Chief Marketing Officer — Last-Mile Delivery Platform

The mandate

A last-mile delivery platform derives too much volume from a small number of merchants whose peak calendars, discount expectations and route profiles shape the entire network. Growth marketing has added accounts, but several create sparse stops or costly service exceptions. With the incumbent CMO moving on through planned succession, the board wants a marketer who can reduce concentration without buying uneconomic parcels.

Approximately 1,075 employees and material partners span delivery operations, network planning, customer success, sales, product, pricing, data, brand and external capacity across Hamburg and the wider region. The CMO owns market intelligence, segmentation, proposition, brand, acquisition, lifecycle marketing and customer insight, reporting to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive-committee sponsor.

The portfolio strategy starts with route economics. Attractive segments must be assessed by origin profile, stop density, parcel characteristics, returns, service window, seasonality and support demand. Marketing will work with operations and finance to understand where incremental volume strengthens a route and where it creates a new, unprofitable obligation.

Segmentation will be behavioural rather than cosmetic. Large marketplaces, specialist retailers, subscription brands, local commerce and regulated categories buy different certainty. The CMO will define needs and buying triggers using observed shipping patterns and decision evidence, avoiding broad labels that conceal operational incompatibility.

The proposition must be specific enough to keep. Delivery precision, flexible redirection, low-emission options, returns and branded recipient communication all carry cost and dependency. Marketing cannot promise universal convenience while network design assumes standard delivery. Each claim will have an operational owner, measurable condition and approved exception policy.

Customer concentration will be measured by more than revenue. Volume by depot, peak-week reliance, receivables, data integration, specialist equipment and route dependence all matter. A merchant can appear modest at group level yet dominate a local operation. The CMO will give the executive team a portfolio view of commercial and network exposure.

Acquisition economics require full cohort measurement. Media, sales support, onboarding, integration, service credits, failed deliveries and early churn should sit against contribution, not gross parcel revenue. Campaign teams will be rewarded for retained, service-compatible volume. Promotional parcels that disappear before a route becomes productive are not proof of product–market fit.

Account-based marketing will support priority verticals. Content, events and executive engagement should address merchant outcomes such as basket conversion, recipient trust, return cycle and sustainability evidence. Generic claims about speed will be replaced with proof drawn from comparable operating profiles, with customer permission and statistical honesty.

Brand activity must reconcile merchant and recipient experience. The platform may be selected by a retailer but judged at a doorstep. Complaint themes, delivery preferences and accessibility needs will inform proposition and communication. Marketing will not mask persistent execution defects with reassurance campaigns; recurrent failure must move into operational governance.

Data use requires restraint. Recipient information, tracking behaviour and merchant performance carry privacy and contractual obligations. Consent, purpose, retention and partner access will be designed into lifecycle programmes. Personalisation that customers did not reasonably expect is not a growth advantage.

Sales and marketing boundaries will be reset around one funnel. Target-account rationale, qualified demand, proposal support, win-loss learning and onboarding promises need common ownership. The CMO will challenge strategic exceptions before signature and ensure lost opportunities produce insight rather than anecdote.

Geographic expansion will follow density and partner readiness. A city launch needs merchant anchors, delivery capacity, service-control capability and a route to economical scale. Marketing will not announce coverage ahead of operating evidence. Local propositions may vary, but brand standards and claim substantiation remain consistent.

The successor will inherit a capable team whose work has been organised around major accounts. Roles, agency spend and analytical capacity must shift towards portfolio creation. Existing customer relationships will be transitioned carefully; diversification is not permission to neglect the merchants funding today's network.

What you will own

• Density-aware market and segment strategy.
• Customer-concentration intelligence and portfolio choices.
• Merchant and recipient value propositions.
• Brand claims and service-proof governance.
• Acquisition, lifecycle and cohort economics.
• Account-based and vertical marketing.
• Privacy-responsible customer insight.
• Marketing organisation, agencies and succession.

The first 12 months

Within 45 days, map concentration by network dependency, review proposition claims against actual service and stop spend on sources producing persistently negative cohorts. Complete an orderly handover of key merchants, agencies and brand commitments.

By month six, launch three priority segment propositions with operations-approved service conditions, a common commercial funnel and cohort contribution reporting. Establish recipient insight and privacy controls for lifecycle activity.

At twelve months, reduce the largest customer's share of platform volume by eight percentage points while adding EUR 120 million of annualised revenue at target contribution. New cohorts should retain 85% of forecast volume after six months, acquisition payback should improve 25%, and no material service claim should remain unsubstantiated.

What the sponsor will examine

• Segment attraction informed by actual route economics.
• Concentration assessed at network and dependency level.
• Marketing promises accepted by operational owners.
• Acquisition judged on retained contribution.
• Recipient experience influencing merchant proposition.
• Existing major accounts protected during diversification.

The person

You bring 22–28 years in B2B or platform marketing across parcel, e-commerce logistics, mobility or another network business. Your record includes CMO authority, portfolio diversification, proposition design, acquisition economics, privacy-sensitive insight and brand stewardship across European markets.

Candidates must show a growth source they stopped because demand damaged network economics, and a segment proposition that produced both customer diversification and retained contribution. The permanent position is hybrid in Hamburg, with regular operating-site and merchant engagement.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is EUR 285,000–390,000 plus annual incentive and long-term participation linked to diversified contribution, merchant retention, proposition integrity, acquisition efficiency and team succession. The permanent hybrid Hamburg CMO reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive-committee sponsor. Planned replacement includes a managed customer and brand transition.

Confidentiality

The platform, merchants, recipient research, route economics, acquisition performance, commercial terms and succession plans remain confidential. Further material follows conflicts, eligibility and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not approach parcel networks, retailers, agencies or technology partners to determine which business is recruiting.