SeniorFull TimeEN
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?
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.
1. Category Strategy & Vision
Define, own and continuously evolve the global category vision, strategy, and 3-year ambition
Set the role of the category within Emma's overall portfolio — what it is for, who it serves, how it grows
Identify long-term growth opportunities across consumer segments, geographies, and channels
Translate company-level strategy and growth priorities into concrete category-level direction
Present and align the category strategy with senior stakeholders including C-level
2. Portfolio Architecture & Lifecycle Management
Design and own the global portfolio architecture including Good / Better / Best tiering logic
Define SKU roles, lifecycle stages, trade-up paths, and rationalisation priorities
Build and maintain a global product roadmap covering Y1 to Y3+ horizons
Run quarterly portfolio reviews: identify winners, slow-movers, gaps, and overlaps
Drive SKU rationalisation decisions in collaboration with Commercial, Finance and Regions
Maintain the product catalogue as a single source of truth across the organisation
3. Product Innovation & Development
Lead product discovery: market gap analysis, consumer Jobs-to-Be-Done, and opportunity sizing
Define innovation briefs and product concepts with clear consumer and commercial rationale
Translate strategy into structured product requirements and success criteria for R&D
Partner with R&D and engineering throughout the design & build phase
Assess competitor product launches and technology trends to guide the innovation pipeline
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:
Consumer segmentation and Jobs-to-Be-Done framework
Value propositions and differentiation rationale (Reasons to Believe)
Product positioning and trade-up messaging
Product naming conventions and portfolio story
Claim guardrails and messaging architecture for regional activation
Launch product truth documents for every new product release
5. Pricing Principles & Value Positioning
Define global pricing principles and positioning guardrails for the category
Work with the Performance & Value Manager to validate price ladders and trade-up logic
Ensure pricing strategy is coherent across SKUs, markets and channels
Flag pricing risks early and make recommendations to maintain category value integrity
6. Global–Regional Collaboration
Act as the global category point of contact for EU, APAC, and LATAM regional teams
Provide portfolio guardrails, launch guidance, and product truth to regional managers
Run quarterly global–regional alignment sessions to sync strategy, roadmap, and performance
Integrate regional market insights, consumer feedback, and competitive signals into global decisions
Ensure regional adaptations remain within global coherence boundaries
7–10 years of experience in Category Management, Product Management, or Portfolio Strategy in consumer goods, e-commerce, or DTC
Proven track record managing complex multi-SKU consumer product portfolios (mattress, furniture, home, FMCG, or comparable)
Experience leading product innovation from brief to launch in cross-functional environments
Strong exposure to global or multi-regional operating models
Strategic thinker who can turn ambiguity into a clear direction — and who can then execute it
Able to build category vision and roadmaps from scratch, not just maintain existing frameworks
Strong analytical skills: comfortable with performance data, business cases, and consumer research
Excellent communicator and influencer — able to align diverse, senior stakeholders across functions
Hands-on: comfortable operating at both strategic and operational levels
Experience with DTC, online-first, or omnichannel environments is a plus
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.
