
- A/B Testing Exercise: Provide a hypothetical scenario and ask the candidate to design and analyze a simple A/B test to test a specific hypothesis, such as improving sign-up conversion rates.
- Funnel Optimization Exercise: Present a real or hypothetical conversion funnel and ask the candidate to identify bottlenecks, suggest hypotheses for improvement, and prioritize tests based on expected impact and ease of implementation.
- Viral Growth Loop Exercise: Give the candidate a scenario and ask them to design a viral loop encouraging users to invite their friends to join the product. The candidate should explain their reasoning for each design choice and estimate the potential impact on user acquisition.
Analyze culture fit and growth mindset
Hiring a good growth hacker is not just about skills, experience, and expertise—a successful collaboration also depends on the company culture fit and growth mindset. When interviewing Mayple's suggested matches, ask questions to assess the candidate's personality, such as:
- What motivates you?
- How do you stay creative and come up with new ideas?
- What methods do you use to ensure that your projects are run efficiently and effectively?
- Describe a challenging situation you faced and how you overcame it
- How do you move past unsuccessful projects?
FAQs
How do I hire a growth hacker?
Look for T-shaped hackers with foundational marketing skills like conversion rate optimization, social media, email marketing, and copywriting. They should have basic knowledge of these marketing channels and expert knowledge in a few acquisition channels (like organic search, paid advertising, or influencer partnerships).
What is the hourly rate for a growth hacker?
The average annual salary for a growth hacker in the United States is $69,262 per year, or approximately $33 an hour. That rate is way higher if you are hiring in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it does vary depending on the city you're in.
What is an example of a growth hacker tactic?
Growth hacking strategies can include content marketing, social media marketing, paid media, viral email campaigns, or video content. The main ingredient is creativity and the right technical setup to maximize acquisition.
What makes a good growth hacker?
What makes a great growth hacker is their ability to think like the end-user. They need to have an analytical approach to their growth hacking process where they create a hypothesis, gather and analyze the data, and then make a decision on what to optimize and change.
