Senior EU Category Manager

Job description

**Ready to lead, disrupt and reinvent the sleep industry?** We are **Emma – The Sleep Company**. Founded in 2015, we have grown into the world’s largest direct-to-consumer (D2C) sleep brand, with a presence in over 20 markets and more than 35 Emma stores across Europe. Our mission is simple: to develop sleep comfort products that empower our customers to awaken their best every day. Today, our products are trusted by millions and recommended by leading consumer associations worldwide. It’s our people who bring this mission to life. At Emma, you’ll join a driven, international team that values ownership, collaboration, and continuous knowledge sharing. With colleagues from over 70 nationalities, we combine diverse perspectives with a shared ambition to learn, grow, and create lasting impact, together. **Ready to awaken your best with us?** **About the Role** The Senior EU Category Manager is the commercial and operational owner of Emma's product category (one or several categories - Mattresses, Accessories, Beds, Linens) across European markets. You sit at the intersection of global strategy and in-market reality — responsible for ensuring the portfolio performs, launches land successfully, and consumer and commercial insights flow back into global decision-making. This is a dual-facing role: you translate global category strategy into EU execution, while simultaneously representing European market needs — consumer preferences, competitive dynamics, channel realities — back to global teams. You can develop Local or cross countries product when needed to answer specific countries consumer needs In a context where Category Management at Emma is evolving toward stronger commercial ownership, faster feedback loops, and sharper portfolio performance, this role is critical to delivering on-the-ground results while building a stronger link between strategy and execution. ### What you'll do: **1. Regional Portfolio Management & Activation** - Own the EU product portfolio for the category: range structure, SKU priorities, and channel fit - Adapt / develop global portfolio architecture to European market realities (country priorities, regulatory context, channel mix) - Manage SKU lifecycle across EU — from introduction to rationalisation — in coordination with global - Ensure portfolio coherence across channels: online DTC, Marketplace, Wholesale, and Retail (Emma Stores) - Drive assortment decisions in collaboration with Commercial teams and Country Managers - Maintain up-to-date country-level range plans and collaborate on activation calendars **2. Go-to-Market & Launch Execution** - Lead EU launch planning and readiness: operational timelines, commercial activation, and product truth localisation - Ensure sales, marketing, customer service, and retail teams are equipped with product knowledge and messaging before every launch - Coordinate local market adaptations —regulation, claims, pricing thresholds etc… — within global guardrails - Own post-launch performance reviews: sell-through, return rate, NPS, and commercial learnings - Proactively flag launch risks and escalate blockers to global and commercial stakeholders **3. Commercial Performance Monitoring & Improvement** - Track category performance weekly and monthly across key EU markets: - Revenue and volume mix evolution by SKU and channel - Gross margin and margin-per-SKU trends - Return rates and NPS by product and market - Channel performance (DTC vs retail vs marketplace vs wholesale) - Identify underperformers, portfolio gaps, and pricing misalignments — and drive corrective actions - Build business cases to support portfolio investment, de-listing, or repositioning decisions - Partner with Finance and BI on KPI frameworks, dashboards, and category contribution analysis **4. Market, Consumer & Competitive Intelligence** - Monitor EU market trends: category growth, channel shifts, consumer behaviour changes - Maintain a structured view of the competitive landscape in key EU markets (pricing, product moves, positioning) - Gather and synthesise qualitative and quantitative insights from: - Emma Stores (direct consumer interaction — a unique Emma asset) - Customer Service feedback and returns analysis - Consumer reviews and online listening - Country Manager and sales team field intelligence - Produce regular EU market intelligence reports and feed insights into global category planning cycles **5. Sales, Trade & Channel Enablement** - Build and maintain strong relationships with Country Managers and EU commercial leads - Act as the product expert and internal ambassador for the category across EU commercial teams - Deliver product training, category selling stories, and trade argumentation for retail partners - Support trade marketing and channel activation with product knowledge and positioning clarity - Adapt product messaging and benefit communication for different EU channels and retail contexts **6. Global–EU Interface & Feedback Loop** - Participate in quarterly global–regional alignment sessions with Global Category Managers - Provide structured European market intelligence to inform global roadmap and portfolio decisions - Validate global portfolio decisions against EU commercial and consumer realities - Flag regional constraints (regulatory, cultural, channel) that affect global plans ### Who we are looking for: - 5–8 years experience in Category Management, Product Management, or Commercial Strategy in DTC, e-commerce, FMCG, or omnichannel retail - Demonstrated experience connecting product strategy with in-market commercial performance - Strong understanding of European consumer markets — including channel dynamics, country-level variations, and shopper behaviour - Experience working cross-functionally and managing multiple stakeholders across sales, marketing, and operations - Experience with product launches in multi-country environments (end-to-end, from planning to post-launch review) - Commercially sharp: you think in revenue, margin, and sell-through, not just product features - Analytical and data-driven: comfortable with dashboards, BI tools, and Excel modelling for performance analysis - Structured and operational: able to manage multiple launches and priorities simultaneously - Strong communicator: able to simplify complex product information for sales teams, retailers, and non-category audiences - Consumer-curious: genuinely interested in shopper behaviour, market trends, and in-store/field observation - Comfortable operating in a fast-moving DTC environment with evolving priorities and lean team structures ### What we offer: - At Emma, you’ll find a culture of **freedom, impact, and zero politics**. We give you full ownership from day one and expect you to move fast, think big, and grow even faster. - Pet-friendly environment, where you can bring your furry desk buddy; - Discounts on our top-notch products; - Health insurance including dentist; - 24 days holidays/year +1 day/year at Emma (máx. 29 days); - The opportunity to collaborate with multinational teams; - Exciting events that aren't just team-building exercises but opportunities to create epic memories.