Note: This role requires candidates to be hybrid in-person 3 days a week at our Hayes Valley office in San Francisco.
About daydream
daydream automates programmatic SEO, end-to-end.
We believe the future of SEO lies in automation, which is why daydream leverages a combination of AI-enabled services and software to execute SEO growth playbooks. Our platform helps businesses identify search patterns, create high-quality content at scale, and continuously optimize it automatically—empowering companies like Product Hunt, Clay, Beacons, and dozens more to rapidly scale their growth.
We've raised $6.2M from leading investors like First Round Capital, Basis Set Ventures, WndrCo, SOMA Capital, current and former Heads of Growth from Notion, Airtable, Webflow, and Dropbox, and notable angels such as Lenny Rachitsky and Eli Schwartz.
The problem we’re trying to solve
Every company needs to do two things:
Build a product.
Acquire customers.
There are three ways to acquire customers — sales, product-led growth, and growth marketing. Of these three, growth marketing is particularly hard to staff for because great internal talent is find (ex. in SEO, there are probably < 20 people who we would consider world-class), and time-consuming to ramp.
Then there’s the agencies, but agencies are often slow, lack strong technical talent, and in general are associated with poor quality of outcomes.
How we’re solving this problem
daydream is different — we’ve built a vertically integrated software + services stack with a singular goal in mind — deliver outstanding outcomes for every customer we service, repeatedly and consistently in a fraction of the time they expect. While we’ve started with SEO, we expect to expand to all other major growth marketing channels over the near future.
Who you’ll be working with
You’ll join a small, fast-moving team focused on building the future of SEO—and beyond. Here’s who you’ll work with most closely:
Thenuka Karunaratne — CEO & Co-founder
Previously founded Flixed.io, which he bootstrapped to $2M+ in revenue through programmatic SEO.
Former Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Hustle Fund.
Served as Chief of Staff at Pango, a $100M+ cybersecurity company.
Together, we’re building a high-leverage, AI-powered growth engine—and you’ll play a key role in scaling it.
What You’ll Be Doing
Daydream runs a forward-deployed growth model—our Growth Leads are working directly with our customers' teams, delivering SEO execution as a high-impact extension of their in-house team. This is not a passive agency model. It’s hands-on and deeply strategic.
As Head of Growth, you'll own the performance, structure, and scale of that entire delivery engine. This is a pivotal leadership role—responsible for making sure every Growth Lead is set up to drive outcomes at scale, across dozens of fast-growing startups.
Own the forward-deployed team: Manage, mentor, and scale a team of Growth Leads and Growth Team Leads delivering embedded SEO execution.
Drive performance: Ensure quality, consistency, and impact across all client engagements as you are leading growth for a portfolio of clients rather than a product.
Develop team structure: Set up Growth Leads for success through onboarding, training, and day-to-day systems—while supporting Growth Team Leads in managing and developing their pods of Growth Leads.
Set strategy: Define how we hire, train, and operate across our growth delivery function.
Interface with key clients: Act as the executive partner on high-priority accounts.
Systematize scale: Build processes, playbooks, and operational infrastructure to grow efficiently.
Work cross-functionally: Partner with GTM, product, and engineering to continuously improve our growth stack.
You’ll be an excellent fit if you
Are excited about scaling an AI-enabled services business—where software and systems power real outcomes.
Thrive in ops-heavy, systems-first environments and love building scalable, repeatable infrastructure.
Understand this isn't a traditional Head of Growth role—you’re not leading growth for one product, but across a portfolio of clients.
Have experience leading teams in growth, SEO, or performance marketing.
Love helping others do their best work—through systems, coaching, and feedback.
Are fluent in both strategy and operations—zooming out to set direction, then diving in to execute.
This role won't be a good fit if you
Prefer clean swim lanes and dislike wearing multiple hats across ops, strategy, and execution.
Want to scale just one brand — not juggle SEO and growth across 20+ fast-paced companies at once.
Expect a fully productized environment with mature tooling, instead of helping build systems from scratch.
Aren’t comfortable directly managing client relationships and owning their performance outcomes.
Only want to work on SEO without touching other growth levers.
Ideal background
5–10+ years in growth and SEO roles.
3+ years managing people or teams.
Comfortable with AI tools, content operations, and analytics.
Prior startup or high-growth environment experience.
Experience with client-facing roles is a plus (consulting, agency, or in-house).
Compensation
Total compensation: $200K–$300K/year plus generous equity in daydream.
Full medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage.
Hybrid: 3 days/week in our San Francisco office (Hayes Valley).
Compensation Range: $200K - $300K
