Head of Growth vs. Head of Marketing: 5 Differences (From Someone Who's Done Both)

If you work in a product-led SaaS company, you’ve probably noticed that the roles of Head of Growth and Head of Marketing can sometimes feel interchangeable. Both roles drive growth, but take very different approaches. In my past life, I’d have both roles, and I’ve spent years coaching growth leaders. So here’s a conversational breakdown based on my first hand experience about how these roles differ and how they work together.

1. Core Responsibilities: Who Owns What?

One of the toughest challenges in product-led SaaS is clarifying ownership. A common misconception is that product-led growth eliminates the need for sales. Not true. Successful companies balance two growth engines:

• Self-service: Customers sign up, input their credit card, and start using the product without talking to anyone.

• Sales-led: Customers interact with a sales team for demos, pricing discussions, and personalized onboarding.

The tricky part? Making sure these two approaches don’t clash. The Head of Growth and Head of Marketing need to work together to grow both revenue streams without stepping on each other’s toes.

• Head of Marketing: Focuses on building the company’s brand and creating demand. They’re responsible for content, paid campaigns, and events that ultimately generate leads for the sales team in a 1:1 way.

• Head of Growth: Focuses on driving revenue through the self-service channel. They think of growth like e-commerce for software, using the product itself to convert users in a 1:many way.

The head of growth might have a slightly more general scope. And since they’re accountable for self-service revenue they often will have the authority to use the product as a conversion tool and collaborate with product, engineering, and cs to drive impact as needed.

2. KPIs: How Success is Measured

While both roles aim for growth, their KPIs highlight their unique focus areas

Head of Marketing KPIs:

• Brand and affinity metrics (ie, how people feel about the company)

• Audience growth (followers, subscribers, email list size)

• Website traffic

• Marketing-qualified leads (MQLs)

• Contributions to the sales pipeline

Head of Growth KPIs:

• Pirate metrics: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, and Revenue

• Self-service revenue (ie, free-to-paid conversions, plan upgrades)

Because their metrics can overlap, clear ownership is essential to avoid inefficiencies. For example, marketing might focus on generating awareness that indirectly supports self-service signups, so collaboration is crucial.

3. How They Work: Operating Systems

The day-to-day work for these roles is very different:

Head of Growth:

• Thinks like a scientist: data-driven and focused on experimentation.

• Works cross-functionally with product, engineering, and data teams.

• Runs quick sprints to test ideas and prioritize what works.

• Experiments with onboarding flows, pricing, and product adoption to drive self-service revenue.

• Works cross-functionally: most often with product and engineering teams.

Head of Marketing:

• Acts more like a strategist: long-term and big-picture focused.

• Collaborates with sales, content, and design teams.

• Manages campaigns like SEO, brand-building efforts, and seasonal marketing.

• Works on initiatives with a slower, but more consistent, payoff.

• Works cross-functionally: most often with design, sales, and product teams.

4. Who They Report To

Where these roles sit in the org chart often says a lot about their focus:

• Head of Growth: Typically reports to the CEO or COO. They operate at the intersection of multiple teams (product, marketing, engineering) and having a cross-functional executive sponsors ensures that cross-functional collaboration happens - without stepping on toes.

• Head of Marketing: Often reports to the CEO or CRO, as their work aligns closely with sales and product timelines. At more mature companies, this is owned by a CRO - and at smaller companies, the CEO may own this.

5. Team Structure: Who’s on the Team?

Each role’s team structure reflects its specific responsibilities:

Growth Team:

• Cross-functional with growth product managers, engineers, data analysts, and designers.

• Teams may scale over time to focus on specific areas like activation, monetization, or churn reduction.

Marketing Team:

• Specialists under the marketing umbrella, including content creators, performance marketers, and community managers.

• Collaboration leans more towards sales and design rather than engineering.

The Big Picture

At their core, both the Head of Growth and Head of Marketing aim to grow the company, but in different ways:

• Head of Growth: Owns the self-service experience, leads a cross-functional team, and focuses on experimentation to optimize the product-led funnel.

• Head of Marketing: Builds the brand, generates demand, and drives the sales pipeline through longer-term strategies.

By clarifying ownership, aligning KPIs, and fostering collaboration, these roles can complement each other to drive sustainable growth. If you’re explaining this to your team or leadership, focus on these points:

• Who owns what

• How success is measured

• Differences in operating systems

• Team structure

For more resources, check out my template for tracking growth metrics and my free guide on growth team operating systems.