Purpose of the position
The Regional Business Director is responsible for driving growth and profitability across several key European markets (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) in a pure-play-e-commerce / digital retail environment.
He/she owns the full P&L up to contribution margin (including revenue, COGS, marketing, operational levers impacting contribution margin and delivery costs) and arbitrates the main commercial levers (pricing, promotion intensity, assortment activation, marketing focus, channels) within the annual guardrails defined collectively and validated with the CEO/CFO during the budget cycle.
Solid, hands-on experience in e-commerce (online retail) is a strict requirement for this role;
The position can be performed remotely from Belgium, the Netherlands or France, with regular travel to the company’s headquarters in Liège (Belgium).
1. Main responsibilities
1.1 Business & Market Performance
· Defines and executes, for each country, a business strategy (by segment/channel) for our e-commerce activities to reach sales, margin and contribution targets, using the full set of levers: pricing, promotions, assortment activation, marketing, UX, channels and operational parameters impacting contribution margin.
· Builds and monitors contribution margin with Finance. Own budget vs actuals and trigger corrective actions when off-track.
· Identifies growth opportunities and translate them into action plans.
· Drives market share and margin growth through an optimized assortment, pricing and marketing mix aligned with country priorities.
· Acts as P&L owner within the defined guardrails.
· Decides where to invest (promo, marketing, assortment depth, pricing moves, operational parameters) and where to cut when needed.
1.2 Pricing, Promotion & margin
* During the budget cycle, defines with the CEO/CFO and aligns with central functions:
o target price positioning by country and key categories,
o promotion guardrails,
o expected margin structure (by country/category).
* During the year, for BeNeLux, decides:
o which categories require more aggressive pricing or promotions,
o where to protect margin even at the cost of some volume,
o when to stop or reduce value-destructive promotions.
* Approves major pricing and promotion plans that have significant P&L impact (campaigns, repositioning on key categories), while delegating technical implementation (rules in tools, detailed ladders, promo mechanics) to central and country expert teams.
* When structural changes are needed beyond the annual frame (e.g. change in country price strategy, major evolution in promo policy), escalates to validate the adjustment at strategic level with the CEO, with input from Finance and central teams as needed.
1.3 Assortment & Category Performance
* Translates the group assortment strategy defined by the CPO into concrete activation choices per country:
o which categories and brands to push,
o which products to actively promote vs simply list,
o which products to reduce or phase out locally when they destroy value, including operational considerations impacting contribution margin.
* Ensures that assortment choices remain within the group master catalogue and entry/exit rules, while reflecting local regulation, health practices and consumer habits and country-specific business priorities.
* Uses data and recommendations from the Head of Yield Management & Category Performance and Country Pricing & Category Performance Experts to:
o identify assortment gaps vs demand and competition,
o challenge long tail / under-performing segments,
o arbitrate between assortment breadth, complexity and margin, with Pricing & Category teams acting as analytical support
* Recommends additions or changes to the CPO based on country business needs and validated local business cases (search data, customer feedback, competitor benchmark, sales potential).
1.4 Customer, Marketing & Growth
* With the Chief Ecommerce Officer, adapts the group commercial calendar (campaigns, key moments, promo mechanics) to BeNeLux realities:
o selection of products and categories,
o local storytelling and messaging in line with country business priorities.
* Arbitrages marketing investments (acquisition, CRM, loyalty, promotional budget) by country to maximise customer lifetime value and profitability, within the annual budget defined with the CEO and aligned with Marketing and Finance..
* Ensures that price image, brand positioning and promo pressure are coherent and aligned with the company’s long-term strategy and adapted to local competitive context.
* Uses customer, market and competitive insights to refine country strategies and ensure central plans remain relevant to local market realities.
1.5 Cross-functional leadership & regional operating model
* Provides clear business priorities to central teams (Pricing & Category, Marketing, Purchasing, Operations, Finance, Data) for the BeNeLux region and ensure they are reflected in central plans and roadmaps.
* Leads and challenges the Head of Yield Management & Category Performance and Country Pricing & Category Performance Experts on:
o quality and usefulness of analyses,
o realism of scenarios,
o speed and reliability of execution.
* Animates BeNeLux markets through regular business rituals (monthly/quarterly performance reviews, action plans, follow-up on execution) with clear accountability on country performance.
* Contributes actively to designing core commercial processes (pricing, promotion planning, assortment activation, performance reviews, reporting) by representing country business to build a scalable, multi-country operating model,
* Acts as a strong functional leader: align stakeholders, make decisions and ensure effective cross-functional execution.
1.6 Budget & performance steering
* Builds and follows up on annual budgets with Finance (revenue, margin, marketing and promo budgets, key cost drivers), ensuring alignment with country business strategy.
* Monitors, per country, key indicators: sales, gross margin, contribution, price index vs competition, promo uplift, CAC, marketing ROI, mix, out-of-stock, category profitability, operational and logistics performance drivers.
* Uses standardised dashboards from Pricing & Category, BI and Finance to challenge teams and drives corrective action plans and strategic adjustments, with owners and deadlines.
* Consolidates regional performance and communicates regularly to the CEO with clear recommendations and required decisions.
1.7 Markets & external relationships
* Maintains strong business alignment with key partners and suppliers to support growth and margin objectives in BeNeLux representing country business priorities in joint discussions.
* Ensures coherence between local needs and central purchasing and marketing strategies; escalates misalignments with data and proposed solutions to secure both local competitiveness and group objectives.
* Manages, with Purchasing and Pricing & Category teams, sensitive discussions with laboratories and strategic brands on price and promotions, ensuring coherent business positioning for each country.
2. Expected results
* Achievement of sales, contribution and market share targets per country.
* Sustainable improvement of contribution margin through better use of pricing, mix, assortment and country-relevant operational levers.
* Reduction of value-destructive promotions and structurally under-marged categories, with explicit and trade-offs between growth, margin and price image.
* Improved coordination and accountability across central teams and countries with clear ownership of country performance.
* More efficient and standardised commercial processes across BeNeLux, enabling scale while reflecting local business needs.
* Measurable growth of customer lifetime value and marketing ROI in line with country strategies.
3. Education and experience
· Master’s degree in Business, Economics, or Marketing.
· 8–12 years of experience with a minimum of 5 years in a e-commerce (online retail) in a multi-country environment.
· Proven experience owning and managing a commercial P&L for a e-commerce.
· Significant exposure to pricing & promotion management and assortment/category performance topics in an online context (traffic, conversion, AOV, price index, promo ROI, online merchandising).
· Strong analytical and financial acumen.
· Fluent in French and English
· Experience in a matrix organisation with central roles is a strong plus.
4. Skills and competencies
· Strategic and analytical mindset with strong business sense.
· Ability to arbitrate quickly between volume, margin and price image with incomplete data and under fast-moving online competitive pressure.
· Excellent communication and influencing skills; able to challenge both group and local teams using facts and e-commerce performance data (traffic, conversion, CAC, CLV, price index, promo effectiveness)..
· Proven ability to turn data and scenarios into clear decisions and action plans.
· Entrepreneurial, pragmatic, execution-oriented.
· Capable of translating business needs into scalable processes and frameworks.
· Comfortable leading without hierarchical authority and getting things done through others.