Senior Brand Manager - Coffee

ABOUT THE ROLE
Lead the Coffee business for the Cluster across Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Bahrain, managing the full Coffee portfolio, including Pure Soluble, Mixes, Portioned Coffee, and Ready-to-Drink (RTD) categories. The Senior Brand Manager will shape and implement the Cluster Coffee strategy, adapting MENA brand strategies into locally relevant plans while identifying and driving local growth opportunities across the portfolio, innovation, communication, and consumer engagement. This role will oversee a team of two and collaborate closely with regional and local cross-functional teams to enhance consumer penetration, particularly among younger demographics, while maintaining market share growth. The position also involves managing the Coffee PFME budget, prioritizing investments to support significant growth opportunities and continually tracking brand, consumer, and commercial performance.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Consumer, Shopper & Category Leadership

• Develop a thorough understanding of Coffee consumers, shoppers, consumption occasions, channels, and competitive landscape in Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Bahrain, ensuring tailored strategies for each market.
• Advocate for consumer and shopper centricity throughout the Coffee business, transforming insights into actionable growth strategies.
• Identify strategies to increase household penetration and attract new consumers, especially younger demographics, through targeted portfolio, communication, innovation, and activation strategies.
• Recognize and respond to emerging consumer needs, cultural trends, and changing Coffee occasions to create locally relevant opportunities in the portfolio.

Business & Brand Planning

• Lead the formulation of annual business and brand plans for the Coffee category aligned with the MENA strategy and Integrated Commercial Planning process, translating regional strategies into local growth plans and determining the need for locally developed initiatives.
• Establish clear strategic priorities by brand, segment, market, consumer, occasion, and channel.
• Collaborate with Sales, Commercial Development, Finance, Demand & Supply Planning, and other relevant functions to ensure brand plans, activity calendars, and customer strategies are aligned with commercial execution, achieving penetration, recruitment, market share, and brand health objectives.
• Monitor business and brand performance; proactively identify opportunities, risks, and necessary corrective actions while leading regular performance reviews with Cluster leadership and MENA Category teams, providing clear, insight-based recommendations.

Portfolio, Pricing & Promotional Strategy

• Direct the local implementation of the Coffee portfolio strategy by market, brand, pack format, and consumption occasion, ensuring each brand and segment plays a significant role in driving growth.
• Assess portfolio opportunities and gaps to enhance penetration and sustainable category growth.
• Contribute to pricing and promotional strategies in alignment with regional guidance and local market realities while collaborating with cross-functional teams on promotional plans that support brand and category strategies.
• Analyze portfolio, pricing, and promotional performance; recommend optimization actions to safeguard long-term brand equity and support sustainable business growth.

Brand Building, Communication & Consumer Engagement

Regional Campaign Localization & Amplification

• Adapt regional brand strategies, key concepts, and communication platforms into locally relevant engagement plans, amplifying regional campaigns while maintaining brand consistency and maximizing local relevance.
• Create integrated plans that span media, digital, social, influencer, eCommerce, shopper, and experiential channels, collaborating with Media, eBusiness, A&P, and Commercial Development on the optimal touchpoint and media strategy.
• Ensure compliance with brand properties and execution requirements, including tone of voice, visual identity, casting, and product presentation.
• Monitor communication effectiveness through relevant brand, media, digital, and consumer KPIs, using results to inform clear learnings and optimization strategies.

Local Campaign Creation

• Lead the development of locally developed campaigns and activations from initial consumer insights and briefing through objectives and KPIs to execution and post-campaign assessment.
• Guide agency partners across creative channels to ensure high-quality strategic thinking, creativity, and execution.
• Ensure that all locally created content maintains strong consumer relevance and adheres to the overarching brand strategy.
• Create locally relevant content, partnerships, and cultural activations to enhance brand relevance and attract younger consumers.

Innovation & Renovation

• Discover local opportunities for innovation and renovation based on consumer needs, Coffee trends, portfolio gaps, and commercial potential.
• Provide vital input into category ideation and MENA innovation pipelines, ensuring local opportunities are prioritized based on relevance and commercial viability.
• Serve as Marketing lead for relevant local I2L projects in accordance with I2L governance, managing Marketing's role in business cases, including consumer propositions, pricing, volume forecasts, investment requirements, and launch strategies.
• Oversee the end-to-end deployment of new products and renovations, including any Cluster-specific packaging or SKUs, coordinating portfolio, packaging, communication, customer activation, and launch readiness across functions.
• Evaluate post-launch performance and consumer feedback, identifying insights and initiating corrective actions as necessary.

PFME & Performance Management

• Manage the Coffee PFME budget for the Cluster, crafting annual recommendations based on brand, market, and initiative, concentrating investments on high-impact growth priorities.
• Maintain strong budget oversight, tracking expenditures against approved budgets, and proactively suggesting reallocations based on shifting opportunities and performance.
• Enhance marketing investment effectiveness and efficiency through clearly defined objectives, KPIs, evaluations, and post-activity learnings.
• Collaborate with Finance, understanding key business drivers like volume, pricing, mix, promotions, and marketing investments to ensure recommendations support sustainable and profitable growth.
• Monitor key Coffee indicators, such as market share, household penetration, consumer recruitment, and brand health; translate results into actionable plans for Cluster and regional leadership.

People & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop the Coffee Marketing team by establishing clarity on priorities and outcomes, fostering capabilities through regular feedback and development opportunities, nurturing a high-performance, consumer-focused culture of collaboration and agility.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams in Marketing, Sales, Commercial Development, Finance, Demand & Supply Planning, eBusiness, Media, and Communications to achieve the Coffee agenda.
• Forge strong relationships with MENA Category teams to ensure Cluster opportunities and requirements are accurately represented in regional decisions.
• Influence senior stakeholders through strategic insight, commercial understanding, and evidence-based recommendations.
• Prioritize initiatives effectively across brands, markets, and projects, concentrating the organization’s focus on opportunities with the most substantial impact.

Executional Excellence & Governance

• Ensure impeccable execution of Coffee plans across all channels and consumer touchpoints by maintaining high project management standards and monitoring delivery against agreed timelines, taking corrective actions when necessary.
• Guarantee all brand activities comply with company policies, brand guidelines, local regulations, responsible marketing standards, and relevant approval processes.
• Proactively identify and address executional, financial, operational, and reputational risks associated with marketing initiatives.

WHAT WILL MAKE YOU SUCCESSFUL

• Extensive and progressive marketing experience within FMCG or similar consumer-centric industries, with a proven record of achieving brand and business growth.
• Demonstrated experience in leading and developing teams is essential.
• Proven track record in core brand building, consumer communication, portfolio management, and business planning.
• Strong consumer and shopper orientation, with the capability to translate insights into distinct growth strategies.
• Valued experience managing multiple brands, segments, or complex portfolios; beverage experience is preferred, though not mandatory for Coffee category.
• Proven history of developing locally relevant consumer initiatives while adhering to regional or global brand frameworks.
• Experienced in leading product launches, innovation, or intricate renovation projects involving cross-functional teams.
• Solid grasp of brand and product P&L drivers and the ability to link marketing decisions to business results, with evident experience managing substantial marketing budgets and prioritizing investments.
• Strong media, digital marketing, social media, influencer marketing, content, and eCommerce knowledge.
• Demonstrated analytical capability coupled with sound commercial judgment, able to convert data into clear actions.
• Excellent leadership, project management, and stakeholder management skills, with the capability to sway senior stakeholders and lead cross-functional teams within a matrix organization.
• Strong communication, presentation, storytelling abilities, high learning agility, curiosity, and a decisive action bias.
• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or a related field; fluency in Arabic and English is required.