KARAN BHASKARWAR
Pricing Head - Northern Europe
Düsseldorf
Summary
Senior Pricing & Commercial Excellence Leader with 8+ years of experience driving strategic pricing across international B2B markets in the automotive aftermarket and industrial sectors. Currently leading end-to-end pricing strategy for Northern Europe (DACH, BENSCAN & UK) at Valeo Service, partnering with executive leadership to improve profitability, pricing governance, portfolio performance, and commercial excellence. Proven expertise in value-based pricing, annual price increases, pricing transformation, competitor intelligence, gross-to-net optimization, and cross-functional leadership across Sales, Marketing, Finance, Product Management, Supply Chain, and IT.
Overview
1
1
Language
8
8
years of professional experience
Work History
Pricing Head – Northern Europe (DACH, BENSCAN, UK)
Valeo Service Deutschland GmbH
Duesseldorf
09.2023 - Current
- Own the end-to-end pricing strategy across 7 European countries (DACH, BENSCAN & UK), managing a portfolio of ~50,000 SKUs and supporting an annual business exceeding €120 million in revenue.
- Develop and implement value-based pricing strategies, aligning pricing decisions with customer value, commercial objectives, and sustainable margin growth across Northern Europe.
- Lead the Quarterly Strategic Pricing Initiative (SPI) involving 11 product lines, coordinating pricing updates, validating pricing files, assessing commercial impact, and presenting recommendations to senior leadership.
- Drive gross-to-net governance, strengthening pricing consistency, discount discipline, and pricing data quality to improve price realization and commercial transparency across multiple markets.
- Deliver market intelligence, competitor benchmarking, pricing performance analysis, and price elasticity assessments to identify pricing opportunities and support strategic commercial decisions.
- Partner with Sales, Marketing, Finance, Product Management, Demand Planning, Tax, and IT to implement pricing initiatives that balance customer competitiveness with profitability objectives.
- Lead regional Commercial Excellence and Pricing Transformation projects, including the harmonization of 800,000 unique prices into approximately 120,000 standardized prices across the Northern Europe sub-region, significantly improving pricing consistency, governance, operational efficiency, and long-term scalability.
- Continuously develop pricing methodologies, portfolio optimization strategies, and standardized pricing processes to support profitable growth and improve commercial decision-making across the region.
Senior Pricing Manager
AUTO1 GmbH & Co. KG
Berlin, Germany
02.2022 - 08.2023
- Developed and executed regional and seasonal pricing strategies across international B2B markets, balancing market competitiveness, inventory turnover, and profitability.
- Led a team of 8 pricing specialists across 4 European countries, driving pricing execution, performance management, and continuous process improvements.
- Delivered competitor benchmarking, demand forecasting, and pricing analytics to identify market opportunities and support commercial decision-making.
- Monitored and optimized pricing KPIs, enabling data-driven decisions that improved pricing accuracy and commercial performance.
- Partnered with Sales, Operations, Product, Analytics, and Engineering teams to implement pricing initiatives aligned with business growth and customer acquisition objectives.
- Played a key role in the development and launch of AUTO1's beta-phase Machine Learning-based automated vehicle price evaluation platform, collaborating with Product, Data Science, and Engineering teams to validate pricing models and support commercial deployment.
- Contributed to reducing manual vehicle price evaluations by approximately 70% through the successful rollout of automated pricing recommendations, significantly improving analyst productivity, pricing consistency, and operational efficiency.
- Contributed to the continuous enhancement of pricing methodologies and pricing tools to improve efficiency, consistency, and scalability across international markets.
Pricing Manager
Auto1 GmbH & Co. KG.
10.2018 - 01.2022
- Managed day-to-day pricing activities for international B2B markets, supporting profitable growth through data-driven pricing decisions.
- Designed and implemented dynamic pricing strategies based on market demand, competitor activity, vehicle characteristics, and inventory levels.
- Collaborated with Product Management, Data Science, and Engineering teams to improve pricing algorithms and automate pricing processes.
- Conducted market research, competitor analysis, and pricing performance reviews to identify opportunities for margin improvement and revenue growth.
- Trained and coached Sales teams on value-based pricing principles, negotiation strategies, and pricing best practices.
- Ensured pricing compliance with legal and regulatory requirements while maintaining pricing consistency across multiple markets.
- Demonstrated agility in responding to rapidly changing market conditions, enabling the business to remain competitive while protecting profitability.
Education
Master of Science - International Business Engineering
SRH Heidelberg University
Heidelberg03-2017
Bachelor of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering
RTM Nagpur University
Chandrapur05-2012
Skills
Pricing Strategy
Value-Based Pricing
Commercial Excellence
Revenue & Margin Optimization
Pricing Transformation
Pricing Governance
Product & Portfolio Pricing
Market & Competitor Intelligence
Cross-functional Leadership
SAP ECC (SD/MM)
Microsoft Excel (Advanced)
Change Management
Timeline
Pricing Head – Northern Europe (DACH, BENSCAN, UK)
Valeo Service Deutschland GmbH
09.2023 - Current
Senior Pricing Manager
AUTO1 GmbH & Co. KG
02.2022 - 08.2023
Pricing Manager
Auto1 GmbH & Co. KG.
10.2018 - 01.2022
Master of Science - International Business Engineering
SRH Heidelberg University
Bachelor of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering
RTM Nagpur University