Retail & Consumer Goods EMEA Leader

Databricks; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 250,000 - 420,000; Full time

Job summary

Databricks is seeking a Go-to-Market Leader for EMEA Retail & Consumer Goods to architect a category-defining strategy from the ground up. You will lead with founder-like initiative in a hyper-growth environment, building a durable operating model across regions and partners.

You will shape how Europe's largest retailers and consumer brands leverage Data and AI to transform operations, unlock revenue, and improve customer experiences, reporting to the Global VP of Consumer Industries.

Qualifications

• Experience leading vertical GTM programs in Retail or Consumer Goods.
• Comfort with ambiguity and rapid decision-making.
• Proven ability to translate technical capability into strategic business value.
• Ability to engage CXOs and senior leaders with credibility.
• Experience managing large-scale change initiatives in complex organizations.
• Deep familiarity with data & AI landscape and retail trends.
• Understanding GDPR and European regulatory considerations.
• End-to-end management of vertical initiatives with cross-functional teams.
• Proven ability to train and enable sales teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and execute GTM strategy for EMEA Retail & Consumer Goods.
• Establish C-level relationships with flagship accounts and build an ecosystem of partners.
• Identify high-value use cases and build scalable programs across regions.
• Develop scalable plays and revenue engines across geographies.
• Collaborate with marketing to create industry collateral and campaigns.
• Shape product direction and partner ecosystems, aligning with sales and pre-sales.

Skills

Senior leadership

GTM strategy

CXO engagement

Partnership development

Data & AI domain

Ambiguity tolerance

Job description

This is not a role for someone who wants to inherit a playbook. As the Go-to-Market Leader for EMEA Retail & Consumer Goods, you will architect and execute a category-defining strategy from the ground up. You'll operate with the mindset of a founder of a hyper-growth enterprise—a rare opportunity that demands entrepreneurial instincts, relentless drive, and the courage to build in ambiguity.

Databricks is scaling at extraordinary speed. Databricks is the market share leader in data + AI in Retail & Consumer Goods, and this vertical represents one of the most significant growth opportunities in our portfolio. We need a leader who thrives in white space, who sees undefined territory not as risk but as canvas. You will shape how EMEA’s largest retailers and consumer brands harness Data and AI to transform their operations, unlock new revenue streams, and reimagine customer experiences.

You will report to the Global VP of Consumer Industries, but your impact will extend across the entire organization—influencing product direction, shaping partner ecosystems, and setting the strategic agenda for one of our most consequential markets.

The impact you will have:

• Design and execute a go-to-market strategy that doesn't yet exist in its final form. You'll establish C-level relationships with flagship accounts, construct an ecosystem of ISVs, SIs, and alliance partners, and create repeatable motions that accelerate revenue growth across Retail, Consumer Goods, Restaurants, and Wholesale.
• Identify the highest-value use cases and industry-specific opportunities—demand forecasting, unified customer intelligence, supply chain optimization, real-time pricing—and build scalable programs that systematically convert these opportunities into revenue. You won't pursue targets one at a time; you'll construct the engines, assets, and activation frameworks that allow us to capture entire categories of opportunity across the region simultaneously.
• Identify, cultivate, and scale relationships with the partners who will amplify our reach. This isn't about managing existing relationships—it's about seeing what partnerships should exist and making them real.
• Use rigorous analysis to surface gaps, inefficiencies, and untapped opportunities within our go-to-market approach. Build the feedback loops and improvement mechanisms that compound our effectiveness over time.
• Create comprehensive, scalable sales initiatives tailored to EMEA’s diverse geographies while contributing frameworks that support Americas and APJ. You'll work cross-functionally to ensure these plays move from concept to revenue.
• Establish Databricks as the authoritative voice in Retail & Consumer Goods transformation. Author white papers, command stages at premier industry events, and engage C-suite executives with a point of view that shapes how the market thinks about Data and AI.
• Serve as a trusted advisor across product, sales, pre-sales, marketing, and partner teams. Your credibility will be earned through results, and your influence will extend far beyond your formal remit.
• Collaborate with marketing to develop industry-specific collateral, demand generation campaigns, and event strategies that resonate with sophisticated enterprise buyers.
• Build enablement content and coaching programs that elevate the entire verticalized sales organization—making others more effective is as important as your direct contributions.

What we look for:

• You've held senior leadership or practitioner roles in Retail or Consumer Goods. You understand the industry's challenges from the inside—but you're energized by building something new rather than optimizing what exists.
• You've operated in environments where the path wasn't paved. You're comfortable making decisions with incomplete information, moving quickly, and course-correcting based on market feedback. Ambiguity is where you do your best work.
• You have extensive experience constructing vertical go-to-market programs on technology platforms, working cross-functionally to deliver measurable revenue growth and customer value.
• You engage naturally with CXOs and senior business leaders. You create trust through substance, not just polish, and you know how to translate technical capability into strategic business value.
• You've led large-scale change initiatives and understand both the technical and human dimensions of enterprise transformation in complex organizations.
• You possess deep familiarity with the data and AI landscape, retail technology standards, and the broader ecosystem trends reshaping the industry.
• You understand the European regulatory environment—GDPR, Greenhouse Gas Compliance, food waste, sustainability reporting—and can navigate these considerations in strategic conversations.
• You've managed complex vertical initiatives end-to-end: gathering requirements, coordinating technical teams, driving marketing alignment, and managing partner relationships to hit milestones.
• You have proven ability to train and enable sales teams, making the entire organization more effective at positioning solutions to Retail & Consumer Goods customers.

Multilingual

Fluent in English with strong proficiency in French or German.

About Databricks

Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog.

Compliance

If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.