Senior Growth Systems Engineer

Senior Growth Systems Engineer

Hoofddorp / Hybrid / Full-time

Build the activation layer behind our growth stack

Do you excel at the intersection of data, activation, and systems? Do you know how to turn warehouse data into actionable audiences, reliable activation flows, and scalable growth tools? And do you enjoy working at the intersection of CDP, identity, consent, and AI-assisted workflows?

At HeadFirst Group, we are building a new Growth Tech function from the ground up within the Product organization. We are looking for a Senior Growth Systems Engineer to take ownership of the activation layer that supports this initiative. This is not a campaign marketing role or a traditional marketing automation role. It is a technical activation role focused on audience orchestration, identity resolution, reverse ETL, and the systems that enable growth execution across our marketplaces and more than 20 brands.

The role

As a Senior Growth Systems Engineer, you will build and improve the activation layer of our Growth Tech ecosystem. You will work on audience activation from Databricks into downstream channels, identity resolution across platforms, event and consent flows, and the QA of AI-generated activation outputs.

You will be the first dedicated hire on this team and will report to the Director of Growth Tech, who is responsible for the broader strategy, architecture, and roadmap. You will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the activation layer and will work closely with the Product, Data Engineering, Commercial, and Marketing teams.

Your impact

In this role, you will help lay the groundwork for more scalable and data-driven growth across HeadFirst Group. This includes:

• Building and managing audience activation flows from Databricks to Hightouch and connected platforms

• Translating business use cases into scalable audience logic, traits, and sync structures

• Improving identity resolution across Striive, ProUnity, and our broader brand portfolio

• Helping to define event taxonomy, consent flows, and data readiness for activation

• Reviewing and improving AI-generated audience drafts, campaign inputs, and reporting outputs

• Improving the speed, quality, and reliability of activation across regions and brands

• What you bring

We are looking for someone with hands-on experience in technical activation, MarTech, CDP, growth systems, or data activation environments. You probably recognize yourself in most of the points below:

• You have built or managed reverse ETL or warehouse-to-channel activation flows in production, for example using Hightouch, Census, or a similar setup

• You are comfortable working with SQL and can debug audience definitions and data logic on your own

• You understand audiences, traits, events, and sync logic at the system level

• You have experience with identity resolution, profile stitching, or customer matching logic

• You understand how consent should flow from the CMP to the warehouse to activation

• You are comfortable working with AI tools and can make sound judgments about the quality of AI-generated outputs

Experience with Databricks, dbt, Hightouch, OneTrust, or multi-brand activation environments is a strong plus.

What this role is not

To avoid confusion, this role is not intended for campaign managers, generalist digital marketers, or traditional marketing automation specialists who focus primarily on HubSpot or Marketo administration.

What we offer

• A base salary between €85,000 and €115,000, depending on experience

• 15% performance bonus

• Full-time permanent contract

• 27 vacation days, with the option to purchase additional days

• 8.33% vacation pay and a premium-free pension

• Hybrid work and flexible hours

• Modern office in Hoofddorp

• Access to HeadFirst Academy and internal learning opportunities

The opportunity to be the first person hired specifically for this role in a strategically important new function

Interested?

Please apply by submitting your resume and a brief cover letter. We are particularly interested in specific examples of activation work you have delivered, such as a reverse ETL flow, an audience activation setup, an identity resolution decision, or a case where you improved AI-generated output before it went into production.