Head of Growth Engineering

Head of Growth Engineering

Braintrust is seeking a Head of Growth Engineering to join our 2M+ person talent marketplace, powered by the BTRST token. This role focuses on making the BTRST token tangible, valuable, and exciting on-platform, designing and shipping token-powered growth loops that drive real marketplace behavior, and building public-facing token narratives and growth surfaces. You are expected to operate like a lean team, leveraging AI-native tools daily. This is not a traditional marketing or paid media management role; you will be building growth systems directly inside the product.

This position is offered as a 3-month contract to hire, with a total compensation range of $170-$200.

Your Mission

Your core mission is to transform BTRST from 'a token people vaguely know exists' into 'a core part of why talent joins, participates, and stays' on the Braintrust platform.

What You’ll Own

You will have significant ownership across several key areas:

• Token Visibility & Product Surfaces:
• Ship a live BTRST dashboard within the marketplace.
• Make token value real by displaying price charts, historical performance, and earnings visibility.
• Build educational flows to explain BTRST in plain English.
• Create public leaderboards, earnings milestones, and gamification layers.
• Connect token ownership directly to Braintrust's value creation, such as buybacks, revenue, and network growth.

This involves a blend of product development, narrative building, and behavioral economics. You will be expected to code and build these surfaces yourself.

• Token-Powered Growth Loops:
• Design and rigorously test incentive systems tied to specific talent behaviors, including completing approval steps, passing assessments, referring talent or clients, completing projects, and participating in the community.

You will address critical questions such as: What is the token cost per activated contributor? What reward structure enhances retention without attracting low-quality actors? How do we prevent gaming and abuse? Which incentives foster long-term alignment versus short-term spikes? You will ship experiments on a weekly basis.

• Marketplace Activation & Retention:
• Design comprehensive lifecycle systems from signup through approval, activation, engagement, retention, and referral.
• Build token-triggered milestone rewards.
• Test gamified progression systems.
• Run cohort-based experiments.
• Design referral loops that maintain marketplace quality.
• Quantify the impact of your initiatives, moving beyond just clicks.

• Public Token Narrative:
• Externally, you will develop and publish clear, non-crypto explanations of BTRST.
• Connect token buybacks to tangible value creation.
• Build lightweight public token microsites.
• Ship social content regularly across platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Make token ownership intellectually compelling to non-crypto audiences.

You will execute this without relying on external agencies; your focus is on shipping directly.

• Operate Like a Growth Lab:
• Utilize AI-native tools such as Claude, Cursor, and Lovable daily.
• Ship experiments rapidly without dependencies on separate design or engineering teams.
• Automate your own reporting and build internal growth tools and dashboards.
• Embrace a fast-paced environment with a 'move fast and clean up later' mentality.

If you require extensive sprint planning documentation to launch a simple leaderboard, this role may not be suitable for you.

90-Day Outcomes

By day 90, you are expected to have achieved the following:

• Token Surfaces Live: BTRST dashboard v1 shipped, clear earnings visibility for users, and token education flows live.
• Growth Experiments Running: At least 6 token incentive experiments shipped, token cost per incremental activation measured, and cohort tracking live.
• Behavioral Impact: Measurable increase in approval completion rate, referral participation, activated contributors, and retained active contributors.
• Public Narrative Launched: Token explanation page live, consistent social publishing cadence, and at least one public token-focused campaign.
• AI-Leveraged Ops: Automated weekly growth reporting, agent-assisted experiment tracking, and a repeatable test cadence established.

Who You Are

You likely:

• Have a proven track record of building and shipping product experiments independently.
• Have hands-on experience using AI tools like Claude, Cursor, or Lovable to launch real initiatives.
• Possess a deep understanding of marketplace dynamics.
• Think inherently in terms of incentives and growth loops, rather than just campaigns.
• Communicate clearly and persuasively.
• Operate with an uncomfortably fast pace, preferring to ship imperfect experiments over prolonged debates.
• Are comfortable owning significant economic impact.

You Are Not

• A media buyer focused on optimizing CPM.
• A brand marketer primarily running campaigns.
• A crypto hype marketer.
• A pure Product Manager who doesn't actively build or ship code.
• Someone who relies heavily on a dedicated design team to execute your vision.

Skills That Matter

• Full-funnel growth experimentation
• Behavioral incentive design
• Cohort and retention analysis
• AI-native product building
• Landing page and micro-app deployment
• Narrative clarity around financial mechanisms
• Marketplace quality control intuition

Nice to Have

• Experience with token, points, or other reward systems
• Prior marketplace growth experience
• Two-sided network experience
• Ops automation product exposure

Why This Is Interesting

This role offers a unique opportunity to:

• Design economic incentives at scale.
• Build product surfaces rapidly.
• Tie real economic value directly to user behavior.
• Operate as a high-leverage growth lab.
• Work directly with leadership.

This position is for true builders. If this feels like a traditional marketing role, it's not the right fit. If this resonates with designing a mini-economy within a network, we should definitely connect.

Key skills/competency

• Growth Experimentation
• Behavioral Incentive Design
• Cohort Analysis
• Retention Analysis
• AI-Native Product Building
• Landing Page Development
• Micro-App Deployment
• Financial Mechanisms Narrative
• Marketplace Quality Control
• Tokenomics