Brand Merchant Acquisition Manager, China

Title: Brand Merchant Acquisition Manager, China

Salary: RMB 280,000 fixed annual salary, 12-month fixed package, no commission
Location: Shanghai, China (or other locations nearby)
Type of Contract: Full-time

About Fruugo

Fruugo is a leading privately-owned e-Commerce Marketplace business making it easy for retailers to sell their products internationally. With Fruugo any retailer can join and sell anything, to anyone, anywhere.
Winner of the a King’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade, and placed in the Financial Times List of Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies 2025, Fruugo is recognised as a fast growing, dynamic business, and following a period of consolidation, Fruugo has ambitious plans for future growth.

Role Purpose

Fruugo is expanding its China-origin branded seller base to strengthen category coverage, improve seller quality and support growth across European markets. The successful candidate will identify, engage, sign and support the onboarding of high-quality Chinese brand owners, branded manufacturers and professional cross-border sellers.
This is a hands-on commercial role with no people-management responsibility. The successful candidate will focus on building a strong pipeline of relevant Chinese brands and sellers, negotiating commercial opportunities, and helping them progress through Fruugo’s onboarding process so they can trade successfully on the platform.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and develop high-quality Chinese brand owners, branded factories, manufacturers and professional cross-border sellers suitable for Fruugo’s European marketplace proposition.
• Build and manage a structured pipeline of target sellers across priority categories including home & living, beauty, apparel, consumer electronics, digital accessories and other agreed growth categories.
• Assess potential sellers against Fruugo’s commercial, operational, product, compliance and customer experience requirements.
• Lead initial outreach, business development discussions, commercial negotiation and seller sign-up.
• Work closely with Fruugo’s China, UK, onboarding, compliance, operations and account management teams to help signed sellers progress efficiently from prospect to live trading.
• Support new sellers through the early stages of onboarding by identifying blockers, coordinating next steps and ensuring clear communication between the seller and internal teams.
• Maintain accurate pipeline reporting, including prospect status, category focus, negotiation stage, onboarding progress and expected commercial value.
• Develop and maintain a strong network of Chinese brand owners, manufacturers, cross-border sellers, industry contacts and potential strategic partners.
• Provide regular market feedback on Chinese seller expectations, competitor platforms, category opportunities, pricing, operational challenges and barriers to onboarding.
• Contribute to the development of Fruugo’s China branded seller proposition and help improve the efficiency and quality of future seller recruitment.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will have proven experience in marketplace business development, brand acquisition, merchant acquisition, seller recruitment or cross-border e-commerce.

Required Experience

• 3–5 years’ experience in e-commerce, marketplace, cross-border e-commerce, brand development, seller acquisition, supplier development or business development.
• Proven track record of sourcing, negotiating with and onboarding brands, manufacturers, distributors or marketplace sellers.
• Strong understanding of Chinese brands’ overseas expansion needs and the practical requirements of cross-border e-commerce.
• Experience working with brand owners, branded factories, manufacturers or professional marketplace sellers.
• Existing network of relevant Chinese brands, manufacturers, sellers or industry contacts.
• Strong commercial judgment and ability to assess whether a seller is likely to be a good strategic fit.
• Ability to manage the full acquisition cycle independently, from lead generation through to sign-up and onboarding coordination.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills in Mandarin.
• Business English capability is strongly preferred, particularly for working with UK-based teams.

Personal Attributes

• Commercially driven and target-oriented.
• Structured, organised and comfortable managing a pipeline.
• Confident in building relationships with external sellers and internal stakeholders.
• Practical, hands-on and comfortable working in a fast-moving environment.
• Able to balance growth ambition with quality, compliance and operational standards.
• Persistent, proactive and capable of opening doors with new brand and seller prospects.
• Comfortable working as an individual contributor without direct team-management responsibility.

Key Success Measures

Success in this role will be measured by the quality, relevance and activation of Chinese branded sellers introduced to Fruugo. Key measures will include:
Number of qualified brand and seller prospects added to the pipeline.
Number of relevant brand owners, manufacturers and professional sellers signed.
Conversion rate from qualified prospect to signed seller.
Conversion rate from signed seller to onboarded/live seller.
Quality and compliance standards of recruited sellers.
Contribution to priority category gaps.
Early trading performance of onboarded sellers.
Reduction of onboarding blockers through effective coordination and feedback.
Strength and sustainability of the China brand acquisition pipeline.