Head of Product - Transport & Customs (all genders)

Role Zalando’s Transport Management System (First, Middle & Last Mile) and Customs infrastructure is the backbone of its European transportation network. The role leads the strategic evolution of Transport and Customs products, heading a multidisciplinary team of Principal Product Managers, Machine Learning Engineers, and Data Engineers. The mission is to redesign end‑to‑end process chains, drive product strategy through discovery, opportunity sizing, and advanced data/ML capabilities, focusing on next‑generation transport systems, central capacity exchanges, and customs service optimisation. Responsibilities - Directly manage and mentor Principal Product Managers and technical specialists (ML & Data Engineering); build a culture of excellence and shared ownership. - Translate fulfilment strategy into operational plans and system evolutions, leveraging ML and data‑driven capabilities to stabilise and scale TMS systems. - Evolve team structures and career paths; define deployment of Principal‑level talent and engineering resources. - Formulate a multi‑year product roadmap and ensure precise execution of mid‑ to long‑term features. - Collaborate with Operational teams, Network Planning, and Budgeting to achieve consensus on vision. - Make evidence‑based decisions using data insights and architectural proposals alongside principal architects. - Oversee creation of product artefacts such as roadmaps, “Working Backwards” press releases, requirements, and solution papers. - Plan resources and capacity, pitch phased execution plans and build business cases for additional resources. Qualifications - Proven track record as a product leader for large‑scale technical products, preferably in fulfilment or logistics. - Extensive people‑leadership experience managing senior stakeholders and high‑level individual contributors (Principal PMs, Data/ML engineers). - Strategic mindset with a focus on improving fulfilment experience for customers and partners. - Cross‑functional expertise across Product, Engineering, and Data Science; ability to bridge business needs and technical execution. - Experience delivering complex initiatives at scale, balancing agility with structured execution. - Excellent communication skills in English and ability to influence within a large matrixed organisation. What We Offer - 27 days holiday (increasing up to 30 days with tenure) plus 2 paid volunteering days. - Hybrid working model with up to 60 % remote work. - Opportunity to work abroad up to 30 days per year. - Employee share program and discounts on Zalando fashion and beauty products. - Relocation assistance (subject to agreement). - Family services, health and wellbeing options, mental health support and coaching. - Continuous development through training platform and bi‑annual peer‑to‑peer review.