About Jose Maria
I am a results-driven and internationally experienced business leader with a strong background across luxury hospitality, FMCG, operations, and commercial management. Throughout my career, I have consistently combined strategic thinking with hands-on execution, leading teams, building businesses from the ground up, and driving sustainable growth in competitive and fast-moving environments.
I thrive in dynamic settings where leadership, adaptability, and problem-solving are essential. I have managed multi-million-euro operations across Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, always focusing on profitability, operational excellence, and delivering outstanding customer experiences.
One of my greatest strengths is my ability to balance an entrepreneurial mindset with strong commercial and operational discipline. From launching a luxury boutique hotel in Portugal end-to-end, to managing international markets and distributor networks at Coty Inc, I have developed a reputation for building strong teams, improving performance, and creating growth opportunities.
I am highly people-oriented and enjoy leading multicultural teams, building relationships, and creating positive working environments that motivate people to perform at their best. I bring energy, resilience, and a strong sense of ownership to everything I do, whether it is operations, sales, strategy, marketing, or business development.
My professional journey has also shaped me into a versatile and adaptable leader, capable of navigating both corporate structures and entrepreneurial ventures. Beyond business, my experience studying at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute strengthened my communication skills, emotional intelligence, and ability to connect with people from different backgrounds.
Overall, I see myself as someone who combines commercial awareness, operational execution, and strong interpersonal skills to build businesses, lead teams, and create meaningful results.
English
Native or bilingual
Spanish
Native or bilingual
French
Conversational
Portuguese
Native or bilingual
Can work on-site
Lisbon (up to 50km)
Experience
- Casas Quinta de Cima Boutique HotelGeneral ManagerNovember 2023 - January 2026 (2 years and 2 months)Tavira Municipality, FA, Portugal• • Launched a new luxury boutique hotel in Tavira, Algarve Portugal, with 15 master suites and 2 private villas. End to end: starting with decoration, P&L, hiring the whole team and training all different positions, Supply management, Sales, Marketing and PR (achieving articles in Monocle, FT NY, The Economist, Conde Nast, etc.), Digital campaigns. Delivered €300K EBITDA in Year 1 while establishing operating cadences and performance KPIs.
- Coty Inc Listed American MultinationalBeauty CompanySenior Sales Manager for Luxury and Consumer Beauty categoriesMay 2020 - November 2023 (3 years and 6 months)Amsterdam, Netherlands• • Responsible for 6M€ distributors' business for fy21 (July 20 to June 21) across Palestine, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal, Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guyana and Reunion. This comprises developing more than 30 brands with different strategies and targets within these markets, always seeking for cost efficiency, increasing profitability. Partnered across Marketing, Finance, and Operations to balance A&P and GtN, reduce payment terms, and improve stock health during COVID volatility.• • Responsible for P&L of 21 brands by country (12 distributors), constantly forecasting the following months; all the operation challenges, defining Inco and payment terms; contracts and product registration processes• • Biggest achievement: grew Palestine business from a 0.5M€ to a 1.5M€ vs previous fy, introducing new brands and decreasing payment terms, making it more profitable; also growing Cyprus business by 10% vs previous year to a 2M€ business. Overall business' profitability increasing by 3% since managing this scope of countries• • Grew my initial scope by 24% in 2 years. Added Greece to my scope in 2022 and became responsible for a €15M euros business. Daily focus on P&L, Strategy, Marketing, Finance and Operations.• • Led daily collaboration with 12 cross-functional teams; drove performance reviews, KPI tracking, and opportunity identification across markets.
- Eattasty Food delivery start-upLisbon City ManagerSeptember 2019 - April 2020 (7 months)Lisbon, Portugal• • Responsible for the business in Lisbon: supply, operations and sales, 150K € average of daily sales• • Biggest achievements were building up a team, from 9 to 25 employees; reaching 1500 meals daily coming from 600 in four months; launching the second operation center while having a double-digit growth every month! Part of the development process to launch desserts and dinners that are now implemented, as well as catering for events
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Education
- Intense one-year conservatoryLee Strasberg Film and Theatre Institute2015Intense one-year conservatory
- Master's degreeCass Business School2014Master's degree