Global Senior Brand Manager - Johnnie Walker

Job Description :

Context:

International Whisk(e)y is critical to Diageo’s growth ambition with an ambition to remain the undisputed leader in Whisk(e)y by F30, growing +6% NSV CAGR to hit $9bn NSV with 28% market share. In this resilient & cyclical category, we have a strong participation strategy with our broad portfolio of brilliant brands that stretch across all the key CCF value pools (5 of our biggest brands are in the IW top 20 with Johnnie Walker has strengthening its #1 position in 2024). Now is the time to accelerate the performance of our whisk(e)y brands o put clear blue water between ourselves and the competition and for this we need top L5 talent to deliver exciting, globally resonant projects.

We are currently looking for talented, driven SBMs who want to grow their leadership experience & sphere of influence: on our no.1 flagship brand, and the biggest international whiskey brand in the world: Johnnie Walker.

Huge growth opportunity: To succeed, we must retain #1 brand with Johnnie Walker

We have two strategic approaches to driving Diageo Whisk(e)y growth in the future:

1. We need to continue to accelerate recruitment across all markets, building a larger and more diverse Whisk(e)y consumer base.  Recruitment requires continual attention, and our ambition is to grow the current base of 400M consumers by recruiting +15M new consumers into Whisk(e)y by F28.

2. We will also take a more broad-based approach to premiumization. Premiumization is not just about growing at the top, we must focus on motivating consumers to trade up at every price tier. One of our biggest sources of competitive advantage is our portfolio of Whisk(e)y brands, which has broad coverage of the market and across price tiers. Driving repertoire premiumization fits our new macro-economic context. To continue to grow and adapt to the changing socializing context, we will optimize the power of our portfolio by positioning our variants to ensure that we participate and win across the scale, growing TBA value pools. 

As IW plays such a critical role in Diageo’s growth ambition, it is a great team in which to cement experience as a business leader, not only a marketing leader.

Working on IW is a brilliant opportunity for candidates who love building broad & deep relationships across the business. As well as leading their own projects, team members will need to work collaboratively through and with others, be it markets or cross-functional teams. SBM roles in IW present excellent opportunities to develop the leadership skills needed for higher-level roles due to the relationship complexity and senior exposure.   

Global SBM roles are fantastic opportunities for ambitious L5A candidates. The roles require significant leadership skills, especially in Inspire Through Purpose to build strong multi-market and cross-functional relationships and Shape The Future, the ability to build a strong vision and shape a compelling narrative on how individual projects deliver the overall IW business plan. The role dimensions are large, leading key asset development and projects on the priority brands. Projects could include, but not limited to: leading projects across different functional marketing workstreams from Social to BTL to innovation; Internal Engagement; CCT collaboration.

Dimensions

a.) Financial

The ambition is to retain the no.1 IW company by F30via:

• +6% NSV and +3% volume CAGR growth

• Extending #1 IW share, growing +0.75% value share YOY

• Recruiting ~15M new consumers into Whisk(e)y

For our Johnnie Waklker, this means: strengthening Johnnie Walker’s category leadership & #1 position

b.) Market Complexity

Managing IW brands involves significant market complexity. With all regions contributing signficanrly to global NSV, spanning across multiple countries with different cultural nuances and stages of development such: Greater China, US, Mexico, Brazil, GB, Global Travel, Turkey, India.

c.) Structural Complexity

There is an ongoing polarity between IW growth ambition and maximising the value of our liquid goal – candidates need to be very comfortable understanding price, mix and allocations to ensure IW can help unlock Diageo’s business ambitions.

d.) Leadership Responsibilities

These roles report directly into L3 Directors. There is a natural complexity which comes with managing IW brands given the growth vision of the business and the vast global stretch. Key leadership responsibilities will include:

• A deep accountability for supporting markets in strategy & execution. ‘Markets as heroes’ mindset. Broad & deep relationships across markets to orchestrate the malts agenda across all levels of the business.

• Strategic & creative marketing skills. Consumer-back thinking & insights used to build powerful, sustainable, brands. Experience across full mix of functional marketing capability

• Ability to simplify the complex – clear storytelling skills

• Driving excellent standards of execution in all touchpoints – winning in execution through others by enrolling them behind the vision

• Ability to lead complex brand architecture & role of portfolio, brand & variant

• Ability to understand commercial levers (allocation, pricing & promotion), working closely with expert specialists (Commercial Leads, Supply) and communicating clear narratives to markets

• Lead, Inspire, be of service to and influence a cross functional team of resources from Supply, Finance, Innovation managers, RTM/Commercial, agencies & in-market marketing teams

• Must have great business acumen and judgement across all elements of the business world.  From supply to sales, the person must lead through experience.

• Move from strategy to execution with ease

• A self-starter, the best candidates will identify & champion key actions required to deliver the IW ambition

Qualifications and Experience:

Significant Marketing experience, including digital content creation.  A minimum of 6 years of experience in brand management. Strong marketing leadership with a consistent record of creating strategies that build brands and translated into winning execution is a must. Backgrounds that include Commercial or Customer Marketing experience would be a plus, as would experience in Luxury brands.  A career path which clearly points to significant “business changing accomplishments.” Broad experience in marketing functional capability including: P&L management, insight, strategic planning, commercial acumen, innovation, content creation and trade/customer marketing.

Strong relationship building and alignment skills. Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams to deliver transformational growth. Able to build strong relationships with broad spectrum of people and align them through to delivery. Engenders total business ownership and trust; has strong cultural sensitivities.

Managing complexity. Track record of handling multiple priorities, stakeholders and juggling multiple projects and complex project pipeline.

Strong drive, delivery and determination.  Resilience is Key! The ideal candidate will have a track record of consistently delivering strong performance.

• Educated to Graduate level, preferably within Marketing or a business related

• Shown in developing senior stakeholder relationships and working through people.

• Tried ability to think strategically and drive long-term business growth across a complex and broad portfolio. 

• Comfortable w/in paced, ambiguous, entrepreneurial, and matrixed organization.

• Possesses a strong creative mind and ability to get strong creative ideas, leading edge marketing out of teams/ agencies

Worker Type :

Regular

Primary Location:

Amsterdam

Additional Locations :

Job Posting Start Date :

2026-01-22