Fractional Head of Growth
Senior, embedded growth leadership for e-commerce and DTC brands: acquisition, conversion, retention, LTV, channel strategy, and revenue accountability under one roof, without the cost of a full-time hire.
What a Fractional Head of Growth Actually Owns
"Fractional Head of Growth" has become its own category, distinct from a fractional CMO. Where a CMO owns marketing broadly, brand, positioning, content, team leadership, a Head of Growth owns the mechanics that turn demand into revenue: acquisition channel strategy, conversion rate optimization, retention and lifecycle programs, customer lifetime value, analytics, and accountability for the growth number itself.
That's the exact combination this engagement is built around. Not a strategist who hands over a deck and leaves, not a single-channel specialist optimizing one metric in isolation, an operator who holds the whole growth system together and is accountable for how it performs.
Read the anonymous e-commerce turnaround for documented relative results and their comparison periods. Detailed business reporting stays private.
Head of Growth vs. Fractional CMO
If your bottleneck is "we don't have a clear brand or marketing strategy," a fractional CMO is the right fit. If your bottleneck is "we have a strategy, but acquisition, conversion, and retention aren't performing the way they should," a Fractional Head of Growth is the more precise hire. See the full breakdown on Fractional CMO vs. Fractional Head of Growth.
What This Engagement Covers
- Acquisition channel strategy: which channels actually fit the business, and how they should work together instead of competing for the same budget.
- Conversion rate optimization: where the funnel is actually leaking, and which fixes matter versus which are cosmetic.
- Retention & lifecycle marketing: the systems that turn a single sale into a repeat customer, and repeat customers into the business's most valuable channel.
- Customer lifetime value: tracked and used to set acquisition budgets, not guessed at.
- Growth analytics: a real, verified read on what's working, not vanity metrics dressed up for a slide.
- Revenue accountability: tied to outcomes, not just deliverables sent on a schedule.
Before work begins, we agree which decisions sit with the growth lead, which need client approval, and who executes each action. Accountability includes explaining results and dependencies; it is not a revenue guarantee. Team capacity, specialist support, implementation and review cadence are scoped explicitly. Material cash, inventory or service constraints inform the plan without making this a finance or operations outsourcing engagement.
Who It's For
E-commerce and DTC brands, typically $1M–$10M in annual revenue, past the point where the founder can run growth alone, but not yet ready for, or interested in, a $200K+ full-time executive hire. Especially strong fit for hardworking operators with a proven product who've never had access to senior growth leadership before.
Questions About This Engagement
How is this different from hiring an agency? +
An agency executes the channels it's handed and is typically paid on retainer regardless of outcome. A Fractional Head of Growth owns the whole system, decides what gets built and in what order, and is accountable for the growth number, not just campaign delivery. See the full fractional CMO vs. marketing agency breakdown for the complete comparison.
How many hours per week is this? +
Scope is set together based on what the business actually needs, not a fixed hourly package. Most engagements start with a SIGNAL Diagnostic to define real scope before committing to an ongoing structure.
What happens when the engagement ends? +
Every system built is documented well enough for the business, or a future in-house hire, to run it without needing to reverse-engineer it first. The goal is durable infrastructure, not dependency.
Is This the Right Fit?
- You are past the point where the founder can run growth alone.
- You want senior judgment on where to spend, not more hands on channels.
- You are willing to give real decision authority over the growth function.
- You have a product with demonstrated demand.
- You need a full-time in-house leader now. A fractional engagement is a different commitment.
- You want channel execution only. That is an agency or a specialist, and both are cheaper.
- Strategy decisions will still be made elsewhere. The role cannot be accountable without authority.