Senior Category Lead, Contemporary Art

Catawiki; Amsterdam; Hybrid; EUR 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Catawiki is seeking a Senior Category Lead for Art – Primary Market in Amsterdam. You will bring structure to the team, translate priorities into actionable plans, and drive cross-functional improvements to enhance buyer and seller experiences.

You’ll coordinate with Sales, Marketing, and other teams, ensuring ownership and accountability while growing the category through data-driven decisions.

Qualifications

• Proven track record of creating structure, setting priorities, and ensuring reliable execution in a category, sales, or commercial team.
• Experience in team leadership and coaching.
• Strong ownership and accountability with clear goals.
• Organised project delivery across cross-functional work.
• Analytical judgment using data and market insights.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; adaptable to stakeholders.
• Genuine interest in contemporary art and the primary art market.

Responsibilities

• Create a clear operating rhythm: turn category priorities into plans with owners, milestones and follow-up.
• Improve day-to-day operations: clarify workflows, spot bottlenecks, resolve blockers.
• Build team ownership and accountability: set goals and coach for outcomes.
• Strengthen engagement and development: conduct regular 1:1s and give feedback.
• Use performance insights to guide action: monitor results and coordinate with teams.
• Translate strategy into delivery: coordinate cross-functional initiatives from planning to review.
• Identify category growth opportunities: spot market insights and turn into initiatives.

Skills

Operational leadership

Team leadership

Ownership & accountability

Organised project delivery

Analytical judgment

Clear communication

Interest in contemporary art

Job description

At Catawiki, every day brings the extraordinary! Whether it’s Daniel Ricciardo’s Formula 1 Car , a Woolly Mammoth’s Skeleton , Lady Gaga's Jumpsuit or Usain Bolt’s running shoe , we encounter exceptional objects every day.

We’re a one-of-a-kind marketplace for buying and selling special objects. Each week, more than 100,000 unique items are auctioned, all carefully curated by our passionate in-house experts.

Having sold over 25 million unique objects, our mission is to become the world’s most popular destination for special objects. As a growing, diverse and sustainable scale‑up, we proudly live by three core values. If these values resonate with you, we’d love to explore how you can join us.

• Taking ownership and driving impact
• Being open to change and feedback
• Being passionate about our mission and our customers.

About the role

Special objects are the final frontier of e-commerce. As Senior Category Lead for Art – Primary Market, you’ll bring structure and consistency to the team’s day-to-day work. You’ll turn priorities into clear plans, strengthen how work moves across the team, and help each person take ownership of outcomes. Alongside this operational focus, you’ll support the Senior Category Manager in translating the category vision into practical initiatives that improve the experience for buyers and sellers.

You’ll create an engaged team culture built on trust, clear expectations, and accountability, helping people build on their strengths and grow in their roles.

You’ll also coordinate with Sales, Marketing, and other relevant teams to deliver cross-functional improvements and keep the category’s priorities moving.

What you’ll do

• Create a clear operating rhythm: Turn category priorities into practical plans with clear owners, milestones, and regular follow-up so work moves forward reliably.
• Improve day-to-day operations: Clarify workflows and handovers, spot bottlenecks early, and help the team resolve blockers.
• Build team ownership and accountability: Set clear goals and expectations, coach team members to take responsibility for their work, and help them use their strengths.
• Strengthen engagement and development: Hold regular 1:1s, give timely feedback, and support each person’s growth in partnership with the Senior Category Manager.
• Use performance insights to guide action: Monitor category results, identify risks and opportunities, and coordinate focused actions with relevant teams.
• Translate strategy into delivery: Support the Senior Category Manager’s vision by coordinating cross-functional initiatives from planning through execution and review.
• Identify category growth opportunities: Use market and performance insight to spot where the category can grow, then work with relevant teams to turn promising opportunities into practical initiatives.

What you’ll bring

• Operational leadership: You have a strong track record of creating structure, setting priorities, and ensuring reliable execution in a category, sales, or commercial team.
• Team leadership and coaching: You help colleagues perform at their best through clear goals, regular feedback, coaching, and support.
• Ownership and accountability: You set clear expectations, follow through on commitments, and encourage others to take responsibility for outcomes.
• Organised project delivery: You coordinate cross-functional work, manage dependencies and timelines, and keep stakeholders aligned.
• Analytical judgment: You use data and customer or market insight to identify issues, set priorities, and evaluate results.
• Clear, constructive communication: You build trust, share context, give direct feedback, and adapt your communication to different stakeholders.
• Interest in contemporary art: You bring a genuine interest in contemporary art and the primary art market.

How we work in the Art Team

• We’re a supportive, friendly Art team that works together to tackle ambitious growth challenges.
• You’ll work across Art – Primary Market , supporting the Direct from the Artist and Photography categories with clear day-to-day priorities and coordinated delivery.
• You’ll collaborate with Sales, Marketing, HR, and relevant partner teams , agreeing owners and next steps so decisions turn into action.
• You’ll report to the Senior Category Manager in Art – Primary Market and take part in the Art cluster’s management discussions, sharing updates, aligning on priorities, and raising blockers early.

Where you'll be

Preferably this role is hybrid, based in Amsterdam. You’ll work from our Amsterdam HQ at least two days per week.

Why You'll Love Working with Us

• Create a visible impact by working at scale in a global organisation serving millions of customers across 80+ categories. In our flat structure, every role has a broad scope and directly impacts both our customers and the business.
• Learn and grow through our Learning & Development initiatives, including clear development plans and mentorship