Job Purpose 
This customer-centric role leads the strategic intersection of brand worth, product innovation, customer engagement and sales. This role leads the holistic view of brand and business, both short and long term, both internally and externally with our licensee partners. It is critical that this leader synthesizes the needs of all stakeholders and develops integrated marketing and product plans that will drive brand relevancy while delighting customers with craveable moments that only Starbucks can. 

From a marketing perspective, this leader will be the brand guardian by ensuring that all forms of communication and communication channels upholds the brand mission and values, drives a strong emotional connection of quality and worth and delivers a distinctiveness that positions Starbucks as an aspirational, premium brand (head and shoulders above its competition). This leader will lead a cross-functional team, internally and externally via agencies, to develop a roadmap and executional plan to deliver against every aspect of the purchasing funnel.  At the top of the funnel, it is critical to build and sustain an always-on brand reputation message, delivering and affirming brand love and brand worth. Then, highly effective seasonal campaign development is crucial to drive awareness, traffic, trial and repeat to deliver annual sales targets, regardless of ownership model across EMEA. This leader must be effective in taking marketplace and customer insights to come to a strategy and executional plan that is embraced by geo-licensees to ensure that the brand had proper buy-in and investments to ensure commercial success. The ability to influence broadly will be critical to this role.

From a product perspective, this leader is equally obsessed with the customer and wants to create the most Starbucks-worthy, coveted and craveable beverage moments. This leader will develop the innovation strategy, pipeline and execution plans on a rolling +18 months – leveraging the bestselling and/or newest innovations globally and adapting it for EMEA while also finding high impact, high incremental volume local and culturally relevant beverages to drive brand love with our largest geo-licensees. This role contributes to Starbucks success by driving high demand while delivering revenue, margin and brand metrics for the EMEA retail business. This role will boldly innovate to keep ahead of competition but equally delivering against the lens of brand, customer needs, creativity and profitability. This role not only leads product category but also the R&D function for EMEA

Summary of Key Responsibilities:    

• Serve as brand guardian from brand reputation to trust to sustained engagement, across all aspects of the customer and product journey, from strategy to roadmap to execution
• Lead overarching brand strategy for EMEA by melding the global guardrails for mission and values with regional and local nuances so brand is culturally relevant and endearing to customers across 42 markets; Leverage marketplace insights, customer and brand sentiments to build an enduring, always-on communication platform that will drive awareness, interest, engagement and loyalty over time
• Champion EMEA customer segmentation, driving relevancy with Gen Z while not alienating older audiences; Keeping eye on future generations (Gen Alpha) and determining when to pivot marketing to continue brand relevancy into the future
• Bring to life multi-year brand strategy and communication plans across all paid, owned and earned channels through equity and licensed market relationships
• Lead digital first strategy and communication plans through partnering with EMEA Digital Customer Experience & Loyalty team to ensure harmonised brand experience and connectivity with customers
• Lead agency relationships including strategic creative agency and marketing services agency to ensure along with their satellite offices that all insights and inputs to campaigns are accounted for and reflect cross market and cross functional requirements. 
• Ensure marketing strategies and executional plans are aligned with overarching business goals and objectives, and are created with the mindset to “grow for both,” when it comes to Starbucks EMEA and geo-licensees;
• Tracks customer and marketplace trends to adjust and modify marketing plans as needed to deliver business goals;
• Need to have broad influencing skills and strong relationships with licensees to ensure buy-in and adequate investments are made to drive footfall and transactions, both short and long-term
• Liaise closely with International and Licensee Marketing teams to ensure power of ‘one brand ‘and excellent execution of customer communication
• Foster and inspire partners, within and beyond immediate team, to build personal business acumen and to achieve business objectives through personal goals and objectives
• Forges strong relationships and networks with global teams, internal stakeholders and brand partners to ensure market ambitions are achieved through communication and collaboration
• Conducts and ensures timely completion of performance reviews and provides ongoing coaching and guidance to teams
• Based on detailed understanding and interpretation of consumer and market trends and product performance, leads the development, implementation, and review of strategic and annual plans for each category in the EMEA market to build the brand, maximise the sales, and margin opportunity.
• Leads and develops the annual operating plan for the food, beverage, and retail lobby categories including products, pricing, promotion and distribution.
• Provides a single point of category leadership contact across all ownership models, ensuring strong relationships and insights are sought, making sure that relevant developments in food and beverage category are consulted and clearly communicated to all stakeholders.
• Challenges and inspires partners both within the team and wider business to achieve business results through own objectives and personal development.
• Inspires the EMEA category teams to deliver category objectives through effective cross-functional operations, management and implementation.  Challenges the status quo to drive continuous business improvement consistent with the increasing scale, profitability and pace of the business. 
• Leads the team in innovation to develop new product marketing and merchandising strategies and to define positioning marketing, pricing, space, packaging, advertising, assortment, inventory management and distribution plans to ensure incremental growth and long-term stability.
• Leveraging Starbucks Supply Chain (purchasing) infrastructure, manages the category and R&D teams in the development of new products and product-related marketing opportunities, from concept through implementation strategies, for new and existing products, including nomenclature and packaging.
• Oversees product development and ensures diligent execution. Guides team to proactively gather, analyse and maintain product and technology trend information and supports idea generation sessions to initiate creation of new concepts, product and technology opportunities to support the R&D plan.
• Identifies & briefs potential suppliers (in consultation with supply chain) & manages their development of key ingredients & products in line with category briefs, blue-sky innovation & business initiatives. Develops & maintains key industry relationships
• Sets a high bar for product quality and leads the team towards delivery of improvements. Also designs and conducts bench top experiments and tests
• Works closely the Operations team to find ways to streamline and improve beverage preparation. Partnering with Global R&D function to implement new ideas
• Partners cross-functionally and with the Licensees to develop local products and/ or manage 3rd party agencies or suppliers
• Leads the strategic pricing approach for EMEA equity markets. Ensures that frameworks and support are in place to support business partners in accordance with the Starbucks EMEA legal department’s guidelines. 
• Creates communication content for stores to ensure clear, straight-forward and effective implementation and sale of new products, including briefs concerning packaging, other concepts and product-related marketing initiatives.
• Creates rigor in project management of R&D function, for example:
• Tracks & oversees all development projects briefed by category or QA to perfect execution
• Agrees on project requirements and project plans
• Provides prioritisation of projects and allocates resources
• Manages the development project information flow and updates cross-functional team, management and senior management where necessary
• Oversees product testing to meet or exceed customer requirements and regulatory standards
• Takes full accountability of all data & information related to products (e.g., BOMs, SKU set-up). Sets up structure and process to manage technical aspects of R&D function. Research, development and optimization of processes and technologies used in the preparation of beverages and management of product information. Challenges the status quo to drive continuous business improvements
• Defines key performance indicators and metrics to measure the effectiveness of the EMEA Product & Marketing function. Oversees performance of key product indicators and marketing indicators and has a good understanding of contribution to ‘sales’ (e.g., USDs across markets) of categories, campaigns and new product introductions
• Conducts and ensures timely completion of performance reviews and provides ongoing coaching and guidance to teams.
• Ensures close collaboration with equity and non-equity business partners to align strategic product and category objectives and priorities.
• Builds and maintains relationships with strategic industry and cross-functional partners. Works closely with the Global, Americas, China, Japan, APAC, and Canada teams on key product areas to ensure EMEA shares and benefits from programmes & best practices.

Overall - Knowledge, Skills and Experience

1. Extensive experience in marketing and product experience within an innovative, fast-paced environment, ideally in a premium retail environment
2. P&L and budget responsibility
3. Proven experience in leading campaign strategy, operational business plans and trend understanding and interpretation
4. Experience of leading campaign development projects from inspiration to completion in a branded business
5. Commercial sales analysis 
6. Well-developed strategic and operational capabilities
7. Highly computer literate with excellent Excel and PowerPoint skills
8. Team leadership skills
9. Project management/an ability to hit deadlines
10. Commercial acumen and proven campaign management skills
11. An excellent written and verbal communicator
12. Strong influencing skills with experience influencing senior leadership teams to decisions
13. Proven ability to lead teams that others wish to follow