Director Data & AI Readiness (f/m/d)

About KoRo

KoRo isn't a food company that happens to have data. We're a data company that happens to sell delicious, better-for-you food. Our flywheel, which validates winners online, then scales them into retail in under six months, only spins because of the product and platform behind it: the storefront 2.5m+ customers shop, the systems that run our operations, and the data that ties it all together.

So far each of those layers has grown fast and somewhat separately. As we scale toward €500m+ net revenue and across new European markets, they need a single owner with a single vision — someone who runs the whole thing as one product, not a collection of projects and systems. That's you.

As VP Product & Engineering, you own KoRo's entire product and engineering org end-to-end. You lead a leadership team of Director Engineering, Director Data, and a Head of Digital Product, set the strategy, make the hard prioritization calls across competing domains, and are accountable for the outcomes the whole product delivers. You're a product leader first — one who also owns the engineering org that builds it.

What "Product" Means at KoRo

Product here is not just the shop. It is the full surface that customers and teams run on, and you own all of it:

• Customer-Facing D2C Experience: Discovery, storefront, checkout, account, subscription, retention. The interface millions of customers interact with daily.
• ERP & Operational Backbone: The core systems managing inventory, fulfillment, finance, and operations. Essential infrastructure that must function seamlessly as we scale and expand into new markets.
• Integrations: The connective tissue linking our systems with external partners, including retail, logistics, payments, and marketing tools. Complexity and leverage increase significantly with growth.
• Data & AI: The data platform, customer intelligence, and foundational elements that enhance the intelligence of our other systems. This asset transforms KoRo from a simple online shop into a sophisticated data company.

If you view "product" solely as the front-end experience, this role is not for you. If you are excited by the prospect of owning the storefront, ERP migration, integration layer, and data foundation as a single, cohesive system, we encourage you to continue reading.

What You'll Do

• Set Product Vision: Establish a unified product vision across the entire surface, creating a single prioritized roadmap that balances customer experience, operational systems, integrations, and data, while managing trade-offs.
• Drive Commercial Outcomes: Achieve key commercial KPIs such as conversion, Average Order Value (AOV), repeat purchase rate, and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) on the front end, alongside reliability, efficiency, and scalability on the back end. Directly link every layer to the Profit & Loss (P&L).
• Lead and Grow the Org: Manage a leadership team comprising a Director of Engineering, Director of Data, and Head of Product Management, along with their respective teams (product, engineering, platform, integrations, and data). Shape organizational structure, develop leaders, and elevate the standard of craft across all functions.
• Own Engineering Delivery: Through the Director of Engineering, be accountable for the quality, speed, architecture, reliability, and technical scalability of development across both front-end and operational backbone systems. Ensure product vision translates into tangible delivery.
• Excel in Operational Excellence: Champion the ERP and integration initiatives that, while less glamorous, are critical for scaling KoRo across markets without disruption.
• Foster Experimentation: Cultivate a robust experimentation culture, making rigorous testing and rapid validation the standard practice for the front end, aligning with KoRo's inherent test-and-learn DNA.
• Power the Flywheel: Enhance the systems and data infrastructure that enable rapid SKU launch, validation, and scaling, converting our speed advantage into a structural competitive edge.
• Scale Across Markets: Ensure the entire product surface is optimized for operation across our European footprint, addressing localization, performance, and the underlying operational and integration backbone.
• Bridge Business and Technology: Collaborate with marketing, commercial, operations, and finance teams, translating between the capabilities of your organization and the needs of the business, ensuring product, engineering, and data efforts are aligned toward common commercial goals.

Your Profile

What You Bring:

• Deep Product Leadership: Non-negotiable requirement for Director/VP-level product leadership experience, ideally within D2C, e-commerce, or marketplace environments in fast-scaling companies. This is the foundational requirement.
• Product-Led Engineering Ownership: Experience leading or closely partnering with engineering teams at a level of accountability for delivery, with the credibility to lead a Director of Engineering, while maintaining a primary focus on product strategy.
• Breadth Across the Product Surface: Proven experience owning or readiness to own operational/ERP systems, integrations, and data, in addition to customer-facing experiences.
• Commercial & Operational Track Record: Demonstrated success in owning products against challenging commercial KPIs (conversion, retention, revenue) and operational KPIs (reliability, scalability, efficiency), with a history of driving measurable improvements.
• Leadership & Team Management: Experience leading senior leaders and multi-disciplinary teams, possessing strong instincts for discovery, prioritization, and delivery.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Fluency in experimentation and data-informed decision-making, prioritizing evidence over opinion.
• Technical & Commercial Acumen: Sufficient technical depth to engage in detailed discussions with engineering on architecture and trade-offs across front-end and back-end systems, combined with strong commercial judgment.
• Pragmatic Mindset: A pragmatic, ship-and-learn approach aligned with our culture, coupled with the maturity to make difficult prioritization decisions and say "no".
• Language Skills: Fluent English is required; German proficiency is a plus.

What You Can Expect From Us

Why KoRo:

• Impactful Product: Influence a product with significant reach and depth, impacting millions of customers and the core systems used by every team.
• Direct Line to Impact: In our D2C-first model, the product is the business; your contributions directly and visibly move the numbers.
• Scale-Up Energy, Real Scale: Join a team of 350+ people operating in multiple European markets with aggressive growth plans and abundant future opportunities.
• Unique Work Culture: Experience our quirky, playful, quick, and down-to-earth work environment, characterized by high performance and transparency regarding both successes and failures.
• Standard Benefits: Enjoy hybrid flexibility, a well-stocked KoRo snack supply, and a team that genuinely enjoys collaborating.