What Does a Head of Growth Actually Do? The Real Job at $1M, $10M, and $100M ARR
The title Head of Growth shows up everywhere.
Early startups.
Mid-stage SaaS companies.
Late-stage, well-funded businesses.
It’s the same title.
But a very different job.
This is why the role turns over so often.
And why so many smart, capable growth leaders end up frustrated, burned out, or quietly pushed out.
Most people apply for Head of Growth roles without really understanding what they’re signing up for.
And most founders hire for the title they want - not the work they actually need done.
So let’s clear this up.
Here’s what the Head of Growth actually does at:
$1M ARR
$10M ARR
$100M ARR
And why getting this wrong can stall, or even derail, your career.
First: Why “Head of Growth” Is a Tricky Title
On paper, the role sounds simple.
Drive growth.
Run experiments.
Build systems.
Scale the business.
But growth isn’t a fixed function. It changes as the company changes.
What a company needs from growth at $1M ARR is nothing like what it needs at $100M ARR.
If you operate like a $100M growth leader inside a $1M company, you’ll fail fast.
If you operate like a scrappy early-stage builder inside a $100M company, you’ll stall just as quickly.
Stage matters more than title.
Let’s break it down.
Head of Growth at $1M ARR: You’re a Builder, Not a Leader
Here’s the part most founders don’t want to hear:
At $1M ARR, you don’t really need a Head of Growth.
What you need is someone who can do the work.
Because at this stage, the company is still figuring out:
Do we even have a real business?
Who are our best customers?
Why do people sign up — and why don’t they?
Which acquisition channels might work?
Is our early data actually meaningful?
This isn’t a scaling problem.
It’s a discovery problem.
What the Job Actually Is
Despite the title, this is an individual contributor role.
There’s almost nothing to “lead” yet:
Tiny team
Founders deeply involved
No reliable testing volume
No real systems to scale
The job is about shipping, learning, and iterating - fast.
How Your Time Is Spent
A strong growth leader at $1M ARR usually spends:
~80% shipping scrappy, unscalable experiments
~10% talking to customers
~10% helping wherever needed
This is not a dashboard job.
It’s not meeting-heavy.
And it’s definitely not a systems-design role.
What Success Looks Like
Success here doesn’t mean “scaling growth.”
It means:
Learning why users buy
Identifying 1–2 channels that might scale
Understanding friction in activation and conversion
Moving fast without overthinking polish
Who Thrives at This Stage
Scrappy generalists
Builders who like chaos
People comfortable without clear answers
Strong ICs with range across marketing, UX, copy, and analytics
Why This Role Fails So Often
Most failures at this stage come down to misalignment:
Hiring a senior leader when you need a builder
Expecting systems before the model exists
Spreading effort across too many channels
Optimizing for polish instead of speed
The title says Head of Growth.
The job is elastic generalist.
If this feels familiar: I put together a free Growth Leadership Toolkit that breaks down the systems I teach at each stage - from early discovery to scaling teams.
Head of Growth at $10M ARR: The Player-Coach Phase
Once a company hits roughly $7–12M ARR, things finally start to click.
Now you:
Have real customers
Have meaningful volume
Know what’s working (at least a little)
Can start to scale intentionally
This is where the real Head of Growth role begins.
The Big Shift
The job moves from figuring out what works to making it work consistently.
Your focus becomes:
Turning scrappy wins into repeatable processes
Strengthening activation, retention, and monetization
Building a growth operating system
Creating leverage through people and process
Leadership Persona
This is the classic player-coach stage.
Typically, you have:
A small team (3–5 people)
Some engineering and design support
A real (but still constrained) budget
Enough volume to test with confidence
How Your Time Is Spent
A common breakdown looks like:
~50% execution (you’re still running experiments)
~20% strategy and planning
~20% cross-functional collaboration
~10% people leadership
You’re still doing the work.
But you’re also starting to orchestrate it.
What Success Looks Like
Predictable output from 1–2 core acquisition channels
Early definitions of new user activation and “good” usage
A reliable a/b testing cadence
Early forecasting confidence
Less chaos, more focus
Skills That Start to Matter
This is where systems thinking becomes non-negotiable:
Prioritization frameworks
Roadmapping and sequencing
Documented decision-making
Clear KPIs and ownership
Strong cross-functional communication
You’re probably still the best IC on the team.
But your leverage now comes from designing the machine - not being the machine.
Where People Get Stuck
Common breakdowns at this stage:
Trying to do everything yourself
Avoiding process in the name of speed
Running too many experiments at once
Struggling to align product and engineering
Lacking a clear strategic narrative
This stage is the proving ground.
It determines whether you grow into a VP-level leader — or get someone hired above you.
This is the stage where most growth leaders get stuck.
Growth OS is the system I built to help Heads of Growth move from chaos to clarity — prioritization, experimentation cadence, KPIs, and cross-functional alignment.
If you’re operating at this stage, it’s worth a look.
Head of Growth at $100M ARR: Executive, Not Operator
At $100M ARR, the job changes again - and this is where many growth leaders hit a ceiling.
You are no longer managing experiments.
You are managing the growth model and the growth capability.
The Core Shift
This is no longer a “growth tactics” role.
It’s an executive and leadership role.
Your focus shifts to:
Forecast accuracy
Annual and quarterly planning
Cross-functional alignment
Resource allocation
Organizational design
What the Team Looks Like
At this stage, you usually have:
Multiple growth pods
Dedicated product growth and growth marketing teams
Embedded design, BI, and engineering
Real budgets and real expectations
How Your Time Is Spent
A typical breakdown:
~60% leadership alignment and decision-making
~30% strategic planning and modeling
~10% people management
If you’re still doing meaningful IC work here, something’s off:
The team
The systems
Or both
What Success Looks Like
Accurate forecasting
Improving LTV:CAC ratios
Scaling without losing efficiency
Strong cross-functional trust
Clear strategies executives can repeat
Skills That Actually Matter Now
This is where the job stops being about growth tactics.
The real differentiators are:
Executive communication
Strategic clarity
Judgment under pressure
Coaching and delegation
Translating complexity for non-growth audiences
Growth becomes your second team.
The executive team becomes your first team.
Why People Stall Here
The most common reasons:
Poor communication
Missed forecasts
Hanging onto “hero” habits from earlier stages
Inability to scale through others
The leaders who thrive here are calm, structured, high-judgment system designers.
Same Title. Completely Different Jobs.
At:
$1M ARR → You’re a builder
$10M ARR → You’re a player-coach
$100M ARR → You’re an executive system designer
The title doesn’t change.
The job does.
If you align your skills to the stage, your career can accelerate faster than almost any role in tech.
If you don’t, you’ll probably be job-hunting within a few months.
If you’re in the middle of one of these transitions - or feel like your role expectations don’t match your company’s stage - this is exactly the work I do with growth leaders.
I coach Directors, VPs, and Heads of Growth to increase clarity, influence, and impact without burning out.