Category Lead, Germany

Whatnot · Consumer · Berlin, Germany · Categories & Expansion

This role is for a Category Lead at Whatnot, a livestream shopping platform. The Category Lead will be responsible for scaling a specific category by defining its strategic vision, leading execution through cross-functional teams (Account Management, Sales, Marketing), sourcing partnerships, monitoring key metrics, and driving growth by identifying category unlocks and working with product, marketing, operations, and engineering. The role also involves being the voice of the category, building relationships with sellers and buyers, and ensuring the product meets their needs. The ideal candidate has 5+ years of experience in a fast-paced, client-facing role and is fluent in German and English with a deep understanding of the German market.

What you'd actually do

  1. Map the market, dive into the data, talk to sellers and buyers to build a perspective on how we should scale the category on Whatnot
  2. Define our action plan for addressing key challenges and opportunities in the category
  3. Manage a team of dotted line reports in account management, sales and marketing to onboard and grow sellers, activate influencers and run community events. Develop and mentor your team members to take ownership of their key initiatives.
  4. Source, execute, and manage the highest priority partnerships in the category
  5. Own our data to define and monitor key success metrics in the category, using those insights to prioritise key focus areas for your team.

Skills

Required

  • 5+ years of experience in a fast-paced, client-facing role
  • Experience in Strategy Consulting, Venture Capital, Private Equity, or partnerships at a fast-paced tech company
  • Fluent German
  • Fluent English
  • Deep understanding of the German market
  • Experience managing and developing a team
  • Analytical skills
  • Data manipulation skills

Nice to have

  • Experience with two-sided platforms
  • Experience with marketplace dynamics
  • Passion for creator communities
  • Passion for live e-commerce

What the JD emphasized

  • 5+ years of experience working in a fast-paced, client-facing role in high-output environments
  • Fluent German and English with a deep understanding of the German market
  • world-class leader with experience managing and developing a team
  • deeply analytical and comfortable understanding and manipulating data