Country Manager Poland - Medical Cannabis Industry

Country Manager - Poland

Medical Cannabis Industry

Location: Poland

Working Model: Remote in Poland - regular travel across the country and to the head office in Germany

Fluent Polish is essential for this role. You will be the only employee in Poland, so you need to be comfortable working on your own and taking ownership. If you do not meet both of these, please do not apply as we will not be able to consider your application.

Company Description:

Our client is one of the largest German medical cannabis distributors, founded in 2019 and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It brings products from licensed growers outside Europe into the European medical market. The growers keep their own brands, and our client provides the import route, the quality work needed to meet European standards, the logistics and the access to pharmacies. It works with growers in more than a dozen countries, employs over 100 people across its European operations, and counts Germany, the UK and Poland as its main markets.

The company does not grow any plants itself. It sits between the grower and the pharmacy. It runs its own production site in Germany, where imported flower is trimmed, tested, packaged, labelled and released to market, and it holds the wholesale authorisation to distribute it under GDP rules. Import, quality and distribution under one roof is what our client now wants to build in Poland.

The Polish business has been run from the German office since our client entered the market in 2024. It sells six products there through a single exclusive wholesale partner and plans to roughly double its volume this year, to around 1 tonne of medical cannabis flower, with four further products in registration. It is a demanding market. Since November 2024 a first prescription requires an in-person consultation, which moved the market away from telemedicine and towards clinics, prescribing physicians, pharmacies and wholesalers.

As competition in Poland grows, our client is moving from managing the market from Germany to having its own team on site, starting with this Country Manager position.

Role Description:

In this role you own our client's Polish business. You report to the management board in Germany, and work with the Chief of Staff, the VP Sales & Procurement and the VP Quality on a day-to-day basis.

The job comes in three stages and they overlap. First, consolidate what is already there. You take over the relationship with the wholesale partner that carries the products today, keep those accounts working and grow them. Second, get in front of pharmacies, pharmacy groups, clinics and prescribing physicians yourself, so the company has its own face in the market. Third, analyse whether and from when our client's own import and wholesale infrastructure would make economic sense, and drive the relevant licence applications through. That licence work has not started, so it will be up to you to launch these efforts, with support of the group quality function and an external adviser on the technical side.

The goal is a Polish business that stands on its own, with its own licences and its own team. The first year is heavily hands-on and you will do most of it yourself, with people added as the business grows to need them. As Poland grows, so does the role, with the potential to develop it into a full Managing Director position.

Responsibilities:

• Own the commercial development of the Polish market and grow sales volume
• Act as the primary local point of contact for commercial and market-development matters
• Identify growth opportunities in the Polish market, as well as supply, distribution and execution issues
• Manage the existing exclusive wholesale partner as your main key account
• Work with Group Quality and Regulatory on product registration and market access
• Develop the local business plan, budget, forecast and KPIs in coordination with the group board
• Set up reliable local reporting, including sell-in and sell-out performance - provide commentary input to Group Finance for the local P&L and financial reporting
• Coordinate product launches, availability and allocation with Sales, Procurement and Quality in Germany
• Manage regulatory, commercial and operational risk, particularly around the consultation-based prescription model
• Recruit and lead the first local hires, including the future Commercial & Operations Lead
• Put the local operating model, processes and governance in place
• Monitor competitor activity, pricing and the changing clinic and prescriber landscape
• Make sure local activity meets Polish and European requirements

Preferred Qualifications and Skills:

• Native or fluent Polish and strong English
• Several years in a senior commercial leadership role in Poland, in pharmaceuticals, specialty pharma, pharmaceutical distribution, healthcare, consumer health or another regulated industry
• Experience with P&L responsibility for the country budget, including budgeting, forecasting and KPI management
• A track record of building a market, a business unit or a country organisation from an early stage, including hiring
• Strong understanding of the Polish pharmaceutical and healthcare market, and its regulatory developments
• Entrepreneurial and hands-on mindset, comfortable in an organisation that is still forming
• Bonus points for an existing network among Polish wholesalers, pharmacy chains, clinics or prescribing physicians
• Bonus points for having held a country-lead or similar position, or for taking a business through a Polish licensing process
• Bonus points for medical cannabis experience. It is not required and our client will support you with the product side

In return, our client is offering:

Base salary of €80.000 - €100.000, depending on experience

A variable package is in discussion internally and will be defined before your final interview

A company car

All statutory Polish benefits

If you'd like to explore this opportunity further, apply directly here, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at eric.spelten@luminorecruit.com.

We welcome referrals for this position and offer a referral incentive for successful placements. If you know someone who would be a great fit, please feel free to share this opportunity with them.