Growth Marketing Lead

The Role

We're looking for a Growth Marketing Lead to grow new cardholder accounts across Imprint's partner credit card programs. The Growth Marketing Lead owns credit card acquisition across prescreen and invitation-to-apply (ITA) direct mail, card marketplaces and affiliates, paid search, paid social, and third-party email. The role is responsible for building these channels from an early stage, establishing operating infrastructure, vendor and bureau relationships, measurement frameworks, and repeatable execution processes, while delivering against approved account, cost per account, and credit quality targets.

The role works closely with Risk and Credit. Targeting, offer, and channel decisions affect approval rates, credit performance, and program economics, and the Growth Marketing Lead is accountable for balancing acquisition volume with account quality.

This is a senior individual contributor role. The Growth Marketing Lead operates through a combination of direct hands-on execution and external agency and vendor management. Budget recommendations are developed by this role and presented to General Managers and Finance for approval. Approved budgets are then managed and allocated by this role across channels and partners.

This role reports to the VP of Marketing.

Responsibilities

Acquisition Strategy & Planning

• Own credit card acquisition strategy across prescreen and ITA direct mail, card marketplaces, affiliates, paid search, paid social, and third-party email

• Translate GTM and partner objectives into acquisition plans covering target segments, channel mix, offers, flighting, budget recommendations, creative requirements, and KPIs

• Develop budget recommendations for GM and Finance review, with expected approved accounts, cost per approved account, and payback by channel

• Allocate approved budgets across channels and partners to maximize approved account volume within cost and credit quality targets

• Partner with GMs and Product to test welcome offers and partner reward structures by segment and channel

• Run the channel layer of Imprint's acquisition engine, which combines partner, Imprint, and bureau data to decide which prospect receives which partner offer, through which channel, and when

• Build and maintain acquisition playbooks and operating standards so new partner programs launch with owned acquisition channels ready

• Establish an operating cadence across partners: intake, planning, launch, optimization, and reporting, with defined roles, SLAs, and measurement standards

Prescreen & ITA Direct Mail

• Own Imprint's prescreen and ITA direct mail programs, including strategy, audience selection, offers, creative direction, vendor management, and performance measurement

• Define prescreen criteria with Risk to balance response rate, approval rate, and early credit performance

• Manage relationships with credit bureaus, list vendors, and print and mail production partners

• Ensure all prescreen campaigns comply with FCRA firm offer and opt-out notice requirements, coordinating with Legal, Compliance, and our issuing bank partners

• Build and maintain the measurement framework for direct mail, including holdout testing and tracking each campaign through response, approval, activation, and early delinquency

Card Marketplaces & Affiliates

• Own Imprint's presence on card marketplaces and comparison sites such as Credit Karma, NerdWallet, and Experian, including pre-qualified offer integrations

• Manage affiliate platform operations, publisher onboarding, commission structures tied to approved accounts, and fraud and quality controls

• Identify and develop new marketplace and affiliate partnerships aligned with Imprint's target cardholder profile

• Ensure publisher creative and offer claims comply with partner brand standards, TILA/Reg Z disclosure requirements, and UDAAP

Paid Digital & Third-Party Email

• Manage day-to-day execution across paid search, paid social, and third-party email through a mix of direct hands-on work and agency management

• Optimize channels to approved accounts, including audience targeting, bid strategy, creative iteration, suppression and eligibility logic, and landing page coordination

• Use partner first-party data, such as loyalty members and app users, for targeting, lookalikes, and suppression within each partner's data-sharing terms

• Partner with Product and Design to reduce drop-off across the application funnel, from landing page to submitted application to approval

• Ensure all channel activity meets Imprint's compliance, issuing bank, and partner brand standards

Measurement & Reporting

• Partner with Analytics to define attribution and incrementality measurement that separates owned channel acquisition from partner channel and organic volume

• Build and maintain acquisition dashboards and weekly reporting by channel and partner, tracking spend through approved accounts, activation, early spend, and early credit performance, with clear insights and recommended actions

• Design and execute a structured creative and offer testing program in partnership with Creative, including brief development, variant design, readout cadence, and iteration

• Partner with Lifecycle to coordinate suppression of existing cardholders and open applicants, frequency management, and the handoff from acquisition into onboarding programs

KPIs

• Approved accounts by channel and partner

• Cost per approved account by channel and partner

• Cost per acquired, activated cardholder (CAC)

• Approval rate and first-transaction activation rate by channel

• Early spend and early delinquency by channel

• Cost per application and application volume as funnel diagnostics

• Direct mail response rate and cost per response

• Marketplace and affiliate contribution to approved accounts

• Channel incrementality where measurable

Qualifications

Required

• 7 to 10+ years of performance or direct marketing experience with direct ownership of credit card or consumer lending acquisition channels and budgets

• Hands-on experience running prescreen or ITA direct mail programs, including credit bureau and list vendor relationships

• Demonstrated track record of growing approved account volume while improving cost per account and maintaining credit quality, working directly with Credit and Risk teams

• Working knowledge of credit card marketing regulation, including FCRA, TILA/Reg Z, UDAAP, and ECOA/Reg B, and experience moving creative through Legal, Compliance, and bank review

• Hands-on expertise across at least two of: paid search, paid social, affiliates and card marketplaces, direct mail. Working knowledge across all four preferred

• Experience managing a combination of direct execution and agency or vendor relationships

• Strong analytical capability: card acquisition economics, attribution modeling, funnel diagnostics, cohort analysis, and holdout testing

• Experience building operating processes, including cadences, SLAs, and playbooks, in addition to running campaigns

• Ability to operate effectively in a multi-partner environment where acquisition programs must balance partner-specific requirements with scalable infrastructure

• Clear written and verbal communication, including the ability to present budget recommendations and performance results to senior commercial stakeholders

Nice to Have

• Co-branded credit card experience at an issuer, program manager, or brand partner

• Experience with pre-qualified offer programs on card marketplaces such as Credit Karma Lightbox or Experian Activate

• Experience building response and approval models in partnership with Data Science

• Familiarity with incrementality testing or media mix modeling

• Experience coordinating with CRM and lifecycle teams on suppression and frequency management

Perks & Benefits

• Competitive compensation and equity packages

• Leading configured work computers of your choice

• Flexible paid time off