Country Director, air up
France
Scent-based taste drinking system
Be an early applicant
Scent-based taste drinking system
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
201-500 employees
Company mission
air up's mission is to do something good for people’s health, and also for the environment.
Role
Who you are
- Seasoned Commercial Leader: You bring significant experience in a senior commercial leadership role (Country Manager, General Manager, or similar) within the Retail or FMCG space
- Entrepreneurial P&L Manager: You have a proven track record of managing P&L statements with accountability down to Contribution Margin 3 (CM3). You excel at navigating retail complexities, understanding cost structures and making tough, strategic calls on budget and resource allocation
- A Multi-Disciplinary Coach: You are an inspiring people manager who genuinely enjoys leading diverse teams. You know how to coach analytical sales leads and inspire highly creative marketing experts simultaneously
- Marketing-Driven Sales Mindset: You possess an intense commercial drive combined with a deep appreciation for brand equity. You understand that long-term brand health is what fuels short-term sales growth
- Deep French Market Expertise: You have a deep understanding of the French consumer landscape, media trends, and distribution channels and know how to navigate the specific complexities of the French market to drive growth
- Impactful Communicator: You are fluent in French and English, with the unique ability to turn complex commercial data into compelling, inspiring stories for both your local team and senior leadership
What the job involves
- As our General Manager France, you are the entrepreneurial powerhouse behind one of our most vital and dynamic markets
- You aren't just supervising a region; you act as the business owner for France, fully owning the strategy, the execution, and the results
- You sit at the intersection of commercial rigor and disruptive brand innovation and ensure our French organization thrives across Retail, D2C and marketplace channels by driving deep local consumer proximity
- In this role, we follow a hybrid working model. While our strong preference is for someone based in Germany to foster regular in-person collaboration at our Munich headquarters, we are open to candidates working remotely from France
- In either case, the role requires a balance of presence for team connection and remote days for focused, independent work
- Own the P&L: You hold ultimate accountability for France’s commercial health and financial performance, managing total revenue, profitability, and the strategic omnichannel split between Retail, D2C and marketplace channels
- Set the Local Strategy and Drive Retail Execution: You define the "How" and the "Where" for the French market
- You place the high-level commercial bets, identify major retail accounts, and make the final calls on local resource allocation and media spend
- This is a highly entrepreneurial role that goes far beyond high-level strategy; we need a leader with hands-on retail expertise who will actively get into the field to unlock, pitch, and scale key retail accounts
- Your ultimate goal is a healthy balance in building physical and mental availability to foster sustainable short- and long-term growth
- Lead a High-Performing Team: You lead and develop a lean, high-performing local team, acting as the primary people lead for both Sales (Key Account Managers) and the local Marketing Director to foster a fast, horizontal and collaborative team culture
- Foster a Powerful Leadership Partnership: You will work hand-in-hand with your local Marketing Director to ensure seamless and impactful workflows
- While you set the commercial "North Star" and strategic boundaries, you partner with and empower the local Marketing Director to ensure all consumer touchpoints align with our core innovation - Scentaste - broadening our reach while maintaining cultural relevance with our French consumers
- You eliminate internal friction to build a fast-moving, collaborative partnership
- Bridge the Market and Central Functions: You serve as the vital strategic link between the French market and our central enabling teams
- You translate our global brand vision, frameworks and capabilities into local success stories,
Our take
Everyone knows how important it is to drink water, but with so many alternative drinks available and global consumption of sugar at an all-time high, water is not often our first choice of hydration. The alternatives invariably contain untold amounts of sugar, additives, and more. So consumers are forced to choose between taste or health.
air up has developed a refillable bottle that turns plain tap water into flavoured water. By transporting scent through air and using the biological effect of retronasal olfaction, the brand has created an impression of taste that is actually scent. The idea redefines drinking water in a way that enables consumers to drink flavoured drinks that are additive-free and sugar-free.
The business aims to be conscious of people’s health and the environment. Compared to the average bottled drink, air up uses far less plastic. And, the small, lightweight scent Pods mean that the logistics are carbon-efficient and kinder to the planet. It's growing fast: so far, the startup has raised a total $67.8 million over the course of 5 funding rounds.
Since its launch on the market in July 2019, the company has already reached in excess of €100M in revenue and has served more than 1 million customers across Europe. This has already led to a huge reduction in single-use plastic and a decline in sugar consumption.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
13% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 4 rounds)
Sep 2021
$46.5m
LATE VC
Oct 2020
$21m
SERIES A
Total funding: $76.4m
Company benefits
- 🏖 30 days of vacation
- 💻 remote-first approach
- 🏷 discount on our products
- 💰 employer-funded pension
- 👟 discount on Urban Sports Club
- 📈 personal development
- 🎉 regular team events
- ☕️ free coffee & fruit
- 🏁 start-up spirit
Company HQ
Berg am Laim, Munich, Germany
Leadership
Lena Jüngst
(Chief Evangelist & Co-Founder)Lena Jüngst achieved a Bachelor's Degree in Product Design & Industrial in 2016 before co-founding Air Up in 2018.
Tim Jäger
(CR&DO & Co-Founder)Became a Product Design Intern after leaving a career as a watchmaker. Created the first air up prototype with Lena Jüngst as part of a bachelor thesis alongside co-founder Lena Jüngst.
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