Responsibilities

• Own paid acquisition end-to-end: strategy, execution, optimization, and reporting across Meta, Google UAC, YouTube, TikTok, podcast, and emerging channels
• Design and run rigorous experiments to find efficient CAC on net-new users — people who have never been on Substack before
• Build and manage our MMP infrastructure (AppsFlyer) including deferred deep linking, in-app event tracking, fraud prevention, and ad platform integrations
• Partner with creator partnerships to develop first-party ad creative featuring Substack writers, and establish the playbook for creator-led paid campaigns
• Build and maintain lookalike audience pipelines, working with our data team to turn high-quality install cohorts into scalable targeting seeds
• Define the right optimization signals at each stage of maturity — from install volume in the learning phase to subscription starts at scale — and work with product and engineering to ensure those events are correctly instrumented and passed to ad platforms
• Develop a clear framework for CPI targets and payback windows grounded in install-cohort LTV data, and evolve it as we learn
• Collaborate with product on the new user onboarding experience, particularly the deferred deep link personalization flow that connects ad creative to first app experience
• Own budget pacing and efficiency reporting, and communicate performance clearly to leadership
• Eventually hire and develop a small team as the function grows

Requirements

• 5–8 years of experience in performance marketing or paid user acquisition, with meaningful time spent at a consumer subscription app or subscription media product
• Deep channel expertise across Meta and at least one other major channel (Google UAC, YouTube, TikTok); experience with podcast and influencer-driven acquisition is a plus
• Hands-on experience with an MMP (AppsFlyer strongly preferred) including attribution setup, deferred deep linking, event schema design, and fraud prevention
• Strong analytical foundation — you're comfortable in SQL, know your way around a data warehouse, and can build your own cohort analyses rather than waiting for a data team to do it for you
• Experience building lookalike audience pipelines and thinking rigorously about seed quality, audience overlap, and creative-audience fit
• Sharp instincts for creative — you don't need to design ads yourself, but you know what makes a good hook, can brief creative teams and creators effectively, and have a framework for testing and iterating on ad concepts
• Fluency with LTV modeling and payback window thinking; you understand why CPI is the wrong primary metric and can articulate what the right one is in a given context
• High agency and low ego. This role requires building something from scratch, which means doing unglamorous instrumentation work alongside high-leverage strategy. You're comfortable with both
• Genuine curiosity about media, writing, and the creator economy. You should care about what Substack is building, not just the acquisition funnel
• Based in San Francisco or New York

Benefits

• equity for all full-time roles
• exceptional benefits