Full-Time
Department Manager
Rotating Shifts
Zalando
10,001+ employees
Online fashion retail marketplace and logistics
No salary listed
Lahr, Germany
In Person
Bachelor's
 Operations & Logistics (1) |
|---|
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- Completed a university degree or comparable vocational training.
- Several years of professional leadership experience, ideally including initial disciplinary leadership of more than 20 hourly employees.
- Knowledge of German labor law and the Works Constitution Act, with the ability to act independently within the legal framework.
- Availability to work rotating shifts five days per week between Monday and Saturday.
- Strong communication skills, team motivation, a confident presence, and assertiveness.
- Good understanding of logistics processes and the ability to implement suitable workflow-control measures across the logistics center.
- Ability to use operational metrics as controlling instruments, identify unused potential, and apply analytical skills to prevent operational losses and improve processes.
- Solid knowledge of occupational health and safety.
- Good rhetorical skills and the ability to communicate knowledge clearly and appropriately to colleagues' levels of understanding.
- German proficiency at C2 level and English proficiency at B2 level.
- Lead employees and team leaders functionally and disciplinarily, and support their personal development.
- Own all operational and personnel decisions within the department.
- Report key performance indicators to Operations Management and initiate effective countermeasures when deviations from targets are foreseeable.
- Use efficient control tools to meet productivity targets and prevent process errors and operational losses.
- Monitor implementation of health and safety standards and promote the on-site safety culture through personal example.
- Collaborate closely with Human Resources, Procurement, Facilities, Security, Finance, and Information Technology to ensure smooth operations across departments.
- Contribute ideas and positively support process changes to improve efficiency.
- Act as the department's point of contact and leader, creating a positive working environment.
- Use stakeholder management to engage internal and external partners and apply relevant expertise.
- Drive innovation and share future-oriented ideas with supervisors.
- Initial disciplinary leadership experience is described as ideal rather than strictly required.
Zalando runs a European online marketplace for fashion and lifestyle items, selling clothing, shoes, and accessories directly to customers and earning commissions from third-party sellers. It operates a website and app where buyers browse, purchase, and receive logistics support, with options like free delivery, free returns, and Zalando Plus for faster shipping and exclusive deals. The company differentiates itself through a large, diverse product range across 25 European markets, combining direct sales with a broad seller network and strong logistics, all guided by personalized recommendations. Its goal is to be a leading European online fashion retailer by linking customers with many brands and delivering a convenient shopping experience at scale.
Company Size
10,001+
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Berlin, Germany
Founded
2008
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Q2 2026 revenue rose 20.8% to €3.42 billion; GMV climbed 20.7%.
- Scayle Studios signed over 100 brands in ten weeks, including s.Oliver.
- Marks & Spencer launched across 22 markets, widening Zalando's partner marketplace reach.
What critics are saying
- Erfurt closes by September 2026, and 2,700 jobs face disruption across the network.
- BaFin found Zalando's 2025 report omitted About You related-party disclosure.
- Shein, Temu, and Amazon can strip margins until Zalando's fulfillment network stops paying back.
What makes Zalando unique
- Zalando combines B2C, B2B, and logistics through ZEOS, SCAYLE, and ABOUT YOU.
- Its 62.5 million active customers create unmatched European fashion data scale.
- AI features now power search, assistants, and partner content generation across both businesses.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Unlimited Paid Time Off
Flexible Work Hours
Remote Work Options
Paid Vacation
Hybrid Work Options
Company Equity
Professional Development Budget
Visa Support
Wellness Program
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↓ -1%1 year growth
↓ -1%2 year growth
↓ -1%Why Zalando is treating data with the same precision as software. August 18, 2026 In the modern enterprise tech stack, data is the active engine driving real-time decisions, generative AI, and hyper-personalized customer experiences. But, while application reliability standards have matured over decades, data reliability often remains a wild frontier. At the previous edition of the Data 2030 Summit, Daniela Kato, Data Management and Governance Lead at Zalando, delivered a compelling look on how Europe's leading online fashion platform is embedding Data Service Level Objectives (SLOs) directly into their operational process. Data incidents carry a heavy price tag. Zalando operates at a massive scale: over €15 billion in revenue, 50 million active customers in Europe, and a federated tech workforce where 10% of all employees (2,000+ engineers, analysts, and data scientists) directly build and consume data products. However, Kato shared a look into the true cost of data unreliability: * The Detection Gap: While application outages are caught in minutes, data incidents took an average of 12 to 13 days to detect. * The Resolution Delay: Restoring application services takes hours; repairing complex, upstream data pipelines often takes days of deep root-cause analysis. * The Financial Impact: Undetected data failures resulted in double-digit millions of euros in lost revenue in a single year, impacting more than 50 teams. For an e-commerce powerhouse driving cutting-edge features like the Zalando Fashion Assistant (powered by GenAI) and hyper-personalized search ranking, bad or delayed data isn't just an IT nuisance but also a direct business risk. Applying DevOps practices to data (DataOps). To mitigate operational risk, Zalando is bringing core DevOps principles like automated testing, continuous monitoring, and infrastructure-as-code, into the data realm. However, this talk emphasized a critical baseline lesson: there cannot be implementation of Data SLOs over chaos. Advertisement - [email protected] Before introducing SLOs, organizations can build a solid governance foundation: * Clear Data Inventories: Knowing exactly what data assets exist. * Explicit Ownership: Eliminating ambiguity around who builds and maintains data sets. * Consumer Awareness: Mapping downstream data lineages to understand where unreliability will hit hardest. Once this foundation is active, Data SLOs serve as the contract between producers and consumers. Zalando structures these around three core layers: * Data Set SLOs: Focusing on dimensions like freshness, completeness, validity, and accuracy (e.g., ensuring a machine learning search-ranking data set is 99% available by 5:00 AM with strict error budgets). * Data Pipeline SLOs: Measuring job completion times across multi-product pipelines. * Event-Based SLOs: Guaranteeing low latency and high availability for real-time stream processing. Governance with teeth: the tiering framework and human process. Not all data is created equal. To avoid operational burnout, Zalando mandates a tiered policy: * Tier 1 (Mission-Critical): Mandatory SLOs with formal error budgets and governance enforcement. * Tier 2 (Important): Opt-out model (teams must formally justify not having SLOs). * Tier 3 (Exploratory/Local): Opt-in model. Crucially, Zalando recognized that software monitoring tools alone aren't enough and the human process is key. Zalando elevated data to a first-class citizen by integrating Data SLO performance directly into their existing weekly operational review meetings, analyzing application and data reliability under the exact same lens. Unlock the full strategy at Data 2030 Summit. Daniela Kato's presentation provides a rare, transparent look inside one of Europe's largest tech success stories, detailing their exact 3-stage implementation methodology, mathematical error budget calculations, pilot outcomes, and lessons learned on tool limitations. Ready to transform your enterprise data practices? Don't miss the opportunity to join world-class data leaders, DataOps pioneers, and AI strategists in person. Reserve your seat for the upcoming edition of the Data 2030 Summit in Stockholm to gain actionable frameworks, network with industry peers, and drive operational excellence across your organization. Published August 18, 2026 August 21, 2026 August 20, 2026 August 19, 2026
Former Zalando executive Carlo Alberto Cingolani moves to Puma. Automated translation Read the original in German Carlo Alberto Cingolani is taking on the role of global director for commercial go-to-market at Puma. Cingolani joined the Herzogenaurach-based sportswear company last week, he announced on the professional network Linkedin on Saturday. He joins from the Berlin-based online retailer Zalando, where he worked for more than 11 and a half years. He joined Zalando in January 2015 as a kids & accessories private label merchandiser. He has since held various merchandising positions within the company. Most recently, he led the sports division as head of merchandising from April 2020. The appointment at Puma follows the sportswear company's hiring of two new executives last month: Dusan Hamlin as vice president of e-commerce and Marcia Dos Santos as vice president of BU core. Carlo Alberto Cingolani
Zalando trims FY26 outlook despite strong Q2 revenue growth. GMV for the three months to 30 June 2026 rose 20.7% on a reported basis to €4.91bn while net income declined to €73.8m from €96.6m a year earlier. German online fashion retailer Zalando reported second-quarter group revenue of €3.42bn ($3.94bn), a 20.8% increase, while narrowing its full-year guidance. Gross merchandise volume (GMV) for the three months to 30 June 2026 rose 20.7% on a reported basis to €4.91bn while net income declined to €73.8m from €96.6m a year earlier. Group adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) reached €204.8m, up 10% on the same period last year. Synergies from the About You acquisition contributed more than €10m to adjusted EBIT, the company said. The 6% group margin reflects the consolidation of About You while Zalando's standalone margin rose to 6.6%. GMV grew across all three of Zalando's consumer apps - Zalando, About You and Lounge by Zalando - within the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment, with the company pointing to strength in sports and beauty. B2C revenue rose to €3.09bn from €2.57bn in the prior-year period. The retailer's active customer base grew 18.3% to 62.5 million, a rise attributed to the About You consolidation together with organic growth. Revenue in the business-to-business (B2B) segment climbed 27.6% on a reported basis to €334.7m, which Zalando attributed to scale efficiencies at Zeos Fulfilment and stronger-margin revenue from its Scayle software unit. The company's partnership with Marks & Spencer has gone live across 22 markets, and its collaboration with Next has been widened to include About You's marketplace. Zalando narrowed its full-year 2026 guidance, with GMV and revenue growth now expected in the lower half of the previously communicated 12% to 17% range, in line with market expectations. Full-year adjusted EBIT guidance was revised to a range of €680m to €720m, from the earlier €660m to €740m band. The company said its assessment of second-half trading dynamics remains unchanged, describing the narrower guidance as a reflection of first-half results already delivered rather than a change in outlook for the rest of the year. Zalando co-CEO Robert Gentz said: "Its fast-scaling AI capabilities are already delivering measurable benefits in driving both growth and efficiency across B2C and B2B. "Innovations like our AI-powered Scayle Studios and the upgraded Zalando Assistant are fundamentally transforming how our partners operate and how our customers discover fashion." Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) concluded a review last month into Zalando's 2025 annual report, finding that the company's approved consolidated financial statements contained errors. The regulator did not impose a fine, with the review conducted under the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG). BaFin found that the notes to Zalando's consolidated accounts had not disclosed the retailer's acquisition of shares in About You from a related party during the 2025 financial year.
Zalando reported Q2 2026 results showing growth in its B2B division offsetting challenges in consumer-facing segments. Group revenue grew 1.1% to EUR4.9 billion, whilst adjusted EBIT reached EUR205 million, up 10% year-on-year, though the margin fell 0.5 percentage points to 6%. The B2B segment demonstrated strong momentum, with revenue rising 27.6% to EUR335 million and adjusted EBIT more than tripling to EUR41 million. The B2B margin expanded significantly to 12.2% from 4.3% the previous year. The B2C division faced headwinds, with revenue declining 0.6% on a pro forma basis to EUR3.1 billion and adjusted EBIT falling to EUR164.1 million from EUR173.7 million. Active customers reached 62.5 million, up 18.3%. Zalando narrowed its full-year adjusted EBIT guidance to EUR680-720 million. The company ended the quarter with EUR1.4 billion in cash and generated EUR418 million in free cash flow.
Zalando lowers guidance despite Q2 earnings rise. European fashion platform narrows earnings forecast to lower end of range as market conditions soften Quick Poll Which retail sector best fits your business? One click - no sign-up All data is anonymised. Polling helps Retail Sector better understand the Retail Sector audience and tailor its editorial. Latest Podcast Episode In this conversation, Retail Sector get past the headline hype around AI to look at how algorithms actually work on the shop floor and online. Retail Sector cover how to respond when consumers use tools like ChatGPT to comparison-shop, why up to two-thirds of promotions end up driving losses, and how AI helps merchants maintain price consistency across websites, apps, and physical stores without missing out on localised margin wins. Zalando has lowered its full-year growth outlook to the bottom half of expectations, despite seeing adjusted earnings rise by 10% to €205m (£176m) in Q2. The retailer now expects full-year gross merchandise volume and revenue growth in the lower half of its previous 12% to 17% forecast, and has narrowed its adjusted earnings guidance to between €680m (£585m) and €720m (£619m), down from €660m (£568m) to €740m (£636m). The cautious outlook came despite group gross merchandise volume rising 20.7% to €4.9bn (£4.2bn) during the second quarter. Earnings were boosted by AI tools and synergies exceeding €10m (£8.6m) from last year's acquisition of rival retailer About You. Including About You, group margin reached 6.0%, while Zalando's stand-alone margin improved to 6.6%. Growth was supported by the launch of Scayle Studios, an AI content generator within the company's B2B division that signed over 100 brands in 10 weeks, including s.Oliver Group, Betty Barclay Group, and Goldner Fashion. Robert Gentz, chief executive of Zalando, said: "Our fast-scaling AI capabilities are already delivering measurable benefits in driving both growth and efficiency across B2C and B2B. Innovations like our AI-powered SCAYLE STUDIOS and the upgraded Zalando Assistant are fundamentally transforming how our partners operate and how our customers discover fashion." Anna Dimitrova, chief financial officer of Zalando, added: "The resilience of our profitability reflects the quality and mix of our earnings, including the shift toward our higher-margin partner business and retail media, B2B scaling, and disciplined cost management supported by AI. Our focus is - as always - executing our strategy, investing in the immense opportunities ahead, and delivering a strong, high-quality financial performance in 2026." Published: 2m ago