Head of User Acquisition

About KIMARU Talent:

KIMARU Talent is a boutique executive search firm working with startups and growth-stage companies in AI, gaming, technology, and advertising. We take on fewer clients so we can go deeper on each search — real understanding of the role, the team, and what "yes" looks like for both sides.

We're not generalists who'll take any search. We focus on leadership and critical individual-contributor hires — the roles where getting it right changes the trajectory of the startup.

That depth is why most long-term clients give us access to their ATS, Slack, and internal comms. We're not a vendor you check in with weekly. We operate like an internal recruiter with an external network.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Our client is building one of the fastest-growing platforms in the trading card collectibles space, focused on creating a social-first ecosystem for modern TCG collectors. Founded by longtime TCG operators and community builders, the company recently raised capital from top gaming and consumer investors to build what it describes internally as a “superapp” for collectors.

The early traction has been significant. Within just 1 month of launching open beta, the platform surpassed $1.5M in revenue, drove more than 11,000 pack purchases from 600+ active users, and recorded over $100K in trading volume in a single day. Across social channels, the company has also generated more than 500K Instagram views since launch, signaling strong organic momentum within the Pokémon and broader TCG community.

Led by deeply experienced operators within the TCG and creator ecosystem, the company is positioning itself as more than just a marketplace, combining collectibles, liquidity, gamification, and community into a single platform purpose-built for collectors. They are currently a lean team of ~8 employees across Product and Operations and are now looking to hire their first Head of User Acquisition.

ROLE SUMMARY

As Head of User Acquisition, you will own the end-to-end growth engine for the company. Reporting directly to the Founder/CEO, you will have full ownership over acquisition, retention, and monetization strategy in a competitive consumer app environment.

You will design and execute a multi-channel growth strategy spanning:

• Paid acquisition and media buying across major consumer platforms

• Creative strategy and performance optimization

• Influencer, creator, and KOL partnerships

• Retention and monetization initiatives

• Data analytics, attribution, and experimentation

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Own and evolve the company’s holistic growth strategy across acquisition, retention, and monetization, with accountability for scalable revenue growth

• Lead performance marketing and paid media strategy across all channels, while overseeing external growth agencies and media buying partners

• Support strategic influencer and creator growth initiatives in partnership with the Creator team, leveraging analytics and attribution to optimize ROI

• Establish and operationalize core growth KPIs, attribution frameworks, and reporting infrastructure across MMPs and behavioral analytics tools

• Build a rigorous experimentation culture across creative, channel, onboarding, retention, and monetization funnels through rapid testing and data-driven iteration

• Partner cross-functionally with Product, Design, Data, and Operations to identify and scale high-impact growth opportunities, product loops, and conversion improvements

• Develop scalable growth systems and processes that support rapid experimentation, operational efficiency, and long-term user value creation

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

• 5+ years of experience leading growth, performance marketing, or user acquisition functions within consumer mobile apps, gaming, or other high-velocity digital products

• Demonstrated success scaling acquisition, engagement, and monetization in performance-driven environments with meaningful revenue ownership

• Deep expertise across paid media, attribution, lifecycle optimization, and growth analytics, with hands-on fluency in platforms such as GA4, AppsFlyer, Adjust, Hotjar, and related tooling

• Strong understanding of monetization mechanics common within social casino, gacha, collectibles, or other high-LTV consumer ecosystems

• Proven ability to operate as both a strategic growth leader and highly execution-oriented operator within early-stage or resource-constrained environments

• Experience managing external growth partners, agencies, media buyers, creators, and performance marketing vendors

• Exceptional analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate complex data into actionable business decisions

• High ownership mentality with a strong bias toward experimentation, iteration, and rapid execution

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE

• Deep familiarity with the TCG, Pokémon, or broader collector ecosystem, including an intuitive understanding of collector psychology, community behavior, and enthusiast-driven products

• Experience partnering closely with creators, influencers, and KOLs to drive scalable acquisition and community engagement initiatives

• Strong AI fluency, including comfort leveraging automation, internal tooling, dashboards, scripting, or AI-assisted workflows to improve operational leverage and decision-making

• Passion for gaming, internet culture, collectibles, or fandom-driven consumer communities is highly valued

THEIR CULTURE

• Proudly TCG-native — deep passion for collecting and nerd culture is core to who they are

• Ruthless meritocracy: no egos, best idea wins regardless of title or tenure

• Bias for action and rapid iteration

• High-intelligence, high-drive environment

• Obsession with premium customer experience and product detail

WHY JOIN?

• Join at the ground floor of a fast-moving, well-funded startup with proven early traction and elite investors

• Direct ownership of growth in a category with passionate, high-spending users

• Work with a small, elite team where your impact is immediately visible

• Help build the “third place” that TCG collectors have been missing

If you’re a high-output operator who also loves TCGs, gaming culture, and internet-native communities, this is an extremely rare opportunity.