How to hire an E-commerce Marketplace Operations Manager to manage strategic initiatives across international Amazon marketplaces?

Case Study: eCommerce Marketplace Operations Manager, remote recruitment.

E-commerce has changed the way businesses sell products, making it easier to reach customers worldwide. Companies now use online marketplaces like Amazon to expand their business internationally.

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What was the recruitment challenge?

AHAVA was expanding its eCommerce team and needed an eCommerce Marketplace Operations Manager with expertise in Amazon US and other international markets. The company had a well-defined vision for the role and was actively recruiting through traditional methods. However, to ensure access to the best talent, AHAVA decided to collaborate with a recruitment agency. The goal was to reach a broader network of specialized professionals who could navigate Amazon’s Vendor Central system (1P model) and understand the complexities of the U.S. market.

A key challenge was finding candidates with both strong expertise in 1P environment and deep knowledge of Amazon.com. Additionally, AHAVA sought a candidate based in Europe to align with business hours and enhance operational efficiency. This specific combination of skills and location was highly specialized, making it beneficial to work with a recruitment agency that could tap into a wider talent pool and deliver a tailored search while using various recruitment tools.

How did we find the right candidate?

During the process, we’ve gotten to know the organization and most importantly, we’ve built a partnership based on honest and open communication, discussing the challenges and focusing on finding solutions.

The first steps were a very thorough briefing session with the Hiring Manager and discussing their business needs. Such a discussion allowed us to truly understand who the company needed on board. A role profile was defined, along with details of the goals, challenges, and expectations. We were looking for a unique blend of skills – Amazon marketplace expertise, project management and analytical mindset, and business acumen.

We tailored our approach and created the recruitment strategy. The specified skill set made us focus on very detailed research. We mapped the suitable Retail and eCommerce companies, with gradually broadening our search to identify and engage with a wide range of experts in other European countries.

We approached 255 candidates during our team sourcing sessions, also generating a number of recommendations and referrals within our network. The challenge was to find an expert with a 1P and US Amazon experience, and analytical approach to provide the knowledge on improvements and strategy. We focused on designing a tailored screening and interview process to verify all the matching criteria. Additionally, we had a prior prepared from Ahava, recruitment form to evaluate how their skillset and experience align with key requirements.

The company was open to candidates from various locations, which led us to expand our search to countries such as Poland, the UK, Serbia, Romania, Spain, France, and others. Considering this broader approach, we conducted 19 screening calls, qualified 13 experts for the full interviews and shared 11 recommendations of candidates, resulting in the successful hiring of an expert based in the UK.

Throughout the process, we were in contact with our client, addressing the challenges, discussing possible solutions and working towards a common goal – bringing on board the right person for the role.

In a nutshell:

• We reached out to 255 candidates
• We had 19 screening calls
• Qualified 13 for full interviews
• Shared the list of 11 recommendations
• Lastly, 1 person successfully was hired

The success

The hiring of the eCommerce Marketplace Operations Manager will have a long-term impact on AHAVA’s business. The new hire is currently integrating into the team, with the goal of streamlining Amazon Vendor Central operations, optimizing inventory processes, and preparing strategies, while strengthening AHAVA’s position in the US Amazon marketplace.

Beyond the planned results, this recruitment process established a strong partnership.

„It’s rare to come across a team as people-oriented and professional as HR Contact. They have been an excellent recruitment partner, and we truly enjoyed working with them. They demonstrated great determination, never giving up even when the process took longer than expected. They made themselves available for calls outside business hours and were always fully responsive.

HR Contact was flexible in considering our ideas while also providing valuable guidance and consultancy. They didn’t simply forward candidates but took an active role in every stage of the recruitment process, ensuring we were satisfied. Overall, it was a very positive experience.”