How to Find Your Place in the Growth Marketing

A month ago, I became curious about growth marketing roles. I browsed LinkedIn job postings. Every company seemed to want something different from their growth marketers.

What exactly does a growth marketer do? What skills do you need? The picture was unclear. Then I found something.

The Discovery: Growth Competency Model

I was taking Reforge’s Growth Series courses (highly recommend!), and in their Growth Leadership course, the Growth Competency Model is presented.

Mind. Blown🤯.

This framework broke down the growth marketer into:

• 4 Quadrants: Communication & Influence, Growth Execution, Customer Knowledge, Growth Strategy

• 12 Core Competencies: From data analysis to team leadership

• 3 Career Profiles: Builder, Optimizer, Innovator

A Builder will need Experimentation, Productizing Learnings, User Psychology, and Prioritization & Roadmapping.

An Optimizer will need Channel Fluency, Instrumentation & Data Fluency, and Experimentation.

An Innovator should be expert in Growth Loop Modeling, Strategic Communication, Stakeholder Management and Team Leadership.

Read more about Growth Competency Model at Adam Fishman’s Growth Skill Building and Your Career.

My Research: A Detailed Growth Competency Mind Map

Understanding the framework sparked three questions:

1. What are the specific requirements for each competency? Where are my skill gaps?

2. How much is AI disrupting these competencies? Which capabilities are most vulnerable, and which are safest?

3. Which path should I choose? Based on my background, interests, and AI trends

I did some research and created this Growth Competency Model Mind Map (click the link to explore the complete map).

Three Critical Findings

1. AI is Reshaping Career Ladders (Faster Than You Think)

• Entry-Level Roles: Basic tasks for Builders and Optimizers (basic experiments, SQL queries, simple data analysis, reporting, channel monitoring) are all being impacted to varying degrees

• Senior Roles: The more senior the work within each profile, the lower the AI risk. Innovators are least affected

• Why This Matters: The career ladder is compressing. You used to have time to learn slowly at entry level, accumulating experience. That “safe period” is shrinking. For newcomers, you need to evolve from executor to decision maker faster. For those still seeking positions, fully embracing AI is your only choice.

2. The Optimizer Paradox: The Most Technical Path Has the Highest AI Risk

The Most Ironic Finding:

• Optimizer has the longest skill list. It’s the most technical, most skill-intensive of the three profiles.

• Yet Optimizer faces the highest AI risk

Why?

Because the core of Optimizer work is “repetitive optimization”:

• Generating the same format performance reports weekly → AI can already do this

• Monitoring campaign metrics and adjusting bids → AI is 10x faster

• Running standard A/B tests and analyzing results → Statistical analysis code is mature

• SQL queries to extract data → Copilot are already strong

Compare this to Builder and Innovator:

• Builder’s core is “0-to-1” creation, requiring handling ambiguity and uncertainty

• Innovator’s core is “strategic judgment” and “interpersonal influence”

These are exactly what AI currently struggles to replace.

The Lesson:

Real job security comes from judgment and interpersonal skills, not execution skills.

3. AI Skills Become Critical

The new essential skills for growth marketers:

• Prompt Engineering: Knowing how to transform growth problems into precise prompts AI can answer. This isn’t just writing prompts. It’s understanding how to break down problems, validate AI outputs, and iterate.

• AI-Assisted Coding: Using Copilot to help write Python and SQL. Not letting AI write everything for you, but understanding how to describe requirements, validate AI-generated code, and iterate modifications.

• Workflow automation: For example: Use AI to analyze user feedback → extract insights → generate A/B test hypotheses → use AI to generate test copy → use AI to generate landing page code. The focus is workflow design, not isolated tool usage.

• LLM Application Understanding: Understanding what cutting-edge large language models excel at and applying them effectively

My Personal Decision: Why I Chose Builder

After completing this mapping, my path became clear.

My Position: Builder

• Why: Business background + entrepreneurial experience gives me business sense. Good at 0-to-1, can handle ambiguity.

My 3-Month Learning Plan:

1. Fill Knowledge Gaps: Deep dive into User Psychology, strengthen Tech Product Management understanding

2. AI-Assisted Learning: Integrate AI into Experimentation, automate workflows where possible. Build my own Prompt library (SQL, data analysis, user research)

3. Practice on Side Projects: Conduct user interviews, write PRDs, run experiments