Head of Launch, UK
Whatnot
- Location
- London, UK; London, UK
- Employment
- Full Time
- Work model
- On-Site
- Level
- Staff
Skills
About this role
🚀 Join the Future of Commerce with Whatnot! Whatnot is the largest live shopping platform in North America and Europe to buy, sell, and discover the things you love. Whether it's trading cards, fashion, electronics, or live plants, our sellers are building real businesses across hundreds of categories. We're building live commerce at a scale that's never been done in the West, and there's no playbook to copy. The people here are shaping how an entirely new industry develops. As a remote co-located team, we're inspired by our values and anchored in hubs across the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, Germany, and Australia. We move fast, stay close to our users, and focus on the work that drives the most impact. We're one of the fastest growing marketplaces and were recently named the #1 Best Startup Employer in America by Forbes. Check out the latest Whatnot updates on our news and engineering blogs and join us as we enable anyone to turn their passion into a business and bring people together through commerce. 💻 Role Join our team as Head of Launch for the UK market and take charge of scaling categories on Whatnot UK. This is a high-ownership, high-impact role at the intersection of strategy, general management, and market development. You will define the strategic vision for your categories, lead and develop a cross-functional team, and spearhead the launch of new verticals in the UK - building the communities, supply, and demand that make them thrive. Define our strategy: Map the UK e-commerce landscape: dive into market data, speak with sellers and buyers, and study the competitive environment to build a clear-eyed view of priority categories to launch Define a category strategy grounded in the unique dynamics of UK consumer culture - including the categories, communities, and seller archetypes most likely to drive breakout growth on Whatnot Build a rolling action plan for addressing key challenges and opportunities, making explicit trade-offs and communicating priorities clearly to your team and leadership Develop a zero-to-one playbook for identifying and validating new category opportunities in the UK, covering market sizing, supply mapping, community identification, and go-to-market approach Lead and develop your team: Directly manage and develop a generalist team of launchers, who balance account management, sales, and marketing, and who are responsible for seller onboarding and growth, influencer activation, and community events in the UK. Set a high bar for team performance: establish clear goals and KPIs, run structured 1:1s and team rituals, deliver candid feedback, and hold your team accountable to outcomes Invest in the growth and careers of your team members - identify development opportunities, stretch assignments, and coaching moments that help them grow into senior contributors Define your team’s hiring needs as the UK business scales; actively participate in recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding top talent Build a culture of ownership, curiosity, and close seller relationships within your team, where everyone is expected to understand the product and the communities they serve Launch new categories in the UK: Lead the end-to-end launch of new verticals in the UK: from initial hypothesis and market validation through seller acquisition, community activation, and growth ramp Identify the right categories to prioritise based on UK consumer demand, existing supply ecosystems, community enthusiasm, and Whatnot’s platform strengths Build and refine repeatable launch playbooks that can be applied across multiple category launches and eventually scaled to other European markets Work cross-functionally with product, marketing, operations, and engineering to unlock the platform features and support needed to make new categories succeed Define clear success metrics for each new vertical, run structured experiments to learn fast, and make data-driven decisions about where to double down or change course Drive