Senior Global Category Team Lead

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 35 markets and more than 15 retail 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 Global Category Manager Lead is a senior strategic role within Emma's Global Category Product Management team. You are the long-term owner of one of Emma's core product categories — Mattresses or Accessories/Beds/Linen — and are responsible for defining where the category should play and how it should win at a global level.

This is a high-impact, cross-functional role that connects consumer insight, market intelligence, and business priorities into a coherent portfolio architecture, innovation pipeline, and multi-year product roadmap. You work hand-in-hand with R&D, Marketing, Finance, and regional teams to ensure Emma builds the right products, at the right price, for the right consumers — consistently and globally.

In a context where Emma is rebuilding its category strategy foundations and closing critical gaps in portfolio steering, pricing logic, and product truth, this role is central to delivering the transformation.

What you'll do::
1. Category Strategy & Vision

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Define, own and continuously evolve the global category vision, strategy, and 3-year ambition

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Set the role of the category within Emma's overall portfolio — what it is for, who it serves, how it grows

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Identify long-term growth opportunities across consumer segments, geographies, and channels

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Translate company-level strategy and growth priorities into concrete category-level direction

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Present and align the category strategy with senior stakeholders including C-level

2. Portfolio Architecture & Lifecycle Management

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Design and own the global portfolio architecture including Good / Better / Best tiering logic

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Define SKU roles, lifecycle stages, trade-up paths, and rationalisation priorities

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Build and maintain a global product roadmap covering Y1 to Y3+ horizons

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Run quarterly portfolio reviews: identify winners, slow-movers, gaps, and overlaps

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Drive SKU rationalisation decisions in collaboration with Commercial, Finance and Regions

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Maintain the product catalogue as a single source of truth across the organisation

3. Product Innovation & Development

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Lead product discovery: market gap analysis, consumer Jobs-to-Be-Done, and opportunity sizing

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Define innovation briefs and product concepts with clear consumer and commercial rationale

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Translate strategy into structured product requirements and success criteria for R&D

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Partner with R&D and engineering throughout the design & build phase

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Assess competitor product launches and technology trends to guide the innovation pipeline

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Maintain a 12–18 month innovation pipeline with clear stage-gate milestones

4. Product Truth & Marketing Foundations

Own the structural product marketing elements that anchor every activation globally:

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Consumer segmentation and Jobs-to-Be-Done framework

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Value propositions and differentiation rationale (Reasons to Believe)

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Product positioning and trade-up messaging

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Product naming conventions and portfolio story

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Claim guardrails and messaging architecture for regional activation

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Launch product truth documents for every new product release

5. Pricing Principles & Value Positioning

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Define global pricing principles and positioning guardrails for the category

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Work with the Performance & Value Manager to validate price ladders and trade-up logic

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Ensure pricing strategy is coherent across SKUs, markets and channels

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Flag pricing risks early and make recommendations to maintain category value integrity

6. Global–Regional Collaboration

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Act as the global category point of contact for EU, APAC, and LATAM regional teams

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Provide portfolio guardrails, launch guidance, and product truth to regional managers

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Run quarterly global–regional alignment sessions to sync strategy, roadmap, and performance

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Integrate regional market insights, consumer feedback, and competitive signals into global decisions

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Ensure regional adaptations remain within global coherence boundaries

Who we are looking for::
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7–10 years of experience in Category Management, Product Management, or Portfolio Strategy in consumer goods, e-commerce, or DTC

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Proven track record managing complex multi-SKU consumer product portfolios (mattress, furniture, home, FMCG, or comparable)

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Experience leading product innovation from brief to launch in cross-functional environments

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Strong exposure to global or multi-regional operating models

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Strategic thinker who can turn ambiguity into a clear direction — and who can then execute it

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Able to build category vision and roadmaps from scratch, not just maintain existing frameworks

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Strong analytical skills: comfortable with performance data, business cases, and consumer research

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Excellent communicator and influencer — able to align diverse, senior stakeholders across functions

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Hands-on: comfortable operating at both strategic and operational levels

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Experience with DTC, online-first, or omnichannel environments is a plus

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.

Become an Emmie

We are on a mission to become No.1 in the world of sleep, and we’re looking for driven, ambitious people to help us shape what’s next. If you’re curious, hands-on, and ready to challenge the status quo, you’ll find the space here to make things happen and create real impact. 

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and are committed to building an inclusive workplace. We celebrate diversity and consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, ethnic origin, religion or belief, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or age.

Our aim is to get back to you within a few days. Due to the high volume of applications, there may be slight delays, but we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.