{ "key": "roles-that-precede-growth", "version": "research@1.2.0", "computed_at": "2026-10-25T11:10:41.810Z", "horizon_days": 180, "min_sample": 30, "status": "collecting", "sample": { "companies_tracked": 462, "companies_with_two_readings": 396, "openings_classified": 7678, "funding_events": 419, "canvas_assessments": 51, "panel_started_on": "2026-10-18", "first_openings_in_panel": 1093, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16" }, "findings": [ { "family": "sales_leader", "label": "Sales leader (CRO, VP Sales, Head of Sales)", "companies_opened": 33, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 20.3, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "founding_ae", "label": "Founding account executive", "companies_opened": 1, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": null, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "account_executive", "label": "Account executive", "companies_opened": 112, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 12.4, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "sdr", "label": "SDR / BDR", "companies_opened": 56, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 2.9, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "revops", "label": "Revenue operations", "companies_opened": 33, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 3.9, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "gtm_engineering", "label": "GTM engineering", "companies_opened": 13, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": null, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "marketing_leader", "label": "Marketing leader (CMO, VP Marketing)", "companies_opened": 7, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-22", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": null, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "demand_gen", "label": "Demand generation / growth marketing", "companies_opened": 79, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 11.5, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "product_marketing", "label": "Product marketing", "companies_opened": 13, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": null, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "customer_success", "label": "Customer success", "companies_opened": 88, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 11.5, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "talent", "label": "Talent / recruiting", "companies_opened": 56, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 1.9, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "people_ops", "label": "People operations / HR", "companies_opened": 24, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 14.5, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "product", "label": "Product management", "companies_opened": 102, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 8.9, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "engineering_leader", "label": "Engineering leader (CTO, VP Engineering)", "companies_opened": 65, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 18.9, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "engineer", "label": "Software engineer", "companies_opened": 146, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 4.8, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "ai_leader", "label": "AI leader (Head of AI, CAIO)", "companies_opened": 2, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-22", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": null, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "ai_engineer", "label": "AI / ML engineer", "companies_opened": 84, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 5.2, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "data", "label": "Data / analytics", "companies_opened": 65, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 2.6, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "finance", "label": "Finance", "companies_opened": 53, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 16.9, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "operations", "label": "Operations", "companies_opened": 54, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": 5, "sufficient": false, "claim": null }, { "family": "chief_of_staff", "label": "Chief of staff", "companies_opened": 7, "companies_measured": 0, "companies_with_stock": 0, "first_window_closes_on": "2027-04-16", "median_growth_pct": null, "p75_growth_pct": null, "share_grew_25pct": null, "baseline_median_growth_pct": null, "lift_pct_points": null, "share_funded_within_horizon": null, "median_days_to_fill": null, "sufficient": false, "claim": null } ], "canvas": { "by_archetype": { "growth-constrained team": { "n": 17, "roles": { "gtm_engineering": 6, "demand_gen": 6, "ai_engineer": 1, "sales_leader": 5 }, "posture": { "use fractional talent first": 10, "make two foundational hires": 5, "make two foundational role options": 1, "make one leverage role option": 1 } }, "product-heavy shipping team": { "n": 18, "roles": { "engineer": 3, "ai_engineer": 4, "talent": 1, "engineering_leader": 4 }, "posture": { "make one leverage hire": 2, "do not hire yet; redesign workflow first": 2, "make two foundational role options": 6, "make one leverage role option": 6, "Deprioritize for now yet; redesign workflow first": 2 } }, "founder-led scrappy builder team": { "n": 8, "roles": { "ai_engineer": 1, "data": 1, "people_ops": 1, "gtm_engineering": 3, "demand_gen": 2, "chief_of_staff": 1 }, "posture": { "do not hire yet; redesign workflow first": 2, "make one leverage hire": 1, "make one leverage role option": 4, "use fractional talent first": 1 } }, "specialist-bloated team": { "n": 4, "roles": { "engineer": 4, "product": 4, "ai_engineer": 4 }, "posture": { "make one leverage hire": 2, "make two foundational hires": 2 } }, "operations-heavy but under-automated team": { "n": 3, "roles": { "engineering_leader": 3, "ai_engineer": 3, "data": 3 }, "posture": { "make one leverage hire": 3 } }, "AI-transition team": { "n": 1, "roles": {}, "posture": { "make two foundational role options": 1 } } }, "by_stage": { "seed": { "n": 15, "roles": { "gtm_engineering": 4, "demand_gen": 3, "ai_engineer": 2, "chief_of_staff": 1, "engineer": 1, "engineering_leader": 1 } }, "pre_seed": { "n": 1, "roles": { "engineer": 1, "ai_engineer": 1, "talent": 1 } }, "series_c": { "n": 4, "roles": { "ai_engineer": 2, "data": 1, "people_ops": 1, "engineer": 3, "product": 2 } }, "unknown": { "n": 3, "roles": { "engineering_leader": 3, "ai_engineer": 3, "data": 3 } }, "series_b": { "n": 6, "roles": { "ai_engineer": 4, "product": 2, "engineer": 2, "engineering_leader": 1 } }, "series_a": { "n": 22, "roles": { "sales_leader": 5, "gtm_engineering": 5, "demand_gen": 5, "engineering_leader": 2, "ai_engineer": 1 } } } }, "citable_claims": [], "methodology": [ "Panel of B2B technology companies tracked by the GTM Architecture CRM: public job boards (Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable) and LinkedIn jobs are read every weekday; headcount is recorded from the company's LinkedIn page each time the company is enriched.", "An observation is the first time a company opens a role in a family (21 families, classified from the title with the same size-aware seat taxonomy the CRM uses) since its headcount readings began; openings more than 30 days before a company's first reading cannot be measured and are not counted. An opening is dated by the posting's own date where the board or the history gives one, so a role the first board read found already listed is not an opening that day, and a company that already had a family posted when its readings began has no first opening in that family to observe. Growth is the change in recorded headcount from the reading at or before the opening to the first reading at least 180 days later.", "The baseline for each observation is the median growth of companies in the same size band (1–19, 20–49, 50–99, 100–199, 200–499, 500–999, 1000–2000, 2001–10000, 10001+) over the same horizon, measured from their first reading. Lift is the difference in percentage points.", "Funding within the horizon counts any funding_or_financing signal (news, LinkedIn posts, ColdIQ) observed in the 180 days after the opening. Days to fill is the time from first seen to the posting disappearing from the board.", "A family is reported only when at least 30 companies have both an opening and a measurable growth window; below that the row shows the count and no claim. Figures are medians, not means, so a single hyper-growth company cannot move them.", "Planning-canvas figures come from founders who completed the Human in the Loop planning canvas (self-reported team, stage, bottlenecks); they describe intent, not outcome, and are shown separately." ] }