Growth Lead, Paid

Capitolis; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Middesk is hiring a Senior Paid Acquisition/Demand Gen lead to own the end-to-end paid engine across search, social, and display. You will own the CAC and payback model, partner with agencies, and drive budget decisions with data-driven insight.

You will work in a hybrid model with 2–3 days in the NYC or SF office, shaping the paid strategy and landing-page optimization to maximize qualified pipeline and revenue.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on paid acquisition or demand gen experience in a high-growth environment.
• Ability to own the full paid motion across channels and landing pages, not just one channel.
• Proven track record of owning a budget and a CAC/payback model with executive-facing data.
• Comfort defending CAC/payback models to CEOs/CROs and killing underperforming channels.
• Strong quantitative mindset and ability to work with agencies as a partner, not just a manager.

Responsibilities

• Own Middesk's paid demand engine end to end: search, social, display/retargeting, intent data, and placements.
• Build a unified paid budget and channel mix; manage the agency relationship as a vendor.
• Develop CAC and payback models by channel to tie spend to qualified pipeline and revenue.
• Run a test-and-kill system with a standing queue of tests and budget reallocations.
• Collaborate with EPD to optimize paid landing pages and conversion tracking.
• Document when campaigns should align with Named Accounts and when to run independently.
• Build cases for scaling spend with data-backed payback projections.

Skills

Paid acquisition

Demand generation

Strategic thinking

Budget accountability

Measurement discipline

Agency management

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-driven decision making

Tools

Analytics tools

Job description

About Middesk:

Middesk is building the data and intelligence infrastructure that helps businesses work together with confidence. We started by creating a comprehensive platform for understanding businesses, bringing together authoritative and proprietary data to help customers verify business identities, onboard customers faster, and manage risk throughout the customer lifecycle.

Today, Middesk is used by more than 700 banks and fintechs, and in 2025 we verified more than 7 million companies. We've also expanded beyond business verification to help companies form, register, manage, and maintain their businesses, supporting more than 50,000 companies in setting up over 100,000 accounts required to hire employees, run payroll, and stay compliant.

Middesk came out of Y Combinator, and is backed by Sequoia Capital, Accel, Insight Partners, and Canapi. We're proud to be named on the Forbes Fintech 50 and Best Startup Employers lists.

The Role

Paid acquisition is being rebuilt by the same forces reshaping every other growth channel: real-time bidding, intent data, and AI-assisted creative testing are making it possible to run paid as a true demand engine with a defensible payback model, instead of a budget line an agency manages on your behalf. This role owns that engine at Middesk: the full paid channel mix across search, social, display, and placements, the agency relationship, the CAC and payback model behind every dollar spent, and the paid-specific landing experiences that convert it. You will own the qualified pipeline number paid spend produces end to end, deciding where to lean in, where to cut, and when to ask for more budget with evidence rather than instinct.

Hybrid

We follow a hybrid work model, and for this role there is an expectation of 2-3 days per week in our NYC or SF office. Candidates should be based within a commutable distance, as we believe in the value of in person collaboration and building strong team connections while also supporting flexibility where possible.

What you'll do

• Own Middesk's paid demand engine end to end: paid search, paid social, display/retargeting, intent and review-site placements, and sponsored content
• Build a unified paid budget and channel mix, and manage the agency relationship as a vendor executing against your strategy, not as the strategy itself
• Build a CAC and payback model by channel and segment that ties spend directly to qualified pipeline and revenue, not clicks, impressions, or MQLs
• Run a test-and-kill system: a standing queue of channel, audience, and creative tests, with a cadence for reallocating budget toward what's working and cutting what isn't
• Partner with EPD to build and iterate paid-specific landing pages and conversion tracking, distinct from the organic site experience but reporting into the same funnel instrumentation
• Document the standard for which campaigns flex to support the Named Accounts motion (ads orchestrated around target accounts) and which run independently, and keep a shared calendar with that team
• Build the case for scaling spend: real numbers proving the next dollar still pays back before asking for materially more budget

What we're looking for:

• Senior IC role 5+ years of hands-on paid acquisition experience or demand gen marketing
• A strategic thinker who can see the whole paid motion, channel mix, measurement, creative, and landing pages, and build one coordinated system rather than optimize a single channel in isolation
• A track record of personally owning a number end to end in a high-growth environment, with real budget accountability, not just channel execution
• Has run paid media across more than one channel at real budget, not just "a Google Ads person" or "a LinkedIn ads person"
• Enough measurement discipline to defend a CAC and payback model to the CEO or CRO directly, and comfortable killing a channel that isn't working even when it's familiar
• Enough technical fluency to hold an agency accountable, rather than rubber-stamp their recommendations
• A strong executor as well as a strategist. You will set the plan and also do real work yourself: the briefs, the data, the model
• A background like management consulting, or an early operating role at a high growth startup, is common but not required
• Does not need to come from a narrow channel-specialist background. This role is about owning the whole paid system and the payback story that runs on it, not managing one channel at a distance from the numbers

Bonus points

• Experience owning a paid acquisition budget end to end (not just execution) at a B2B SaaS or fintech company
• Experience building CAC/payback models and defending them to executive stakeholders
• Familiarity with modern paid platforms and measurement tooling, and a point of view on where AI can improve targeting, creative testing, or bidding