Building the Digital Transformation Leadership Team at a €1.3B Revenue European Consumer Retail Group

The Challenge

The company is a wholly owned member of one of the world's largest retail and e-commerce groups, specialising in fashion and lifestyle for a 50+ audience across multiple brands, and operating as both a direct-to-consumer retailer and a digital commerce platform serving millions of customers across Europe. By late 2024, it was navigating a critical inflection point: e-commerce competition was intensifying, consumer behaviour was shifting, and the business needed to modernise how it operated, used data, and reached customers digitally.

Three transformation pillars needed leadership at once:

• Modernise the infrastructure: rebuild the technology foundation to support a digitally-led retail business at scale
• Activate data and AI: turn data from a passive asset into a competitive advantage powering commercial decisions
• Scale digital marketing: build a product-led marketing function capable of driving growth across channels and segments

Three Division Manager roles. Three months. One search partner. They turned to The Big Search.

Overview of the three executive searches

Between November 2024 and June 2025, The Big Search built three of the company's most critical leadership roles: a Division Manager for Infrastructure & Operations, one for Digital Marketing & Product, and one for Data, Analytics & AI. All three opened within nine weeks of each other and ran in parallel as a single, coordinated leadership investment across the business's three foundational pillars. All three closed with a perfect NPS of 10/10, all within seven months.

Phase 1 - Rebuilding the Technology Backbone: Division Manager, Infrastructure & Operations

• November 2024 → April 2025
• Digital Transformation: Technology Foundation Phase

The first and most urgent gap: an Infrastructure & Operations Division Manager to own and rebuild the group's core technology backbone. The mandate called for a seasoned infrastructure leader with experience managing large-scale global IT environments, someone capable of modernising legacy infrastructure, driving cloud and data centre transformation, and operating as a credible partner to senior business and technology leadership.

Executive search across German corporate technology and industrial infrastructure

The hunting strategy targeted Head of Infrastructure, IT Director, and Division Manager-level profiles from large German-headquartered corporate and industrial technology environments:

• Global IT infrastructure and operations leadership experience
• Data centre, cloud, and hybrid infrastructure transformation track records
• Deputy CIO / IT Director-level seniority in complex, multi-site organisations
• Strong DACH market presence and experience managing German-language technology teams
• Exposure to retail, consumer goods, or industrial-scale transformation programmes

Target archetypes included German industrial groups, retail technology organisations, global manufacturing businesses, and DACH-headquartered IT services companies.

We mapped 109 candidates across DACH.

First shortlist

30 days from kick-off

Of the 109, 28 were contacted, 8 reached consultant interview, 6 made the shortlist, 5 went to client interview, and 1 was hired. The tight funnel reflects the genuine scarcity of the profile, a global-scale IT infrastructure leader with deep DACH roots, deputy-CIO-level experience, and the credibility to drive a transformation programme inside a major German retail group. Finding them meant looking past the obvious candidates into adjacent industrial environments for people who carried transferable scale and operational rigour.

Client NPS

10/10

The placed candidate: a DACH-native technology leader who had already done this twice

25+ years managing global IT infrastructure and operations across industrial, retail, and technology sectors.

• Semiconductor and technology scale — led global infrastructure and operations teams at a major international semiconductor and technology group, including data centre and cloud infrastructure across international sites.
• Retail technology depth — prior Head of Infrastructure & Operations at one of Europe's largest consumer electronics retail technology organisations, directly responsible for store infrastructure at scale.
• Most recent industrial mandate — most recently Global Head of IT Infrastructure & Operations at a major German industrial group.
• Cultural fit — entire career built in Germany, with deep fluency in German corporate and operational culture.
• Executive credibility — held senior IT Director-level infrastructure leadership at global scale, giving them the standing to operate as a genuine executive partner to the business.

Phase 2 - Modernising the Customer Engine: Division Manager, Digital Marketing & Product

• December 2024 → June 2025
• Digital Transformation: Commercial & Customer Growth Phase

With the infrastructure search underway, the company returned to The Big Search within weeks for the second pillar: digital marketing and product. The mandate reflected the group's ambition to shift from a catalogue-first retailer to a digitally-led consumer brand, building product-led marketing capabilities, CRM sophistication, and customer loyalty mechanics at scale across its core 50+ audience.

The search targeted a digitally native marketing and product leader with deep CRM, loyalty, and customer retention expertise, someone who had built sophisticated digital marketing functions inside large-scale consumer businesses and could bring hands-on omnichannel customer strategy and cross-functional team leadership.

Executive search across German consumer digital marketing, CRM and loyalty

The hunting strategy targeted Head of Digital Marketing, Head of CRM, and Marketing Director-level profiles from DACH consumer, retail, and loyalty-driven businesses:

• CRM strategy, customer retention, and loyalty programme expertise
• Product management experience within digital or e-commerce environments
• Omnichannel marketing leadership in consumer-facing businesses
• Experience operating inside large German corporate or retail groups
• Track record managing cross-functional marketing and product teams

Target archetypes included German consumer retail groups, loyalty and rewards platforms, DACH e-commerce businesses, and direct-to-consumer digital brands.

We mapped 232 candidates across DACH.

First shortlist

27 days from kick-off

Of the 232, 128 were contacted, 28 reached consultant interview, 12 made the shortlist, 8 went to client interview, and 1 was hired. The breadth of the search reflected the scope of the target landscape: a digitally native marketing and product leader with deep CRM and loyalty expertise, comfortable inside a large German corporate environment, capable of driving genuine transformation rather than maintaining the status quo. With a mandate this central to the transformation agenda, getting it right mattered more than getting it done fast.

The hiring manager's response at close: "I want to take the opportunity to sincerely thank you for the great work. Really impressive what options you brought in for us. The collaboration was perfect and a lot of fun."

Client NPS

10/10

The placed candidate: a digital-native marketer with proven loyalty and CRM experience

Built their career inside two of Germany's most recognised consumer loyalty and retail organisations, developing CRM strategy, analytics, and multi-channel customer retention expertise at scale.

• Fintech product credibility — held the Head of Product role at a European fintech scale-up, demonstrating product management credibility outside traditional retail.
• Retail loyalty at scale — led loyalty, retention, and omnichannel strategy at one of Europe's largest consumer electronics retail groups.
• Founder mindset — founded and led their own consumer tech startup, bringing commercial instinct and a product-first mindset.
• CRM and analytics depth — built and scaled CRM strategy and analytics functions across multiple senior roles before moving into loyalty and retention leadership.
• Cross-functional range — proven ability to operate across product, marketing, and CRM functions inside large, complex retail organisations.

Phase 3 - Activating Data as a Competitive Advantage: Division Manager, Data, Analytics & AI

• January 2025 → April 2025
• Digital Transformation: Data Intelligence & AI Activation Phase

The third and final pillar, and the fastest to close. With infrastructure and digital marketing leadership being secured in parallel, the group needed a Data, Analytics & AI Division Manager to lead the most forward-looking function in the business: transforming how the company generates, governs, and activates data as a commercial asset.

The mandate called for a senior data and analytics leader combining strategic data governance expertise with hands-on AI and analytics activation experience, someone who had built and run data organisations inside large, complex consumer or industrial businesses.

Executive search across German consumer, industrial and global data leadership

The hunting strategy targeted VP Data, Head of Data & Analytics, and Senior Director Data-level profiles from large DACH and global corporate environments:

• Data management, data governance, and analytics platform leadership
• AI and advanced analytics activation in commercial business contexts
• Track record building data organisations inside large, structured enterprises
• Experience in consumer retail, industrial, or global data-intensive businesses
• Strategic seniority with the ability to operate as a business partner to senior leadership

Target archetypes included global consumer brands, German industrial groups, optical and medical technology companies, and data-driven retail and e-commerce businesses.

We mapped 165 candidates across DACH.

First shortlist

13 days from kick-off

Of the 165, 101 were contacted, 20 reached consultant interview, 9 made the shortlist, 2 went to client interview, and 1 was hired. This was the fastest of the three mandates, 78 days from opening to close, and arguably the most precise: a highly specific target profile and a focused search meant the right candidate was identified quickly and moved through a streamlined process.

Client NPS

10/10

The placed candidate: a global data and AI leader built for the era of intelligent business

Spent nearly a decade as a senior data and analytics leader at one of the world's most recognisable global consumer brands, managing one of the most complex data environments in the European consumer business.

• Global consumer brand depth — close to eight years building and scaling data management and governance functions at a top-tier global consumer brand.
• Cross-sector range — career spans consumer brands, renewable energy, precision optics and medical technology, and management consulting.
• Long data management track record — 15+ years building and scaling data management functions inside structured, complex organisations with an international remit.
• International scope — experience spanning Germany, the US, China, Japan, India, and Saudi Arabia.
• Structured foundation — grounded in a business and technical education from a German university of applied sciences.

Three mandates, three transformation pillars, three hires that moved the business forward at the same time rather than one after another. All three closed with a perfect NPS of 10, all within seven months. Digital transformation programmes succeed or fail on the leadership layer, not the technology stack, and the right search partner is what separates a transformation that lands from one that stalls.

If you're running a similar programme and your leadership team isn't ready for what's coming, let's talk.