Interim Country Manager, France (Fixed Term Contract)

Company Description

Great journeys start with Trainline 

We are champions of rail, inspired to build a greener, more sustainable future of travel. Our purpose is our momentum. It makes us feel good, because we know we’re doing good. As we lead the way to a greener future, we do it together. We’re all about connections: with each other, with our customers and with the world. Just as our platform brings the world together, it’s our ambition that connects us. We motivate each other to go beyond our limits, to experiment, fail and to always grow. 

With over 110 million visits every month to our platform and £4.3billion in net ticket sales, we're always innovating and making moves towards our final destination — a world where travel is as simple, seamless, and affordable as it should be. 

And we couldn't do any of it without our incredible people driving us forward. Today, we're a FTSE 250 company that's proudly home to more than 1000 Trainliners from 60+ nationalities across offices in London, Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Edinburgh, Berlin, Madrid and Brussels. It's this diversity that energises us and makes us stronger, helping us to achieve amazing things. 

With our sights firmly set on European growth, there is no better time to jump on board this high-speed train and be part of our continued success. 

Job Description

As Country Manager, Trainline France, you will be responsible for the overall commercial performance of our French market, delivering top-line net ticket sales growth and ultimately revenue to Trainline – all under our wider vision of ‘empowering greener travel choices’. 

You will directly manage a Go-To-Market manager (bringing together marketing, product and other activities) while also coordinating the work of French team members in the brand, growth, PR, product, finance, data, GR and supply teams. You will use these and other relationships to lead the French ‘country operating team’ ensuring a clear strategy is set, output is of high quality and ultimately OKRs are exceeded. 

Reporting directly to Trainline’s VP Commercial, you will have significant experience in defining and executing business unit strategies, drawing on your analytical strengths to make both long-term and short-term decisions and driving outcomes with the help of a wide range of stakeholders. 

This role is based in our London office with regular travel to Paris and occasionally to other Trainline locations (Milan, Barcelona). 

Responsibilities 

Define the French country strategy to maximise product market fit 

At the heart of Trainline’s growth in each market lies a differentiated country strategy, based on clear insight from customer research, internal data analysis and market statistics. You will continually refine and adapt the existing strategy to ensure it is fit for purpose, including: selecting target customer segments (at the most granular level possible), defining a differentiated positioning that sets Trainline apart from competitors, and being clear on the ‘reasons to believe’ the positioning and the reasons to choose Trainline.  

You will present the French country strategy to the wider business at regular intervals (typically: quarterly) to ensure that teams are clear on the objectives to be achieved and their role in achieving them. 

Maintain the French Go-To-Market (GTM) plan to prioritise and drive French marketing activities 

You will direct the French GTM manager to create and execute a holistic marketing plan for France, including all marketing activities as well as key internal drivers such as product launches and access to new supply opportunities.  

Working with all marketing channels, you will aim to build the Trainline brand and ensure a coherent and prioritised set of communications to our customers, making regular trade-offs where necessary. This will include pulling all marketing levers, including performance marketing (PPC, SEO and App), CRM, brand, PR, social media and partnerships. While you will not directly own the brand and growth marketing budget, you will have a strong voice in the choice of spend allocation across channels and choice of messages. 

You will directly own the FR promotional promotions budget to devise and execute promotional activities such as ‘€10 off your first journey’ or ‘€10 voucher if you download our App’, maximising long term ROI. 

Lead the French country operating team 

You will lead the French ‘country operating team’ composed of marketing, product, supply, data, PR and other local team members. Through this team, you will ensure that all activities in the French market are well coordinated and point in the same direction, making adjustments and trade-off decisions as required. 

Using both self-service data reports and help from team members in finance and data, you will understand Trainline’s revenue performance at a g