Tim Faulbrueck Tells Us Why He Is Never Bored At ZMS

Tim Faulbrueck is a Senior Partner Consultant at ZMS, which means that his day-to-day is filled with phone calls, negotiations, and a lot of stakeholder management. Might sound overwhelming, but Tim assures us that it’s fun! We have chatted with Tim about his work at Zalando and why he enjoys it.

Tim, let’s go back to the start — how long have you been with Zalando and what motivated you to join the company?

I’ve been at Zalando for almost three years. I started right before the lockdown happened, so I was lucky enough to still meet my team in person. Back then, ZMS had a really nice office at Spree, close to the water, and it definitely had those cool-startup vibes. Before joining Zalando, I had worked in marketing for a couple of years, so I knew how marketing worked from the viewpoint of a brand. For me, it was exciting and interesting to get on a new challenge, and to move into a larger organisation with start-up values. I was drawn by how data-driven Zalando is, and also how flexible and dynamic it has stayed over the years.

What do you do at ZMS?

My team is located in the media part of ZMS, which means that I am part of Zalando Consultancy. We are the main contact for our partners when it comes to them navigating Zalando Marketing Services. Ultimately, together with the brands, we create marketing strategies to help them grow in a sustainable way. These strategies are always tailored because the brands belong to different market segments and different local markets. As a partner consultant, you also collaborate a lot with internal stakeholders in Buying. We are an extremely friendly team, my colleagues are very supportive, and I can’t stop being astonished at how smart they are.

What do you personally enjoy about the job, and what is your favourite part of your responsibilities?

My favourite part is getting to see things from the perspective of our partner brands. I think that’s also what you need to do as a partner consultant, what sets you apart from a sales person. You need to understand the challenges and the needs of a brand and then create a working long-term strategy. The scope of responsibilities is also exciting. When I just started I was thrilled to be sitting at the table with the CEOs of our partner brands who had run businesses for decades. Starting to work with them was challenging, but also extremely interesting.

What should they expect? What should they be prepared for?

Expect to work on an extremely diverse range of projects and collaborate a lot with internal and external stakeholders. The external stakeholders are representatives of our partner brands. Sometimes these are marketing professionals, sometimes sales people, so you need to be always aware of who you are talking to, and adjust your communication and your message accordingly. Our internal stakeholders are almost in every department of the company — as a partner consultant at ZMS you never feel trapped in your bubble. And if you take more initiative as a new starter, you can end up working on truly dream projects. I, for example, work on size inclusivity — and I absolutely enjoy it! In close cooperation with the Buying team, I work to educate brands about size inclusivity and offer them tailored solutions for creating more inclusive sizing.

What has been your favourite project so far?

I am thinking about the webinar about sample sizes and inclusivity, which we organized together with our Buying team. It was perfectly executed, had a great outreach and it helped us educate our partners on the matters of inclusive sizing.

Find out more about our current job opportunities in Sales and Account Management — check out our Career Page.