Market Lead (Shanghai/ Beijing Based)

Overview

Our client is a premium European dairy business backed by a large, farmer-owned food group with strong international brands and proven category expertise. They bring category leadership, global brand strength, and proven international execution to support this build-out in China. This role drives high-intensity execution across distributors and channels, with a clear e-commerce priority, ensuring retail activation stays aligned, performance is rigorously tracked, and scalable market foundations are built with disciplined follow-through.

What you'll do

Responsible for driving strong e-commerce-led commercial execution and building a scalable market platform for China market

Drive day-to-day commercial execution with appointed distributors across retail and e-commerce.

Ensure strong sales fundamentals, including distribution, listings, quality of presence, and execution discipline.

Identify execution gaps, drive corrective actions, and build distributor capability through clear priorities and follow-up.

Lead and coordinate e-commerce execution, including campaigns, content quality, and platform optimisation.

Track performance and ROI using key KPIs, and share learnings and best practices with APAC and HQ teams.

Provide market insight through store and platform checks, structured reporting, and timely risk escalation.

What you'll need

Minimum 8 years’ experience in FMCG, with a primarily commercial and sales-led background

A strong execution mindset and a hands-on, get-things-done approach

Demonstrated experience managing distributors in China, with clear accountability and follow-through

Chinese national, with fluent business-level English

Comfortable working with international HQ stakeholders and within regional governance processes

Strong knowledge of China’s retail and e-commerce ecosystem, including agency management, ROI tracking, and performance metrics

Experience in dairy and or chilled food categories

Experience working with European or international brands

Strong brand sense, with the ability to translate brand strategy into high-quality in-market execution

Excellent negotiation and stakeholder management skills