CPO – Chief Product Officer (m/w/d)

Responsibilities

We are representing a confidential footwear organization that has grown to over 1.3 million customers in just a few years. Our client is now building their product organization for the next growth phase: new categories, higher volumes, international markets, and a globally scalable production network.

As Chief Product Officer, you will build, lead, and scale the entire product organization. This is not a role for someone who only knows product from strategy meetings—our client needs a builder and operator who understands how to connect product development, engineering, design, merchandising, sourcing, production, quality, and product marketing into a high-performing organization.

You will develop the long-term product and category strategy alongside the founders while ensuring operational excellence. When development processes break, you step in. When quality, costing, or timelines are off, you dig in to understand why and solve problems with your team. When critical capabilities are missing, you build them.

A central part of this role is building the international product and sourcing structure in China and potentially other production markets like Vietnam. Your goal is clear: better products, faster development cycles, higher quality, stronger margins, clear ownership, and a product organization that can scale.

You will be responsible for:

• Building and scaling core business functions across the entire value chain—from strategy and development through sourcing and production to marketing and commercial management
• Recruiting, leading, and developing strong leaders and specialists to create an autonomous, clearly structured, and scalable organization
• Developing long-term growth strategy with the founders and translating it into clear priorities, structures, and operational measures
• Ensuring strategic initiatives are efficiently managed from initial concept through successful implementation
• Optimizing processes to shorten decision cycles, reduce complexity, and increase organizational performance
• Expanding the international partner, production, and supplier network through strategic negotiations on costs, capacity, quality, timelines, and framework conditions
• Building out international presence, particularly in China, and developing a high-performing local team
• Establishing clear quality, governance, and control mechanisms to ensure standards are consistently met
• Managing commercial aspects including costs, pricing, margins, volumes, timelines, and profitability
• Working regularly with international teams and partners, diving deep into operational issues when critical

What We're Looking For

Our talent team is seeking a candidate with:

• Multiple years of leadership experience at Director, VP, SVP, or C-Level in the product function of a footwear brand or comparable international consumer company
• Proven experience building and scaling a multidisciplinary product organization
• Deep expertise in footwear development, engineering, construction, materials, fit, sampling, testing, and production
• Extensive direct experience with footwear factories and production partners in China, ideally with an established network in the Asian sourcing market
• Strong knowledge of sourcing, costing, supplier management, production planning, and commercial negotiations
• Experience building and scaling product portfolios, categories, and international product lines
• Strong commercial understanding of margin, pricing, manufacturing costs, volume, assortment, and product profitability
• Ability to develop C-level strategy while also diving deep operationally to understand and drive complex product, development, or production challenges
• Builder mentality—comfortable in an organization where structures aren't fully defined but created by you
• Leadership style characterized by high standards, clear accountability, and strong execution
• Fast, data-driven decision-making with strong entrepreneurial judgment
• Excellent English and high international travel readiness, particularly to China and production partners
• Based in or near Hamburg, or willingness to work regularly on-site with the team

How We Work With You

When you apply through Get A Job.ai, our recruiting team will review your profile and conduct an initial screening call to understand your background and career goals. If there's a strong match, we will submit your candidacy to our client for consideration. Please do not contact the client organization directly—all communication and coordination will flow through our team to ensure the best experience for everyone involved.

Pay

Compensation for this executive-level role will be commensurate with experience and impact, including performance-based components. Specific details will be discussed during the screening process.

Get A Job.ai is an equal opportunity recruiter. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and are committed to building diverse talent pipelines for our clients.