Revenue gap
When growth strategy runs through the founder, the agency caps at what the founder can personally do. That gap between where you are and where you could be widens every quarter.
The hire that determines your agency's next chapter.
We hire growth strategists for performance marketing agencies. It takes two weeks of discovery and a paid Work Simulation with real client data before we introduce a single candidate.
Strategy ?
- Acquisition
- Creative
- Retention
- Financial Strategy
A bad growth strategist doesn't just slow you down.
Client erosion
Growth plateaus. Clients see the numbers flatten. The pitch that landed them starts to feel like a ceiling. They start asking questions you do not have time to answer well.
Scaling wall
You cannot hire the second performer, open the next accounts, or build the team until someone owns growth as a function. The agency stalls at the founder's capacity.
The cost is not what you spend on the wrong hire. The cost is the trajectory you never reach.
Your monthly growth rate is stalling.
Your best strategic ideas stay in your head.
- Potential
- Current
- Gap
- Q1
- Q2
- Q3
- Q4
You have tried solving this before.
The Middle Manager
Great with people. Calm, organized, reliable. But they manage the team rather than thinking about the business. You hired a team lead when you needed a strategist. Six months in, nothing has changed about your growth trajectory.
The Platform Specialist
Knows the ad platforms cold. Can optimize a campaign with their eyes closed. But they cannot translate data into language clients trust. They execute tactics rather than building strategy. The accounts run, but they do not grow.
The Talker
Interviews brilliantly. Says "CAC payback" and "contribution margin" in all the right places. But three weeks in, there is no audit, no roadmap, no output. They identified every problem and solved none of them.
This is fixable. It starts with understanding what actually matters in this role.
Discovery reveals what interviews hide.
- Strategic Depth
- Can they think about the business beyond the ad accounts? Managers describe strategy; strategists demonstrate it.
- Client Translation
- Can they turn data into language founders trust? Everyone sounds articulate in interviews.
- Execution Velocity
- Do they produce tangible outputs, not just diagnoses? Talkers identify problems; operators solve them.
- Financial Literacy
- Can they read unit economics and calculate payback? Rarely tested in interviews.
- System Thinking
- Do they see how acquisition, creative, and retention connect? Single-channel experts describe systems; systems thinkers build them.
- Pace Tolerance
- Can they operate in a lean, fast-moving agency? Corporate transplants describe pace; agency-native people live it.
High strategic thinking
Low execution
- ManagerSees the vision, can't ship the work
- Growth StrategistThinks and ships
- TalkerNames the metrics, moves nothing
- SpecialistExecutes well, can't see the business
High execution
Low strategic thinking
"Sometimes we find the role is not a growth strategist. Sometimes it is an ops person, or a restructuring conversation. We name what we find."
Here is what two weeks of discovery produces.
Everything we build during discovery is yours to keep whether or not you proceed with the search.
Work Environment Scan
Maps the strategic environment: founder decision-making style, team structure, client portfolio complexity, and the growth ceiling diagnosis. We learn where previous hires broke down and what the seat actually demands.
What the seat demands
11 Functional
11 Social
10 Emotional
Right Person Profile
Defines the exact behavioral profile: which Work Drivers predict success in your agency's growth seat, not a generic growth role. Built from discovery, not from a job description.
Top Work Drivers (growth seat)
Job Map
Documents the real job: what decisions are theirs, which escalate, what a successful first 90 days looks like. Five core accountabilities with specific success metrics at week one, month three, and year one.
Milestones
- Week 1
- Month 3
- Year 1
Salary Benchmark
Market-validated compensation from multiple independent sources. We show you exactly where your budget sits in the distribution. We charge flat fees, so we have zero incentive to inflate the number.
Growth Strategist, Agency (US, 2026)
- $67.5K
- $83.7K
- $101.3K
Every growth strategist candidate completes a paid Work Simulation.
The simulation uses anonymized data from a real brand. Candidates are paid for this work. Every growth strategist who goes through this says the same thing: this is what the first week of the job actually feels like.
Work Simulation Brief
Growth Strategist
Scenario
A DTC brand selling functional apparel. $2M annual revenue, growing 40% YoY last year but decelerating to 20% this year. You have read-only access to Shopify (orders, customer data, product analytics), Triple Whale (attribution, spend, ROAS by channel), Google Ads, and TikTok Ads.
Part 1: Live diagnostic 60 minutes
Navigate the data. Diagnose the growth problem. Think out loud. No script, no prompts. We watch where your instincts take you.
Part 2: Strategic plan 2-3 hours, async
Build a 30-day and 90-day strategic plan. Record a 15-25 minute Loom walking through your thinking.
Signals strength
- They start with the big picture (Triple Whale overview) before diving into ad accounts
- They separate new versus returning customer data within the first 10 minutes
- They investigate CRO, conversion rates, and backend data, not just ad performance
- They ask what changed in the business before prescribing
- Their 30-day plan has clear owners and outcomes, not just ideas
Signals concern
- They go straight to ad account dashboards and stay there
- They rely on blended metrics without isolating new customer acquisition
- They never open Shopify or pull backend data
- They make recommendations without anchoring them in data
From five accounts to twelve.
From one strategist to a department.
When the right growth strategist arrives, growth stops being the founder's second job. It becomes a function. Revenue accelerates. The team scales.
Talk through a role2 weeks
of discovery before we search for a single candidate.
120 days
120-day replacement-search guarantee
A 120-day replacement-search guarantee is included, subject to the conditions in your service agreement. We'll explain those conditions before you commit.
Common questions about hiring a growth strategist
How do you evaluate growth strategy skills?
We build a paid Work Simulation using real client data from a DTC brand. The candidate gets read-only access to Shopify, attribution platforms, and ad accounts. Part one is a live diagnostic session where they navigate real data and talk through their thinking. Part two is an async assignment where they build a 30/90-day strategic plan and record a Loom walkthrough. We evaluate financial fluency, self-direction, client communication, and whether they think about the business or just the campaigns.
How is this different from hiring a senior media buyer?
A media buyer optimizes campaigns inside the ad platform. A growth strategist owns the revenue trajectory: unit economics, customer acquisition cost, LTV payback periods, contribution margins, and financial forecasting. The Work Simulation tests whether someone can pull Shopify backend data, build a financial forecast, and translate that into a strategic roadmap the client can act on. Platform skills are table stakes. Strategic depth is what we screen for.
What if we already have growth experience on the team?
Discovery sometimes reveals that the real need is not a growth strategist. Sometimes it is an operations hire, a restructuring conversation, or a redistribution of existing responsibilities. We name what we find. If the discovery shows you already have the capability and need a different kind of support, we will tell you that before you spend money on the wrong search.
How long does it take to fill a growth strategist role?
We plan around an eight-week target, and the actual timeline depends on the role, market, and how quickly your team can make decisions. The first two weeks are discovery, where we learn how your agency runs performance strategy, how decisions get made, and what has failed in the past. Weeks 3-5 are sourcing and screening. Weeks 5-7 are Work Simulations. Week 8 is presentation and decision support.
What does $7,500 include?
Everything from discovery to guarantee. We map your environment, build the Right Person Profile, source across multiple channels, run paid Work Simulations with real client data, evaluate candidates with documented trade-off analysis, support you through the offer, and back it with a 120-day guarantee. No percentage of salary. Same price whether the role pays $80K or $200K.
What if the hire doesn't work out?
Every completed placement carries a 120-day replacement guarantee. It's subject to the conditions in your service agreement. We'll explain those conditions before you commit. The period starts on the first day of employment.
What if the discovery reveals we do not need a growth strategist?
We tell you. Sometimes the answer is a different role, a restructuring conversation, or redefining the seat around what the agency actually needs. We have no incentive to push a search that does not fit. You keep everything we produce during discovery whether or not you proceed with the hire.
Can a growth strategist also manage media buying?
They can oversee it, but the roles serve different functions. A growth strategist thinks about the business: revenue trajectory, financial forecasting, channel strategy, and client roadmaps. A media buyer executes campaigns inside the platforms. Most agencies need both. Discovery helps you determine which seat to fill first and how the two roles interact in your specific environment.
A standard search is $7,500 flat.
The same methodology, the same discovery, and the same 120-day guarantee whether the growth strategist manages $50K/month or $500K/month in ad spend.
120-day guarantee Every completed placement carries a 120-day replacement guarantee. It's subject to the conditions in your service agreement. We'll explain those conditions before you commit.
Prefer a Scoping Call? We listen to your situation and tell you how we'd approach it.