Performance Marketing Lead

Acely is an AI-native SAT and ACT prep platform built to help students get into their dream colleges. Our mission is to expand access to high-quality test prep by helping students learn more efficiently and build real confidence.

Backed by Forerunner Ventures, we’ve grown to $10M ARR with a lean, 11-person team. Our product is working, our users are engaged, and we’re at an inflection point, ready to scale with speed, precision, and a high bar for craft.

We’re looking for a hands-on performance marketer who lives inside the ad platforms, obsesses over ROAS, CAC and LTV and knows how to scale efficiently. You’ll own paid acquisition end-to-end across Meta, Google, TikTok, Reddit, and beyond, with full responsibility for strategy, execution, and outcomes.

This is a builder role centered on high-velocity experimentation. You’re at your best turning hypotheses into tests, reading the data, iterating quickly, and turning signal into scale. The old performance marketing playbooks are being rewritten by AI. The edge now comes from speed, curiosity, and embracing the latest tools to gain that competitive edge. You’re a creative problem solver who knows how to leverage paid media to unlock scalable growth levers that deliver top-level impact.

This is a rare opportunity to join a company at the exact right moment, where product-market fit is proven, the mission is clear, and the canvas is still blank enough for your fingerprints to shape what comes next.

You’ll own this function end-to-end, with the autonomy to test, scale, and define how performance marketing operates at Acely. Your work will directly impact revenue, efficiency, and how we grow as a company.

• Design and execute paid acquisition campaigns across multiple channels with a focus on social and search to start
• Drive efficient growth with a relentless focus on CAC, LTV, ROAS, and payback period
• Set channel strategy, budget allocation, and scaling roadmap
• Build and optimize campaign structure across targeting, bidding, creative, and landing pages
• Run a high-velocity experimentation engine across creative, audiences, and funnels; develop a comprehensive A/B testing framework from hypotheses to measurable, scalable insights that drive growth
• Partner with design to produce a comprehensive creative approach to build a pipeline of platform-native content that converts
• Work closely with Product and Engineering to improve attribution, tracking, and conversion rates
• Manage full funnel performance metrics that clearly connect spend to revenue and inform decisions
• Own event tracking strategy and measurement infrastructure
• Provide direct, data-backed insights to leadership on what’s working and where to invest
• Build AI native workflows to optimize how we test, learn and personalize the user journey from off platform to in product

• 4+ years running paid acquisition in-house, ideally for a consumer subscription product
• Demonstrated track record of scaling spend while maintaining or improving CAC/ROAS
• Deep expertise in Meta and Google; TikTok and Reddit experience a plus
• Performance-obsessed: you live in CAC, LTV, ROAS, and payback, and track them daily
• Strong creative instincts: you know what makes a good ad work and you know how and when to iterate and infuse new content into campaigns
• Full-funnel thinker: you can diagnose issues across creative, targeting, landing pages, and product
• Comfortable with ambiguity and a lean team: you move fast, stay close to the work, and take responsibility for outcomes
• Strong cross-functional communication skills that enable to you to present your ideas clearly and concisely to both peers and executive leadership
• Naturally curious and hands-on: you’re constantly testing new tools, experimenting with workflows, and finding ways to move faster and get more leverage from your time
• Low ego, high ownership, and motivated to win

Not required, but a strong plus:

• Data analysis and statistical modeling experience
• Demonstrable experience working with or building modern AI agentic systems
• Comfort with ambiguity and wearing multiple hats in a fast-paced startup

• Competitive salary ($120 - $160k based on experience) + equity
• Remote-first (with optional quarterly SF meetups)
• Full health benefits (medical, dental, vision)
• 401(k) with company match
• Flexible PTO + company holidays
• Professional development budget
• Home office stipend
• Wellness resources
• Monthly hackathons