Senior Category Manager (All Genders)

Job Description

At zooplus, we're looking for a commercially driven Senior Category Manager to own and grow one of our key product categories in DACH, our largest region and founding base of zooplus.

In this role, you will be responsible for defining and executing category strategy, driving commercial performance, and delivering an outstanding customer experience. Working closely with cross-functional teams including Marketing, CRM, Pricing, Vendor Management, and Shop Operations, you will leverage customer insights, market intelligence, and data-driven decision-making to unlock growth opportunities and maximize category performance.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define and execute the annual category strategy, ensuring alignment with business objectives and market opportunities.
• Drive category revenue growth, profitability, and overall commercial performance.
• Analyse customer behaviour, market trends, competitor activity, and category performance to identify growth opportunities and actionable insights.
• Develop pricing recommendations and support pricing optimisation to maintain competitiveness and achieve commercial goals.
• Create and execute promotional and campaign plans that drive customer engagement and business growth.
• Monitor and evaluate campaign and promotional performance, optimising activities based on results and commercial impact.
• Optimise category merchandising, product visibility, and customer journeys to improve conversion and customer experience.
• Partner closely with Marketing, CRM, Vendor Management, Pricing, and Shop Operations teams to deliver category growth initiatives.
• Drive the growth of Own Brand products through targeted commercial and customer-focused initiatives.
• Provide category expertise and market insights to influence broader commercial decisions and strategic priorities.
• Coach and support junior team members, sharing best practices and acting as a subject matter expert within Category Management.

What We Offer

• Ownership of a strategically important category within our largest region
• The opportunity to directly influence commercial strategy and business performance.
• High visibility and collaboration with senior stakeholders across the organisation.
• A dynamic, international, and customer-focused environment.
• Excellent opportunities for professional growth and career development.
• The chance to make a measurable impact within one of Europe's leading pet e-commerce businesses.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Ownership & bias for action - you treat the P&L like it's your own, move fast on incomplete information, and close loops without being chased.
• Commercial acumen & curiosity - you read the numbers, find the "why" behind them, and turn insight into margin.
• AI-native mindset - you actively embed AI into your daily workflow to work faster, sharper, and at greater scale.
• Several years of experience in Category Management, Buying, Merchandising, Commercial Management, or a related role.
• Experience within e-commerce, retail, FMCG, consumer goods, or another fast-paced commercial environment.
• Proven track record of driving category growth, commercial performance, and profitability.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data and translate insights into business actions.
• Experience managing pricing, promotions, assortment, or trading activities.
• Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Fluent English and German language skills (minimum B1 level).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working in an international or matrix organisation.
• Experience managing large or strategically important product categories.
• Experience coaching or mentoring colleagues.
• Knowledge of digital merchandising, customer journey optimisation, and conversion improvement.
• Experience working with business intelligence and analytics tools.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Economics, Marketing, Retail Management, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Additional Information

Headquartered in Munich, with offices across Madrid, Krakow, Wroclaw, London and Vienna, we collaborate because we genuinely love working together - so you’ll be at the heart of an incredible, multinational team. We trust each other to get the job done, which means you’ll benefit from hybrid working, spending 60% of your time in the office and 40% at home. There’s an option to work for 20 days abroad in approved countries too.

Add to that development opportunities that help you to shape your own career path, excellent training and support, wellbeing offers, subsidised transport or bike leasing, plus 20% discount across all our products, and you’ll begin to get a sense of what sets us apart. Find out more about the specific benefits at your local office in our blog posts.

At zooplus, we believe in equal opportunity and support everyone to fulfil their potential. We recognise the power of listening and learning from each other and embrace diversity and inclusion of all.

#LI-Hybrid