THE ROLE AND THE TEAM

We're building a dedicated home for sport at Zalando — and we need someone to lead it. This is a rare opportunity to build a vertical from the ground up: defining its editorial voice, growing it into a genuine destination for sport, and proving out a category with real commercial upside for Zalando. Football and Running are our current anchor areas — Football through major partnerships and moments like the World Cup, Running through one of our fastest-growing and least-served audiences — but this is a channel for sport more broadly, and part of the role is figuring out where else it should expand.

As Sr. Social Media Manager for Sports, you'll own the channel end-to-end — strategy, editorial planning, and content execution — within our Verticals & Proposition Expansion team. You'll define what "great" looks like for sports content at Zalando, build a consistent content engine, and stay plugged into sports and sporting culture more broadly so we're always part of the conversation, not just covering it after the fact. You'll also collaborate closely with the wider Global Social Media and Brand teams to ensure sports content shows up everywhere it should across our channel ecosystem.

This role sits at the intersection of sport, culture, and commerce: you'll need to understand what makes sports content genuinely engaging across a range of sporting interests, connect it back to Zalando's proposition, and build a channel with real breadth over time — not just a Football and Running feed.

INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN

At Zalando, our vision is to be the leading pan-European ecosystem for fashion and lifestyle e-commerce - one that is inclusive by design. We only assess candidates based on qualifications, merit, and business needs. We welcome applications from people of all gender identities, sexual orientations, personal expressions, racial identities, ethnicities, religious beliefs, and disability statuses. We only want to know why you’re great for this role, so please avoid including your picture, age, and marital status in your CV as well. We want to provide you with a great candidate experience. Please feel free to inform us of any accommodations you may need, so we can best support and assist you throughout the hiring process. do.BETTER - our diversity & inclusion strategy: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/our-culture/diversity-and-inclusion

WHAT WE'D LOVE YOU TO DO (AND LOVE DOING)

• Own the Sports channel end-to-end — defining our editorial voice, content pillars, and growth strategy across sport, with Football and Running as current priority areas.

• Lead editorial planning for the channel, ensuring a consistent monthly content baseline alongside agile, real-time reactive content.

• Be genuinely plugged into sporting culture — moments, athletes, and community conversations across a range of sports — spotting opportunities before they peak.

• Brief and manage external creative and content partners, guiding execution and holding work to a high bar on quality and consistency.

• Translate major brand partnerships into channel-native, audience-first storytelling — not just partner-driven asset delivery.

• Identify and build the case for where the channel should expand beyond its current anchor areas, based on audience interest and commercial relevance.

• Collaborate closely with the wider Global Social Media and Brand teams to integrate Sports into major cross-channel brand moments.

• Track and report on channel performance against our growth targets, using insight to continuously refine what's working.

• Stay organized and proactive across multiple concurrent moments — from always-on content to major sporting calendar spikes.

WE'D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF

• You've managed a sports social channel before. This is a must-have, not a nice-to-have — you have direct, hands-on experience running social for a sports brand, team, federation, athlete, or sports media property, and you understand the platform dynamics, audience behavior, and content rhythms specific to sport.

• You're a sports content native with senior-level experience. You have 6+ years of experience creating or managing content for sports, lifestyle, or culture-driven brands, with a genuine breadth of sporting interest rather than a single-sport specialism.

• You live and breathe sporting culture. You know the conversations, the communities, and the moments that matter before they're mainstream — across football, running, and beyond.

• You're both creative and commercially minded. You can concept a reactive matchday post and just as easily explain how the channel's growth ladders up to a proposition-level business case.

• You've managed brand or agency partnerships before, and know how to turn a partnership brief into content that feels native to the channel, not like an ad.

• You're an experienced channel builder. You're energized by building something from a clear starting point rather than optimizing something fully established — comfortable defining strategy as much as executing it, including where the channel should grow next.

• You're self-motivated, organized, and solution-oriented, with strong instincts for what's worth chasing and what isn't, and a track record of operating with autonomy.

• Bonus points if you've worked on a major sports partnership or rights holder relationship before (e.g. federations, leagues, or major sporting events).

OUR OFFER

• Zalando provides a range of benefits, here’s an overview of what you can expect. Ask your Talent Acquisition Partner to learn more about what we offer.

• 27 days of holiday a year to start for full-time employees (+1 day for every calendar year up to 30 days)

• 2 paid volunteering days a year

• Employee shares program

• 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Lounge by Zalando, discounts from external partners

• Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement)

• Family services, including counseling and support

• Health and wellbeing options (including Wellhub, formerly Gympass)

• Mental health support and coaching available

• Drive your development through our training platform and biannual peer-to-peer review