Expansion Lead France (All Genders)

YOU & AHEAD

ahead is a Hamburg-based better-for-you food brand. We take the snacks people genuinely crave, chocolate bars, gummies, spreads, and rebuild them with up to 90% less sugar and no compromise on taste.

We entered France recently, and the early signals are exactly what we were hoping for. Now comes the harder and considerably more interesting part: converting an encouraging start into one of our strongest European businesses, quickly and profitably.

Whether France works is already settled. Making it work at scale is the job. We're looking for a senior operator who has been through this cycle before: someone who has taken a DTC or consumer brand from early traction to meaningful, sustainable revenue in France, and who carried the commercial number while doing it. This is a business to run, with everything that implies.

You will have full ownership of ahead France: the growth strategy, the P&L, the channel mix, and the team. You inherit four people already on the ground, a set of local agency partners, and the full backing of our central marketing, ops, and finance functions in Hamburg. The foundation is built and staffed. What it needs now is someone to lead it hard.

The team is small and the pace is high, so this is a leadership role for someone who stays close to the work.

If that sounds like the kind of challenge you've been looking for, read on.

YOUR TASKS

• Lead the France Team You take over a team of four already operating in market, set the priorities, raise the bar, and grow the team as the business scales. You also own our local agency relationships, holding them to the same standard of output and accountability as everyone internal.
• Drive and Own the France Growth Engine You lead all DTC growth activities for the French market across paid social, influencer marketing, CRM, and conversion optimisation. Strategy and execution both sit with you, supported by your team, our agencies, and the central marketing function in Hamburg.
• Scale Paid Acquisition Profitably Working with your team and our performance marketing function, you push paid social efficiently and at scale. You bring the local edge: you know how French consumers respond, what creative angles land, and how to translate that into profitable acquisition.
• Build a High-Performing Influencer and Creator Engine Identify, activate, and grow a network of French creators, ambassadors, and partners that drives authentic brand awareness and measurable customer acquisition. You've built this kind of program before, so you already judge creators by the revenue they generate.
• Own the P&L and Key Metrics You track and actively manage the metrics that matter, including CAC, CLV, ROAS, and CM3, and report progress and learnings directly to the founders. You're candid about what's working, quick to call out what isn't, and quicker still to act on it.
• Ensure Local Relevance Across Everything All messaging, campaigns, content, promotions, and brand positioning for France go through you. You are the internal authority on what resonates in this market, and you make sure execution reflects that at every touchpoint.
• Be the Cross-Functional Hub for France You serve as the single point of truth for the French market internally, coordinating closely with brand, ops, logistics, CX, and product teams to keep execution tight and priorities aligned.
• Develop the Channel Mix Over Time Beyond DTC, you identify and evaluate partnership opportunities, retail pilots, and collaborative initiatives that can expand ahead's footprint in France in a commercially disciplined way.

YOUR PROFILE

• France DTC Track Record You have 4+ years of direct, hands-on experience scaling a DTC or consumer brand in France, with real revenue responsibility, real budgets, and accountability for outcomes. Experience in this specific market is essential to the role.
• P&L Ownership You've carried commercial results. You think naturally in unit economics, you know your way around a contribution margin, and you understand how acquisition efficiency connects to business health.
• Performance Marketing at Scale You've planned and executed paid social campaigns with meaningful budgets in the French market. You have an intuitive feel for what works on Meta in France, including creative norms, audience segmentation, and realistic performance ranges, and you know how to optimise toward profitable growth.
• Influencer and Creator Marketing You've built influencer programs that delivered measurable, attributable acquisition. You're familiar with the French creator landscape and you know how to structure partnerships that generate real commercial return.
• People Leadership You've led small, senior teams in a fast-moving commercial environment and managed external agencies to a high standard. You set clear direction, delegate well, and keep close enough to the detail to catch a problem before it shows up in the numbers.
• Entrepreneurial Operator Mindset You thrive in high-autonomy environments where decisions need to be made quickly and ownership is total. You've probably been a founder or an early employee at a fast-growing brand. You solve problems on the spot, and the prospect of building something from a standing start is what gets you out of bed.
• Commercial and Analytical Rigour You're genuinely comfortable in the data. You define the right metrics, track them consistently, and use them to make faster and better decisions.
• Language and Cultural Fluency Native-level French and fluent English, combined with a deep understanding of French consumer behaviour, digital culture, and what drives conversion in this market.
• Industry Background Experience in DTC consumer goods, food and beverage, lifestyle brands, or social-first startups. A background in better-for-you or functional food is a meaningful plus.
• Location Based in Germany or France, with the ability to collaborate regularly with our Hamburg HQ team.

AND WHY AHEAD?

• Full Market Ownership. You are the commercial owner of a market with serious growth ambitions behind it, with a team, agency partners, and central support already in place. The strategy is yours to shape, the results are yours to drive, and the upside is very real.
• Direct Access to Founders. You'll work closely with and report directly to the founders. That means fast decisions, unfiltered feedback, and none of the organisational drag that slows things down at larger companies.
• A Product with Genuine Pull. ahead's products are genuinely good, and 30,000+ verified customer reviews plus a 60-day taste guarantee back that up. You'll be selling something people actually want, which makes the job considerably more fun.
• Speed as a Competitive Advantage. We move fast and we mean it. When something isn't working, we change it. When something is working, we scale it. Six-week review cycles have no home here.
• Attractive Compensation. Competitive base salary with a performance-linked bonus structure + equity package that reflects the level of ownership this role carries.
• A Team Worth Joining. Young, international, ambitious, and genuinely collaborative, with people who care about the mission and enjoy the ride. Central Hamburg & Berlin offices, MacBook, €50 monthly allowance (Urban Sports Club, mobility, or brand vouchers of your choice), 28 vacation days plus December 24 and 31 off, regular team events, and an annual offsite that consistently over-delivers.

This role is based in our Hamburg or Berlin office, with the flexibility of up to 2 home office days per week, or full remote from Germany or France, plus the option to work from abroad for agreed periods.

If this sounds like the opportunity you've been looking for, we'd love to hear from you.

Disclaimer

ahead GmbH is an equal opportunity workplace and is devoted to providing equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or gender identity.

About us

At ahead, we’re building the snack brand for a new generation – one that loves chocolate, cookies & gummies, but doesn’t love what sugar does to their bodies.

We use cutting-edge food tech to reinvent childhood favorites: no added sugar, no empty carbs – just full taste, better ingredients, and zero compromise.

The result? Everyday indulgence that actually fits your lifestyle.

Let’s make low-sugar the new normal. And fun again.

We’re growing fast, expanding across Europe, and looking for smart, driven, curious minds to join us.

If you’re ready to change how millions of people snack – for good – we’d love to meet you.