Senior Director, Performance and Growth Marketing

Who We Are 

We are a group of individuals passionate about genetic discovery. 23andMe Research Institute is a nonprofit medical research organization that enables people everywhere to access their genetic information, learn about themselves, and participate in the world's largest crowdsourced research initiative. The Institute aims to be the world's most significant contributor to scientific advancement, uniting people with the common goal of improving health and deepening our understanding of DNA — the code of life.

The Opportunity 

We’re seeking a Senior Director of Performance and Growth Marketing who is part scientist, part strategist, and part scrappy growth hacker. You live and breathe experimentation, velocity, and measurable impact. You know how to build momentum with tiny budgets, test your way to insights, and harness data, AI, and emerging channels to reach new audiences efficiently.

This isn’t a “big brand, big budget” job — it’s a build, test, learn, and scale role. You will architect a modern, agile growth system built on rapid experimentation, constantly seeking to improve our LTV/CAC ratio. This system will derive leverage by integrating precision acquisition (geo-targeted activations and advanced performance media techniques), high-leverage partnerships (measurable influencer collaborations), advanced data strategy (synthetic audience generation and predictive modeling), creative velocity (machine learning-powered creative optimization).

You will lead a high-velocity growth organization, managing the Director of Growth Marketing and the Director of Acquisition, Retail, and International Marketing. You will empower this team and external agency partners to build, optimize, and scale a global, data-driven performance engine.

Given 23andMe's direct-to-consumer (DTC) model, your mandate is to architect and govern the end-to-end full-funnel strategy, moving beyond channel execution. You will establish the data requirements and collaborative frameworks with Product and Engineering necessary to optimize the entire conversion pathway—from landing page experiences to checkout flows and post-purchase activation. Your success is defined by establishing the LTV/CAC optimization model and ensuring the Directors' strategies accelerate customer activation and drive long-term profitability. Your ability to succeed hinges on establishing high-tempo operational alignment with Product, Engineering, Brand, and Data Science to define, instrument, and improve the core conversion architecture.

What You’ll Do 

• Architect the global growth engine — define the structure, measurement, and optimization framework and governance for a cohesive, multi-channel performance marketing system, including establishing standards for budget allocation, attribution modeling, and inter-channel dependency to drive efficient new customer acquisition and scale across key platforms (including paid search, paid social, programmatic display, affiliate, influencer, email, SMS, and new/emerging channels).
• Run high-velocity experimentation — design, implement, and govern the acquisition and conversion framework for high-velocity experimentation, ensuring rigor in A/B and multivariate testing across messaging, creative, and audience segments.
• Lead the implementation of Generative AI and Automation across the funnel—from synthetic audience creation and predictive targeting to dynamic creative optimization and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)/Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) for emerging search platforms.
• Drive full-funnel performance — from efficient acquisition to activation and conversion. Establish a robust incrementality framework to measure true campaign value including intelligent attribution, driving a shift from a ROAS mindset to an LTV/CAC optimization model.
• Turn data into direction — create tight feedback loops between analytics, creative, and channel execution.
• Drive Cross-Functional Strategy — Collaborate closely with Director/VP/C-level stakeholders across Brand, Product, Engineering, and Data Science to ensure growth insights are translated directly into business strategy, product roadmaps, and long-term brand positioning.
• Be resourceful and inventive — make every dollar work harder through creative partnerships, earned amplification, and channel innovation.
• Build a culture of learning and trust — mentor your team to think in terms of hypotheses, experiments, and outcomes rather than campaigns and channels. Scale growth efficiently while maintaining customer trust, regulatory compliance, and data privacy.