Head of Growth & Acquisition

Prolific; Oregon; Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Prolific is seeking a Head of Growth and Acquisition to lead the strategy and execution of participant growth across acquisition, activation, engagement, and retention. You will own a scalable growth engine, create new channels, and develop partnerships to expand our global participant supply while ensuring an exceptional participant experience.

You will lead a multidisciplinary team and work closely with Product, Engineering, Data Science, and Operations to turn ideas into measurable growth,

Qualifications

• Experience leading growth, acquisition or marketplace operations.
• Strong analytics and commercial judgment with funnel metrics, CAC, LTV.
• Proven track record building scalable growth functions in fast-moving environments.

Responsibilities

• Define and deliver Prolific's participant growth strategy across acquisition, activation, engagement and retention.
• Build and scale a sustainable growth engine with new channels and partnerships.
• Own our participant partnerships strategy to unlock new geographies and segments.
• Lead a multidisciplinary team across growth marketing, recruitment, partnerships and community.
• Use growth metrics and cohort analysis to understand behavior and drive performance.
• Translate demand into acquisition plans to ensure sufficient participants for marketplace needs.
• Identify and test new growth initiatives with business cases and funding where needed.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering and Data Science to improve journeys and build scalable automation.

Skills

Growth leadership

Marketplace operations

Acquisition & retention

Partnerships

Data-driven decisions

Job description

Head of Growth and AcquisitionProlificProlific

is not just another player in the AI space - we are the architects of the human data infrastructure that’s reshaping the landscape of AI development. In a world where foundational AI technologies are increasingly commoditized, it’s the quality and diversity of human-generated data that truly differentiates prodcts and models.The roleAs our Head of Growth & Acquisition, you’ll lead the strategy and execution behind how Prolific attracts, activates, engages and retains the participants powering our platform. You’ll own growth across the participant lifecycle, ensuring we have the right supply to meet evolving customer demand while delivering a great participant experience.This is an opportunity to build and scale a growth engine at a pivotal stage of Prolific’s journey. You’ll challenge existing ways of working, develop new acquisition channels and partnerships, experiment with different approaches and build the systems and capabilities needed to support our next phase of growth.You’ll lead a multidisciplinary team spanning growth marketing, participant recruitment, partnerships and community. Working closely with Product, Engineering, Data Science and Operations, you’ll combine strategic thinking with hands‑on execution to turn new ideas into scalable growth initiative

What you’ll be doing in the role

• Define and deliver Prolific’s participant growth strategy across acquisition, activation, engagement and retention.
• Build and scale a sustainable growth engine, developing new channels, improving existing processes and driving innovation.
• Own our participant partnerships strategy, identifying and scaling relationships that unlock new geographies, skills and participant segments.
• Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team across growth marketing, recruitment, partnerships and community.
• Use growth metrics, cohort analysis and marketplace data to understand participant behaviour, identify opportunities and drive performance.
• Translate customer demand into acquisition and growth plans, ensuring the right participants are available to meet marketplace needs.
• Identify, test and scale new growth initiatives, building business cases and securing investment where needed.
• Partner with Product, Engineering and Data Science to improve participant journeys, automate processes and build scalable solutions.
• Drive a culture of experimentation, ownership and continuous improvement across the function.

What you’ll bring to the role

• Experience in operations, ideally in marketplace or platform environments.
• Significant experience leading growth, acquisition or marketplace operations within a consumer, technology or marketplace business.
• Strong understanding of acquisition, activation, engagement and retention, with a track record of delivering measurable growth outcomes.
• Proven experience building and scaling growth functions, channels or operational capabilities, ideally in a fast‑moving or evolving business.
• Strong analytical and commercial judgement, with experience using funnel metrics, CAC, LTV, cohort analysis and marketplace data to inform decisions.
• Experience developing strategic partnerships, improving acquisition channels and scaling user or participant growth.
• Proven people leadership experience, with the ability to develop multidisciplinary teams and drive accountability for performance.
• A strategic but hands‑on approach, with the ability to identify opportunities, test ideas, build business cases and deliver results independently.
• Experience partnering with Product, Engineering and Operations to improve processes, leverage automation and create scalable solutions.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to influence senior leadership and challenge existing ways of working.

Experience in two-sided marketplaces, AI data platforms or distributed workforce businesses would be particularly valuable, but we’re equally interested in candidates who have built successful growth engines in other marketplace environments.

Why Prolific is a great place to work

We’ve built a unique platform that connects researchers and companies with a global pool of participants, enabling the collection of high‑quality, ethically sourced human behavioural data and feedback. This data is the cornerstone of developing more accurate, nuanced, and aligned AI systems. We believe that the next leap in AI capabilities won’t come solely from scaling existing models but from integrating diverse human perspectives and behaviours into AI development. By providing this crucial human data infrastructure, Prolific is positioning itself at the forefront of the next wave of AI innovation—one that reflects the breath and the best of humanity. Working for us will place you at the forefront of AI innovation, providing access to our unique human data platform and opportunities for groundbreaking research. Join us to enjoy a competitive salary, benefits, and remote working within our impactful, mission‑driven culture.

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