Senior Brand Manager Africa

WHAT YOU WILL DO

The role will cover East and West Africa and will have dual reporting to the Marketing Director and to the Country Manager including:

Strategic Brand Alignment – Skills in maintaining global brand positioning and guiding portfolio strategy and innovation pipeline.

Data-Driven Performance – Proficiency in leveraging Nielsen and EPOS insights for KPI tracking, ROI analysis, and regional reporting.

Communication & Governance – Capability to manage agency briefs and ensure consistent messaging across clusters while balancing short- and long-term goals. 

Local Market Execution – Expertise in adapting global strategies to local consumer insights and communication plans for cultural relevance.

Sales & Trade Integration – Strong collaboration skills to drive Numeric/Weighted distribution, SPPD growth, and SKU rankings through actionable plans.

Operational Planning – Ability to feed category outputs into S&OP and manage tactical promotions aligned with local business priorities.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Portfolio management, new product development activities and the implementation of marketing activities (consumer support including communication above and below the line, visibility tools) with the aim to grow sales, profitability and generally improve the business focused on our successful global brands
• It involves a close collaboration with the sales team, the factories, the R&D as well as the corporate marketing
• To coordinate the details/planning with factory & to develop the artwork in close collaboration with the artwork coordination
• To monitor and assist in local product registration
• To coordinate the operational process generated from planned BTL activities & to manage/coordinate any POS or visibility tools required.
• Local Consumer Insights: Gather and analyze country-specific trends; and communication insights; develop local communication plans and lead local market research
• Portfolio Strategy Support: Contribute insights for MEA portfolio and innovation pipeline.
• Brand Strategy Alignment:  Ensure Local initiatives align with regional/global Brand positioning
• Local Execution: Adapt global messaging to resonate with local audiences and cultural nuances.

MAIN KPI'S

• Grow Market Share across all subsegments (Gum, Compressed Mints, Chewies, Jellies, Lollipop, Marshmallow)
• Increase SKU Penetration by driving more SKUs into the top 20 rankings for total country, supermarkets, or traditional trade
• Boost Brand Awareness for Mentos Gum and Chupa Chups Jellies, measured through BHT and BLS metrics
• Deliver Innovation Success: Achieve two Gold NPD launches per country through cross-functional collaboration and ATL/BTL support
• Ensure Calendar Alignment with a fully integrated activity plan tied to PMR cycles and POs released 90 days in advance
• Lead Category Governance by hosting monthly category team meetings with documented action plans and follow-ups.