CATEGORY GROWTH & MARKETING EXCELLENCE DIRECTOR

The Category Growth & Marketing Excellence Director role exists to turn AEI’s 2035 growth ambition into a clear, repeatable and measurable growth system across the hub and markets. By setting the governance, standards, tools and capability agenda for category growth, portfolio strategy and brand-building excellence, the role enables teams to make better decisions, scale what works and execute with greater consistency.

The role strengthens trust and clarity between the HUB and markets, ensuring the organisation moves from strategy to execution with speed, discipline and commercial impact. Its wider value is to build a stronger growth engine for AEI — improving brand and portfolio performance, increasing market capability, and supporting sustainable, long-term business growth.

What you will deliver (Key Deliverables & Responsibilities):

1. Translate AEI Double 2035 strategy into clear market growth priorities, ensuring all markets reflect agreed strategic priorities in their annual plans, growth agendas and performance reviews.
2. Embed a practical hub-to-market governance rhythm, ensuring key Growth forums operate with clear agendas, decision points, ownership and follow-through tracking.
3. Establish consistent growth KPIs and scorecards, enabling comparable market performance reviews, clearer priorities and faster insight-led decision-making across AEI.
4. Develop and deploy category growth playbooks, providing markets with clear guidance on category maturity, growth priorities, strategic actions and execution standards.
5. Co-lead with SP&I the end-to-end beer category development strategy, delivering agreed category growth plays, occasion, pricing and activation principles, and market application guidance.
6. Set and embed portfolio strategy standards, ensuring clear brand roles, portfolio trade-offs, pack-price guardrails and activation priorities are consistently applied across markets.
7. Build and govern AEI brand-building excellence standards, ensuring “Be Remembered” principles, brand equity KPIs, distinctive assets and briefing standards are adopted by markets.
8. Monitor brand health and recommend strategic interventions, using agreed performance metrics to identify gaps, strengthen brand equity and improve effectiveness.
9. Scale best practices and build market capability, ensuring proven growth plays, toolkits and training are adopted through communities of practice and measured by application in market.
10. Act as a trusted CGO delegate and enterprise growth partner, building credibility with markets and senior stakeholders through clear executive recommendations, alignment and improved speed of decision-making

Experience & Qualification Requirements:

• Demonstrated experience in FMCG or similarly complex consumer categories, ideally within multi-country, regional or global environments.
• Strong experience in category development, portfolio strategy, brand-building excellence and commercial growth drivers.
• Proven track record in translating growth strategy into measurable business outcomes across markets or business units.
• Experience building and embedding operating models, governance rhythms, planning processes, scorecards or marketing excellence frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders across markets and functions, including GMs/MDs, Commercial Directors, Marketing Directors and executive leadership. 
• Experience leading cross-market initiatives that improve areas such as penetration, market share, brand health, portfolio mix, premiumisation, margin or execution quality. 
• Experience operating in ambiguous or developing organisational environments where influence, clarity and practical value creation are critical

Qualifications

• Degree-level qualification in Business, Marketing, Commercial Management, Economics or a related field is preferred.
• Additional qualification or executive education in marketing, strategy, commercial excellence, general management or leadership would be an advantage.
• Strong command of English, with the ability to communicate clearly and confidently in senior, international forums.
• Strong analytical and storytelling skills, with the ability to convert complex inputs into clear recommendations, decision papers and executive-level narratives.

We are committed to nurturing a workplace where we celebrate and respect difference, and support everyone to be true to who they are! At Asahi Europe and International we believe you can SHINE AS YOU ARE - no matter your age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities, religion, or beliefs. We want to support you to be courageous in your individuality and to know that whoever you are and whatever your circumstances, you can belong with us without having to conform.