Senior Category Manager DACH, Team Lead (All Genders)

At zooplus, we are on a journey to build the most customer-centric pet care e-commerce experience in Europe. Our work makes over 12 million pet parents genuinely happier – and that’s something we really care about. In Germany (DE), our home base and largest market, category leadership is high visibility, hands-on, and directly accountable for commercial results. Join us and discover a place where your potential meets your passion for pets. That’s the power of plus.

We’re hiring a Senior Category Manager with Team Lead and German skills to take end-to-end ownership of key categories, driving topline growth and profitability through commercial insight, strong execution, and direct team leadership.

This is a role for someone who thinks and acts like a General Manager of the Category: you own the commercial strategy, shape go-to-market initiatives, and lead a small, high-performing team while collaborating across a broader cross-functional squad, including CRM, Paid Marketing, Vendor Management, Direct Marketing, and Own Brand Management.

Why this role is different

Local teams at zooplus are not “execution units” for central playbooks. They are closest to the customers and market realities, giving you the opportunity to shape the business locally. You will be a market shaper and relationship builder, with a mandate to:

• Local Relevance: Develop market-specific initiatives that deliver measurable results.
• Scalability: Build processes and initiatives that create agility and free time for strategic thinking.
• Strategic & Commercial Impact: Influence category performance, raise the bar for “great” in category management, and drive decisions that directly impact growth and profitability.

What you’ll own:

Category Strategy & Sales Steering

• Define and execute the commercial category strategy and translate it into actionable plans.
• Lead go-to-market strategy across DACH in close collaboration with central and local stakeholders.
• Drive category performance through clear KPI management across category, sub-category, and product levels.
• Actively grow the portfolio with a strong focus on Own Brands—driving acquisition, migration, and retention.

Pricing & Promotions

• Define competitive pricing and promotion strategies for your categories.
• Monitor pricing dynamics and run pricing experiments, recommending adjustments to balance competitiveness and profitability.
• Build and execute the campaign and promo roadmap with central teams.
• Track performance, manage cost vs. budget, and optimize promotional impact.

Commercial Merchandising & Onsite Strategy

• Own the onsite commercial strategy: define how customers discover, evaluate, and choose products.
• Translate category strategy into scalable merchandising principles to drive traffic, conversion, and profitable growth.
• Use performance insights (conversion, AOV, attach rate, search share, sell-through) to continuously optimize outcomes.

Leadership & Cross-functional Steering

• Lead and develop a small team with direct accountability for results and growth.
• Steer and influence an extended cluster squad to deliver outcomes, not just activity.
• Ensure category expertise and retail best practices are embedded across your team and cross-functional partners.