User Acquisition Lead (UA Lead)
The User Acquisition Lead is responsible for attracting paying users. They build the media mix, manage budgets, traffic quality and channel payback in high-risk products.
What a User Acquisition Lead does
The User Acquisition Lead (UA Lead) is responsible for the cost and volume of acquiring new users for a product. In high-risk verticals such as gambling, betting, crypto, fintech, dating, nutra and e-commerce, this is one of the most directly money-linked roles: acquisition quality determines payback, ROAS and the unit economics of the whole product. Ad platforms often restrict creatives and targeting, and affiliate networks and platforms change their rules regularly, so companies need someone who constantly looks for working channels and reacts quickly to blocks.
In dating, the UA Lead manages traffic buying from several sources: social networks, push and in-app networks, affiliate programs and display platforms. They agree the onboarding and registration funnel with the product team, work with analytics on cohorts and LTV, and work with moderation and legal to check that creatives comply with platform rules and regulator requirements. The role usually reports to the CMO or Head of Marketing and manages a team of UA managers, a creative team and analysts, or works in close partnership with them.
Responsibilities
- Build and revise the media plan and the budget split across channels and geos based on payback.
- Set targets for CPI, CPA, ROAS and LTV and be accountable for the team delivering them.
- Coordinate testing of creatives, audience hypotheses and landing pages.
- Monitor traffic quality: fraud, low-converting sources and non-target registrations.
- Agree creatives and landing pages with platform moderation and legal, taking vertical restrictions into account.
- Negotiate rates, volumes and exclusive terms with partners and buyers.
- Build cohort and payback reporting for management and finance.
- Look for new channels and backup setups in case main sources are blocked.
- Maintain the acquisition forecast and align plans with product, support and finance.
- Lead the team of UA managers and creative specialists: task setting, reviews, hiring and development.
Skills
- Understanding of unit economics: CPI, CPA, ARPU, LTV, payback and margin.
- Ability to build and read cohort analysis and attribution.
- Experience working with media buyers and several ad networks at the same time.
- Hypothesis testing skills: experiment design, A/B and multivariate tests.
- Understanding of platform ad policies and dating vertical restrictions.
- Negotiation with partners and building long-term relationships with networks.
- Team management and prioritization when budget and time are limited.
- Cross-functional communication with product, legal, finance and creative teams.
- Fast response to blocks, policy changes and drops in performance.
Tools
- Attribution and mobile analytics trackers (AppsFlyer, Adjust, Keitaro)
- Google Analytics and BI dashboards (Looker Studio, Power BI)
- Ad accounts of social networks and push/in-app networks
- SQL for data exports and cohort analysis
- Spreadsheets and budget and task management systems (Google Sheets, Jira, Notion)
- Tools for monitoring fraud and traffic quality
How performance is measured
- CPI and CPA by channel and geo versus target values
- ROAS and payback period by cohort
- LTV to CAC over a horizon agreed with finance
- Share of quality traffic and fraud rate
- Volume of paying users acquired versus plan
- Speed of launching new channels and setups after blocks
By vertical
Dating
In dating, the main risk relates to registration quality and platforms' trust in creatives, so the UA Lead often works with moderation and legal on wording and visuals. Geos with clear audience purchasing power matter, as does quick testing of the cost of female and male traffic.
Levels
Management
At management level, the UA Lead is responsible not only for the results of individual campaigns but also for the overall acquisition strategy, the budget and the team. Decisions on launching new verticals, geos and affiliate networks are made at this level together with the CMO and finance.
How to get there
Most people move into the role from positions such as UA manager, media buyer or performance marketer, where they already have experience with budgets and reporting. It helps to start by running one campaign setup end to end: from hypothesis and creative to payback analysis.
Important background includes understanding analytics, working with spreadsheets and SQL, experience with testing and knowledge of ad platform restrictions. In high-risk verticals, it is useful to learn the platforms' requirements for gambling, crypto, dating and nutra so you understand why campaigns get blocked.
Growth usually comes through managing a growing portfolio of channels and geos, and then through leading the team and the budget. A good sign of readiness for a lead position is that you propose strategy yourself, back it with numbers and can explain to finance why an investment will pay back.
Next steps: Head of User Acquisition, Head of Performance Marketing, Growth Lead, Head of Marketing, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
FAQ
How is a UA Lead different from a media buyer?
A media buyer usually handles buying and optimizing campaigns in one or several channels. The UA Lead is responsible for the overall acquisition strategy, the budget split across channels, the team, and the link with product and finance. Sometimes a media buyer grows into this role, but the management and analytical skill requirements are noticeably higher.
What knowledge is needed to work in dating?
You need to understand how registrations and the product's payment model work, which creatives and wording pass platform moderation, and how different audiences behave across geos. Knowledge of registration fraud and regulator requirements for dating advertising is also useful.
What affects a UA Lead's income?
Income depends on company size and acquisition budget, the vertical and geos, experience managing a team, and payback results. Part of the income is often tied to hitting target KPIs, so understanding unit economics is important in negotiations.
Do you need to know how to program?
Programming is usually not required, but it is important to write basic SQL queries, work with tracker APIs and understand how events are logged in the product. This lets you test hypotheses faster and not depend on other teams for data exports.
How does a UA Lead work with legal and moderation?
Before launching creatives and landing pages, the UA Lead agrees them with platform moderation and legal, taking into account advertising requirements in high-risk verticals. If a block happens, they take part in analyzing the causes and preparing new setups that do not violate the rules.
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