Senior Growth Hacker
The Senior Growth Hacker looks for and tests product growth channels and mechanics, runs fast experiments, builds the funnel, and is responsible for growth in paying users.
What a Senior Growth Hacker does
The Senior Growth Hacker is responsible for product growth across metrics: registrations, activation, retention, and revenue. Unlike a classic performance marketer, they look at the entire user journey, from the first touchpoint to repeat purchase, and search for bottlenecks along that path. In dating, the typical bottlenecks are onboarding, profile verification, the first match, and the first message, so growth often depends on the product as much as on advertising.
The role matters in high-risk verticals because ad platforms restrict acquisition channels and the cost of a user rises quickly. The company cannot simply scale traffic purchases. It has to improve conversion and retention on the same traffic and diversify its sources. In dating, the growth team also works within constraints: age verification, photo moderation, and regulatory requirements for advertising and personal data determine which experiments are even permissible.
The Senior Growth Hacker usually reports to the Head of Growth or the marketing director and works closely with product managers, an analyst, developers, and the CRM team. At the senior level, they run some experiments themselves and may manage one or two analysts or marketing executors.
Responsibilities
- Build and maintain the product funnel, from install or registration to the first key action and the first payment.
- Formulate data-driven growth hypotheses based on user research and the results of previous tests.
- Prioritize experiments by expected impact, cost, and time to launch, and maintain the overall growth backlog.
- Launch A/B tests and changes to onboarding, screens, and push flows together with product and development teams.
- Evaluate the performance of acquisition channels and reallocate budget between them based on payback.
- Set up and monitor CRM flows: emails, push notifications, and triggered messages for user activation and re-engagement.
- Monitor traffic quality and user behavior after registration, and identify fraud and bot activity together with the risk team.
- Prepare regular growth reports for leadership and explain why metrics changed and what to do next.
- Build the experimentation process within the team: hypothesis templates, rules for evaluating results, and documentation of findings.
- Ensure ad creatives and mechanics comply with platform restrictions and the requirements for dating services.
Skills
- Funnel design and understanding of user behavior at each step.
- Formulating testable hypotheses and setting up A/B tests correctly.
- Basic statistics: sample size, test duration, statistical significance, and common interpretation errors.
- SQL for independent data extraction and validation of conclusions.
- Unit economics: CAC, LTV, payback, and margin by channel.
- Communication with product and development: explaining business goals and agreeing on priorities.
- Knowledge of ad platform restrictions and vertical rules, so time is not wasted on mechanics that will certainly be blocked.
- Prioritization under limited resources and the ability to stop an experiment that is not producing results.
- Mentoring and delegating tasks to junior specialists.
Tools
- Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager
- Mixpanel or Amplitude for behavioral and cohort analysis
- SQL clients and BI tools (Looker Studio, Metabase, or similar)
- A/B testing systems and feature flags
- CRM platforms for push, email, and in-app messaging
- Campaign tracking tools (for example, Keitaro) and attribution analytics
- Jira or Trello for the experiment backlog
- Spreadsheets and presentations for reporting and hypothesis reviews
How performance is measured
- Growth in registrations and paying users from experiment results.
- Activation conversion: the share of users who complete the key action in their first days.
- Day 7 and Day 30 retention by cohort.
- CAC and LTV by channel and campaign, and acquisition payback.
- Share of successful experiments and average time from hypothesis to result.
- Cost of fixing traffic quality issues and the share of fraudulent traffic.
By vertical
Dating
In dating, the main growth metric is not only registration but also the first meaningful interaction between users: a like, a match, or a message. The growth specialist works with age verification, moderation, and profile quality, because these directly affect trust and retention. Advertising restrictions are strict here, so much of the growth has to come from onboarding and CRM.
Levels
Senior
A senior independently leads the growth function or a major part of it, forms hypotheses, and is accountable for results to leadership. They decide which experiments to run and defend the budget and priorities. They also set experimentation standards for the team and mentor junior colleagues.
How to get there
People usually enter growth from performance marketing, product analytics, mobile app marketing, or product management. Experience working with data and real experiments matters more than experience with ad accounts alone. A good entry point is an analyst or performance specialist role, where the link between hypothesis, test, and revenue is already visible.
To move up to senior, you need to be able to run the full cycle independently: from funnel analysis and hypothesis formulation to launching a test, evaluating statistics, and reporting to leadership. It helps to learn SQL, the basics of A/B test statistics, unit economics, and product analytics principles. Practice in your own project or on test cases is more valuable than theoretical courses alone.
Growth toward senior usually comes through ownership of a metric and running more experiments with clear outcomes. It is important to document findings, including failed tests, and to explain to the business why a mechanic should or should not be scaled. For dating, it is also useful to know the advertising and verification requirements so you can propose solutions that pass moderation.
Next steps: Head of Growth, Marketing Director, Product Manager focused on growth, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
FAQ
Who is a Senior Growth Hacker and how does the role differ from a performance marketer?
A Growth Hacker is responsible for growth across the entire funnel, not just traffic buying. A performance marketer primarily manages ad campaigns and their efficiency. A Senior Growth Hacker can influence onboarding, CRM, and product mechanics, working with product and development teams.
What does a Senior Growth Hacker do in a dating project?
They look for bottlenecks in registration, verification, first interactions, and user retention, and test hypotheses through experiments. They also monitor traffic quality, set up CRM flows, and report on growth. In dating, they constantly account for ad platform restrictions and regulatory requirements.
What background is needed to become a Senior Growth Hacker?
Most often people move in from performance marketing, product analytics, or product management. It is important to work confidently with data and understand A/B tests and unit economics. Real experiments with measurable results serve as proof of experience.
What determines a Senior Growth Hacker's income?
Income depends on the size and maturity of the company, the scale of the project, the complexity of the vertical, and responsibility for revenue. It is also affected by how well the specialist delivers growth metrics and manages a team. Specific figures depend on the market and are not set in advance.
Which tools should a Senior Growth Hacker know?
They need web and product analytics systems, SQL, A/B testing tools, and CRM platforms for push and email. Campaign tracking tools and spreadsheets for calculations are also useful. The key is understanding which question each tool answers, not just knowing how to use it.
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