Director, Local Shops

foodpanda is part of the Delivery Hero Group, the world’s pioneering local delivery platform, our mission is to deliver an amazing experience—fast, easy, and to your door. We operate in around 65 countries worldwide. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany. Delivery Hero has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 2017 and is part of the MDAX stock market index.

As the leader of our Local Shops vertical, you will own the end-to-end business across our three brands  (foodpanda, foodora and yemeksepeti) spanning Asia, Europe and Turkey. Local Shops is our partner-powered quick commerce business, where we bring the assortment of the region’s leading retailers to customers in minutes. You will set the strategy, own the commercial agenda with our retail partners, and be accountable for the operational quality that turns a partnership into a great customer experience. You will lead a regional team across commercial and operations, and work hand in hand with country teams to grow the vertical aggressively.  

Key Responsibilities:

• Own the vertical strategy and roadmap: define where we play (grocery today; health & beauty, DIY, pet and further verticals next), how we win, and the KPI framework and portfolio of initiatives to get there;
   
• Be accountable for the growth and unit economics of the vertical, steering performance through clear business reviews and disciplined prioritisation of resources;
   
• Develop and own senior relationships with our regional strategic retail partners: shaping joint business plans, commercial terms, assortment, pricing and monetisation;
   
• Guide country commercial teams in their sales agenda, account management, category management and monetisation topics, raising the bar on execution across all markets;
   
• Own operational excellence end to end: partner store execution (availability, picking quality, substitutions, stock accuracy), handover to riders, delivery performance, and the customer experience metrics that follow;
   
• Build the playbooks, tooling requirements and best practices that let every country execute consistently, acting as the bridge between regional strategy and local reality;
   
• Lead, structure and develop a regional team spanning commercial and operations, fostering collaboration, learning and high performance;
   
• Work cross-functionally with product, data, logistics, marketing and finance to co-create the solutions the vertical needs to scale;
   
• Provide senior management with regular updates on vertical performance, partner developments and market insights.

• 10+ years of professional experience, with at least 3–5 years leading a business unit, vertical or P&L in a senior role;
• Leadership experience across both commercial and operational teams, including direct management of managers and key accounts;
• Strong strategic thinking and project leadership skills, with the ability to translate frameworks into impactful local execution;
• Experience in B2B account management or joint business planning with large retailers or marketplaces;
• Proven track record of driving operational performance in a retail, e-commerce, logistics or on-demand environment;
• Excellent stakeholder management skills across different cultures, levels and functions;
• Highly analytical, data-driven, and comfortable making decisions based on insights;
• Hands-on mentality with the ability to operate both at strategic and operational levels;
• Outstanding communication and negotiation skills, with fluent English (other regional languages are a plus);
• Willingness to travel across the region as needed;
• Nice to Have:
  • Background in retail operations, supply chain or last-mile logistics;
  • Previous exposure to management consulting, strategic project management, or business development roles;
  • Familiarity with CRM tools (e.g. Salesforce) and data analytics platforms.