Franchise Governance & Standards Manager

Emma-the-Sleep-Company; Lisboa; On-site; EUR 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pet-friendly office

Discounts on Emma products

Health insurance (dental included)

24 vacation days

Multicultural international team

Team events

Job summary

Emma – The Sleep Company is seeking a pragmatic professional to own standards, SOPs and playbooks across our multi-market franchise operations. You will translate brand expectations into clear rules and govern the cycle from draft to published manual, collaborating with Sales, Ops, Legal and Tech.

You’ll design audits, set governance, and ensure training and rollout reach franchisees. Fluency in English is essential, plus a bias for hands-on delivery, ambiguity tolerance and continuous

Qualifications

• At least 4–5 years of experience owning standards, SOPs or playbooks in franchise, retail or multi-site operations.
• Working knowledge of franchise agreements and compliance, comfortable collaborating with Legal.
• Experience setting up governance: approval flows, document control and review cycles.
• Structured, plain-language writing style that translates complex processes into clear rules.
• Strong ability to influence across Sales, Ops, Legal, Training and Tech without formal authority.
• Hands-on: ship a first version, learn from the field, and own it until published and used.
• Comfort with ambiguity and building as you go.
• Fluent English.
• Plus: audit/quality-framework experience, tool/platform evaluation, and additional European languages.

Responsibilities

• Own the franchise operations manual and the sales playbook from draft to published version.
• Translate brand, visual merchandising, service and product expectations into clear rules for store teams.
• Test standards on real shopfloor with Sales Excellence and Ops Readiness.
• Align standards with Legal and Compliance and ensure consistency in franchise agreements and manuals.
• Design the audit and compliance framework and handle repeated gaps.
• Set up internal governance: ownership, approvals, and sign-offs for changes.
• Manage the update cycle with formal reviews after launches and field learnings.
• Define how updates reach franchisees: changes, timing, channels and training.
• Gather feedback from franchisees and field teams and turn it into updated standards.
• Evaluate platforms to host the manual and lead rollout with Tech.
• Maintain a single source of truth used by Sales, Ops, Legal and Tech.

Skills

Standards ownership

SOP development

Franchise ops

Retail ops

Influencing

Tools

Governance tools

Job description

Ready to lead, disrupt and reinvent the sleep industry?

We are Emma – The Sleep Company. Founded in 2015, we have grown into the world’s largest direct-to-consumer (D2C) sleep brand, with a presence in over 20 markets and more than 35 Emma stores across Europe.

Our mission is simple: to develop sleep comfort products that empower our customers to awaken their best every day. Today, our products are trusted by millions and recommended by leading consumer associations worldwide.

It’sour people who bring this mission to life. At Emma,you’lljoin a driven, international team that values ownership, collaboration, and continuous knowledge sharing. With colleagues from over 70 nationalities, we combine diverse perspectives with a shared ambition to learn, grow, and create lasting impact, together.

Ready to awaken your best with us?

What you’ll do:

• Own the franchise operations manual and the sales playbook, from first draft to published version.
• Turn brand, visual merchandising, service and product expectations into clear rules a store team can apply on day one.
• Work with Sales Excellence and Ops Readiness to test every standard on a real shopfloor before it goes out.
• Align each standard with Legal and Compliance, including local franchise requirements in each market, and make sure the franchise agreement and the operations manual say the same thing.
• Design the audit and compliance framework, including how we handle repeated gaps.
• Set up internal governance: who owns a standard, who approves it and who signs off changes.
• Run the update cycle, including a formal review after each launch cycle based on what we learn in the field.
• Own how standards and updates reach franchisees: what changes, when, through which channel and with what training.
• Collect feedback from franchisees and field teams and turn it into updated standards.
• Evaluate and recommend platforms to host the manual and communicate with franchisees, and lead the rollout with Tech.
• Keep one source of truth that Sales, Ops, Legal and Tech all work from.

Who we’re looking for:

• At least 4 to 5 years of experience owning standards, SOPs or playbooks in franchise, retail or multi-site operations, ideally taking something from first version to a system that works end to end.
• Working knowledge of franchise agreements and compliance, and comfortable working closely with Legal.
• Experience setting up governance: approval flows, document control and review cycles.
• A structured, plain-language writing style. You can turn a complex process into rules people actually follow.
• Strong at influencing without authority across Sales, Ops, Legal, Training and Tech.
• Pragmatic and hands-on: you ship a first version, learn from the field and improve it, and you keep ownership until it’s published and in use.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and with building as you go.
• Fluent English.
• A plus: audit or quality-framework experience, experience evaluating tools or platforms, and additional European languages.

What we offer:

• The chance to shape the franchise knowledge base for Europe, with real ownership of the result.
• Pet-friendly office environment.
• Discounts on our products.
• Health insurance, including dental.
• 24 vacation days.
• A multicultural and international work environment.
• Company events that are actually enjoyable and build meaningful connections.
• Ownership, trust, and support from day one to grow your career.

Become an Emmie

We are on a mission to become No.1 in the world of sleep, and we’re looking for driven, ambitious people to help us shape what’s next. If you’re curious, hands‑on, and ready to challenge the status quo, you’ll find the space here to make things happen and create real impact.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and are committed to building an inclusive workplace. We celebrate diversity and consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, ethnic origin, religion or belief, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or age.

Our aim is to get back to you within a few days. Due to the high volume of applications, there may be slight delays, but we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.