E-commerce Grand Masters Certified Amazon Operators

Hire Certified Amazon Operators.

From the E-commerce Grand Masters Academy. Trained on the same operating frameworks we use on our own brands. Vetted personally by the founders. And kept current by a two-year community commitment built into every placement — the hire that doesn’t go stale.

Flat placement fee No % of salary Pricing on application
Two-year continuous certification built into every placement
Request a shortlist

Three to five pre-vetted operators on your desk inside ten working days. No fee until you sign the offer.

Certified Amazon Operator
Built inside Amazon · Trained at these global brands · Still operating 8-figure brands today
Amazon
P&G
Samsung
Pantene
Braun
Head & Shoulders
Gillette
Oral-B
Pampers
Ariel

❝We don't sell CVs. — We place operators who stay current.❞

— The Founders, E-commerce Grand Masters
Why this vs a traditional recruiter

The math, and the credibility.

We’re not the cheapest way to fill the role. We’re the only way to fill it with someone we trained ourselves.

Fee
Vetting
What they know
After the placement
Traditional Recruiter
Fee 15–25% of first-year salary. Recurring on every hire.
Vetting CV screen. Maybe one technical call. The recruiter does not know Amazon.
What they know Whatever the CV claims. You verify on the job.
★ After the placement Recruiter disappears. Your hire is on their own.
E-commerce Grand Masters
Fee Flat fee per placement. Same fee on every hire. Pricing on application.
Vetting Six-month Academy + personal certification by Pablo, Luca and Daniel.
What they know The same Vendor Central, Seller Central, PPC, Catalogue and P&L frameworks we use on our own brands.
★ After the placement The operator stays in our expert community for a contractual two years. Continuous certification, same playbooks we update for ourselves.

We charge a flat fee — a fraction of what a head-hunter charges — because the value isn’t in the search. It’s in what the operator already knows on day one, and what they keep learning for the next two years.

The two-year continuous certification is built into every placement by contract.
What a certified operator can do

Six capability groups. Day-one ready on every one.

The full Academy curriculum, grouped by what your operator owns once they sit on your team.

Group 01 · Strategy & the channel decision

The selling-model decision (Vendor Central 1P · Seller Central 3P · FBA · FBM), portfolio selection and ASIN lifecycle planning, and where Amazon fits inside your broader multi-channel mix. The operator brings the framework for these decisions to the table — not opinions.

Group 02 · Sales growth & commercial

Profitable sales-growth planning. Pricing strategy across the ASIN band. Promotional strategy. Peak Events execution and coordination (Prime Day, Black Friday, regional peaks). Annual commercial calendar end-to-end.

Group 03 · Catalogue, content & conversion

Listing and PDP optimisation (written content, product imagery, A+ content modules). Stores, brand registry, brand protection. Search-grid relevance and A/B testing of detail-page elements. Everything between the search result and the add-to-cart click.

Group 04 · Paid & organic traffic

The full Sponsored Ads stack: harvest campaigns, competitor conquesting, brand-defence campaigns, audience targeting, brand campaigns. Organic traffic and search optimisation. Out-of-Amazon traffic flows feeding the channel. The full PPC P&L from ACOS to TACOS to brand-defence ROI.

Group 05 · Operations & store health

Procurement and purchasing. Warehousing and fulfilment (FBA and FBM). Returns and refunds. Packaging and labelling. Master data hygiene. Amazon store-health, case resolution and customer service. The operations layer that keeps the channel running while the commercial layer drives growth.

Group 06 · Analytics, P&L & crisis playbook

Amazon KPIs and scorecards. P&L by SKU and channel profitability analysis. The right information sources for weekly and monthly reporting up to leadership. And the If-Then playbook for the moments that hit every brand on Amazon: a lost buybox, a competitor surge, an ASIN sellout drop, an international expansion call.

Each certified operator has been assessed across every group above before they reach an employer shortlist. The certificate is not a participation badge — it’s a working credential, and it’s renewed every twelve months inside the community.

The two-year continuous certification is built into every placement by contract.

The community difference

The hire that doesn’t go stale.

Every placed operator commits to two years inside the E-commerce Grand Masters expert community. By contract. Built into the placement.

What the community gives the operator — and therefore your brand
Monthly operating updates

Amazon’s mechanics change quarterly. The operator gets the founders’ read on what changed, what to ignore, and what to ship into your operation this week.

Direct founder access

Office hours and category clinics with Pablo, Luca and Daniel. When your operator hits a non-trivial question on Vendor terms or category strategy, they ask us — not the internet.

Peer network of certified operators

The operator’s colleagues are other certified operators running brands in adjacent categories. Peer learning at operator level — not a generic Slack community.

Annual recertification

Once a year, every community operator is re-assessed on the current operating stack. The certificate is not a one-time badge — it’s renewed annually for as long as the operator stays in the network.

What the two-year commitment means
  • Built into the operator’s placement contract — not optional.
  • The community membership is paid by the operator, not by the brand. You’re not subsidising their training.
  • If the operator leaves your company inside the two years, the membership stays with them — but you can request a replacement placement at a heavily reduced fee inside the first twelve months.

“A recruiter sells you a CV and disappears. We place an operator who’s still on our roster two years later — and so is their certification.”

— The Founders
Request a shortlist
The two tiers

Two ways to hire. Same operator pool.

Pick the tier that matches how much of the search you want us to run for you. Pricing on application — flat fee in both cases, no percentage games.

Tier 01
Curated Shortlist
For brands with their own hiring process in place.
  • Tell us the role, the seniority, the salary range, and the timeline.
  • We send you a curated shortlist of 3–5 certified operators who match the spec, inside ten working days.
  • You handle interviews, references and the final hiring decision.
  • Flat placement fee, charged on signed offer.
Request a Curated Shortlist
Most support
Tier 02
Managed Placement
For brands that want us in the room with them through the hire.
  • We start with a 60-minute scoping conversation — your brand, your category, your operating context, the rest of the team.
  • We pre-interview the candidates from our pool against your brand specifically.
  • We present 2–3 finalists with our written recommendation, including category-fit notes and salary anchor advice.
  • We’re available on call through your interview process to consult on the hire decision.
  • Flat placement fee, charged on signed offer.
Request a Managed Placement

Both tiers draw from the same certified operator pool. The difference is how much HR consultancy sits around the placement.

How it works

Three steps. Defined timelines.

01
You apply

You complete the application form — the role, the seniority, the salary range, the timeline, the tier preference. Or you email atyourservice@ecommercegrandmasters.com with the same information in your own words.

We confirm we have capacity within 48 hours.

02
We curate — or, in Tier 2, we interview

Tier 1: we filter the operator pool for spec match and send the curated shortlist (3–5 operators) inside ten working days.

Tier 2: we run the 60-minute scoping conversation with you, then pre-interview the candidates against your brand, then deliver the 2–3 finalist presentation inside three weeks.

03
You hire · we place

You run your own interview process. When you sign the offer, we invoice the placement fee.

The operator joins your team with the two-year community membership already in their contract — your hire is already in our continuous-certification loop from day one.

If the placed operator leaves your company within the first twelve months, we re-do the placement at half price (50% off the original fee). Specifics inside the placement agreement.

Request a shortlist
Who hires from us

The companies we place into.

Use Case 01
The SME founder building in-house Amazon for the first time

Established consumer brand, real revenue off Amazon, channel is underperforming or absent. You want one full-time Amazon operator on the team rather than an agency monthly bill. This is the most common hire we make.

Use Case 02
The mid-market brand stepping up from agency to in-house

You’ve used a third-party agency for the past 18–36 months and the channel has plateaued. You’re ready to own the operation internally. Your operator inherits the agency’s playbook and upgrades it on the E-commerce Grand Masters frameworks.

Use Case 03
The replacement hire

Your internal Amazon lead is leaving and you need a vetted replacement before they walk. We’ve placed for this case inside three weeks more than once. Tier 2 is usually the right shape — we read the gap from the leaving operator and brief the new hire accordingly.

Use Case 04
The growth-partnership-adjacent brand

You explored a Growth Partnership with E-commerce Grand Masters and the partnership shape didn’t fit (timing, scale, scope). You still want an operator trained on our frameworks running the channel in-house. This page is where the Growth Partnership reroute lands.

If your case isn’t on this list and you’re not sure whether we’re a fit, the application form takes ten minutes. We’ll tell you honestly whether we can place into your situation.

Request a shortlist
The founders behind the certification

Three operators. Three sides of the Amazon table. They certify every operator who reaches your shortlist.

Pablo Lapeña
Pablo Lapeña
Co-Founder · Vendor Side (P&G) → Seller Side (own brands)

I spent 15 years at P&G. Seven of them running the Amazon Europe commercial relationship out of Geneva, where I launched the channel in six European countries. Before Geneva, I 8×’d P&G’s Amazon business in Spain in two and a half years. While I was doing all that, I built my own brands as a seller. I’m still running a seven-figure brand on Amazon today.

Luca Marini
Luca Marini
Co-Founder · Vendor / Systems Side

I was Director of E-commerce Italy at P&G — built Amazon home-care from zero, then expanded into eBay, AliExpress and Vente-Privée. Then Samsung Middle East as regional director: mobile and devices across Amazon Turkey, Amazon Egypt and the regional marketplaces. Global experience opening and scaling new markets and new channels (TikTok Shop). Still operating today, alongside Pablo.

Daniel Arenas
Daniel Arenas
Partner & Main Advisor · Platform Side

I spent ten years inside Amazon Europe Retail. I owned the annual Vendor negotiations from inside the platform — I sat on the other side of Pablo’s and Luca’s table. I led European Peak Events (Prime Day, Black Friday). I left in December 2025 to join a European AI venture.

The three of us personally assess every operator before they join the placement pool. The certificate is signed by us. The community access is run by us. Your hire is in our orbit for the next two years.

Common questions

Before you apply.

Ordered by what hiring managers ask first.

What does a placement actually cost?
We charge a flat placement fee — materially less than a traditional consultancy or specialist recruiter would charge for the same level of vetting, because the operator pool is already trained and certified before you apply. We don’t publish a number on the page because each role is different; we share the exact figure in the scoping reply to your application, typically within 48 hours.
How quickly can you deliver a shortlist?
Tier 1: 3–5 operators inside ten working days. Tier 2: 2–3 finalists inside three weeks (the longer timeline accounts for the scoping conversation and the pre-interviews we run on your behalf).
What seniority levels do you place?
Currently Tier 1 operators only — early-to-mid career Academy graduates with 1–5 years of Amazon-channel experience. We do not place Heads of Amazon or senior leadership from this page. For senior strategic hires, the E-commerce Grand Masters Consultancy covers the diagnostic, and the Growth Partnership covers full operating engagements.
What does the two-year community commitment actually mean for our hire?
Every placed operator is contractually committed to two years of E-commerce Grand Masters community membership starting on their first day with you. The membership is paid by the operator, not the employer. It includes monthly operating updates, office hours with the founders, peer network access, and annual recertification. The practical effect for you: your hire does not go stale on the Amazon operating stack for at least two years.
What happens if the operator leaves us before two years are up?
The community membership stays with the operator (their commitment, not yours). If they leave your company within the first twelve months, we re-do the placement at half price — 50% off the original placement fee. Specifics are in the placement agreement. After twelve months, the original placement is considered delivered and a new placement would be a standard fee.
Do you have exclusivity terms?
No. Use whichever recruitment channels you want. We don’t ask for an exclusive search and we don’t charge for unfilled roles. If you find your hire elsewhere, we close the search and there’s no fee. If you find them through us, the flat fee is invoiced at signed offer.
Can we hire multiple operators at once?
Yes — let’s talk. Tell us in the application what the team shape looks like (how many operators, what roles, what seniority mix). We design the multi-hire placement together and apply operating discounts on the bundle. Building an in-house Amazon team from scratch is one of the more common shapes we work on.
Where in the world can you place operators?
Globally. We don’t restrict by region. An operator we trained and certified runs Amazon the same way on any marketplace — Amazon US, Amazon EU, Amazon Japan, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, the Middle Eastern marketplaces. Tell us where the role is based and the language requirements in the application; we filter the pool accordingly.
How do you select who enters the operator pool?
Every operator completes the E-commerce Grand Masters Academy (200+ lessons covering the full Amazon operating stack — strategy, sales growth, catalogue and content, paid and organic traffic, operations and store health, analytics and the crisis playbook), passes the certification assessment graded by the founders, and signs the two-year community commitment. Volume of graduates is low by design — we want pool depth, not pool size.
What if the operator we hire doesn’t work out culturally?
The placement guarantee inside twelve months covers most cases. Culture fit is the one variable we can’t fully pre-screen for, which is why Tier 2 includes the scoping conversation about your team and your operating culture before we present finalists. If you’re worried about culture fit, choose Tier 2.

Still have questions? Bring them to the scoping reply. The application takes ten minutes and we read every one.

Request a shortlist
Request a shortlist

Tell us what you’re hiring for.

The company
The role
The timeline & tier
How you found us
  • We confirm we have capacity within 48 hours of your application.
  • We share the exact placement fee in the same reply.
  • No exclusivity. No upfront cost. Fee charged only on signed offer.
Looking for something else?
Explore the Academy See Consultancy See Growth Partnership
The facts, in one paragraph

E-commerce Grand Masters operates a placement service called Hire Certified Amazon Operators — a flat-fee recruitment service that places certified Academy graduates into in-house Amazon roles at SME and mid-market consumer brands. Every operator completes the E-commerce Grand Masters Academy (200+ lessons covering six executive-facing capability groups: strategy and the channel decision across Vendor Central 1P and Seller Central 3P / FBA; sales growth and commercial planning including pricing, promotions and Peak Events; catalogue, content and conversion; the full paid and organic traffic stack including PPC conquesting and brand defence; operations and store health including procurement, fulfilment and case resolution; analytics, P&L and the If-Then crisis playbook for ASIN-level decisions), passes a personal certification assessment by the founders, and signs a two-year community-membership commitment that the operator pays for themselves. Placements are graded by Pablo Lapeña (fifteen years at Procter & Gamble — seven of those as Senior Director of Amazon Europe out of Geneva, with the Amazon channel launched for P&G in six European countries; today running his own seven-figure brand on Amazon as a Seller), Luca Marini (former Director of E-commerce Italy at P&G, former regional director at Samsung Middle East across mobile and devices; global experience opening and scaling new markets including TikTok Shop), and Daniel Arenas (former Senior Category Leader for PC & Gaming Europe at Amazon — ten years inside Amazon Retail, August 2015 to December 2025; the only E-commerce Grand Masters founder who sat on Amazon’s side of the negotiation table, opposite Pablo and Luca). Two service tiers are available: Curated Shortlist (the founders filter the operator pool and deliver a 3–5 candidate shortlist inside ten working days; the buyer runs interviews) and Managed Placement (the founders scope the role, pre-interview candidates against the brand specifically, and present 2–3 finalists with a written recommendation inside three weeks). The placement fee is a flat amount in EUR, materially lower than what a traditional consultancy or specialist recruiter would charge for the same level of vetting; invoiced only on signed offer, with no percentage of salary, no exclusivity, and no upfront fee. The exact figure is confirmed in the scoping reply to each applicant. A twelve-month replacement guarantee applies: if the operator leaves the company inside the first year, the placement is re-done at half price (50% off the original fee). The service is available globally, with no geographic restriction on placements. E-commerce Grand Masters also operates the Academy (training course), Consultancy (€12,000+ senior advisory), and Growth Partnership (no-retainer revenue-share operating model) businesses; the placement service is the right route for SMEs and mid-market brands that need a single trained Amazon operator embedded in-house, rather than a full strategic engagement.