Director of Paid Acquisition

Acorns

19h•Remote

About The Position

Acorns is seeking a Director of Paid Acquisition who thinks like an entrepreneur. This leader will own profitable subscriber growth, modernize our AI-powered growth engine, and expand our reach to new audiences, while improving customer quality, trust, and long-term value. Acorns is a remote-first organization, offering the flexibility to work remotely while providing optional access to office space in Irvine, CA.

Requirements

BS/BA in Business, Marketing, or a related field.
10+ years of acquisition marketing experience for mobile apps and web, with a proven record of managing large-scale budgets efficiently.
Deep knowledge of paid acquisition channels, alongside experience in offline channels, brand media campaigns, and native ads.
A result-driven professional with a mindset of relentless experimentation and broad exposure across digital and traditional acquisition channels.
An uncompromising eye for the "small things" that drive big results. Whether it’s auditing a complex tracking implementation, ensuring brand consistency across 100+ AI-generated ad variations, or catching a 0.1% discrepancy in an MMM report.
A natural "first-principles" thinker who thrives in ambiguity. When a channel plateaus or attribution breaks, you don’t just look for a quick fix; you diagnose the root cause and build a scalable solution that turns a roadblock into a growth opportunity.
Strong analytical skills, including mastery of Excel, analytics platforms, and advanced growth automation/bid management tools.
An understanding of how paid signals influence organic rankings (SEO) and app store visibility (ASO).
A passion for our mission and an understanding of how growth and acquisition support our goal of looking after the financial best interests of our customers.
Hunger to deliver game-changing products.
Exceptional drive and precision in delivery.
A belief that your work is tied to your life's mission.
Optimistic about the potential of societal change.
5+ years of people management experience.
Demonstrated experience motivating, supporting, and developing team members to meet performance expectations and build their careers.
Ability to align company vision and organizational goals with team execution.
Commitment to upholding policy and procedures per company standards.
Own strategic decision-making and effectively communicate direction to team members.

Nice To Haves

You are not expected to have experience with all listed requirements. If you feel passionate about Acorns' mission, vision, and values, please apply.

Responsibilities

Own profitable subscriber growth across all paid channels, driving CAC efficiency, LTV/CAC improvement, and sustainable scale.
Define and execute the paid acquisition strategy to hit ambitious growth targets while strengthening cohort quality and plan mix.
Lead and develop a high-performing team with clear accountability and performance standards.
Integrate AI into campaign optimization, creative testing, budget allocation, and forecasting to accelerate learning velocity and improve performance.
Build a scalable, data-driven growth engine that continuously optimizes toward long-term value.
Develop a disciplined testing framework to identify and scale new channels, audience segments, and upper-funnel opportunities.
Diversify and future-proof the acquisition portfolio while maintaining performance rigor.
Lead the cutting-edge of incrementality testing and deliver key inputs into the Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) to prove the impact of spend and ensure maximum efficiency across large budgets.
Create a holistic view of brand and performance impact to inform scaling decisions.
Collaborate with Product, Lifecycle, Analytics, SEO, and ASO teams to optimize the full funnel, from acquisition through activation and retention, strengthening product-led growth loops and conversion efficiency.
Align paid media with core brand narratives to drive both reach, trust and conversion.
Partner with Brand and Creative to ensure campaigns address key barriers to growth while improving marketing recall and performance outcomes.
Build scalable reporting, automation, and workflows that enable fast, informed decision-making.
Ensure clarity, accountability, and high standards across internal teams and agency partners.