The Director for Brand, Innovation & Sustainability is responsible for leading Brand Marketing, Innovation and Sustainability initiatives for the region. This position will lead a team of ~5 marketers and work with a cross functional team – including local franchisees, Global Marketing, Global Sustainability, APAC Operations, APAC QA & Food Safety, and the APAC Field Team – to execute RBI’s global and regional marketing priorities in APAC. Additionally, this position will be responsible for working with our local markets to ensure proper execution of our brand standards for each of the RBI Brands, and to support the growth of our iconic brands across the region.
Responsibilities:
Brand Marketing
• Lead Brand Positioning Execution including, project management of regional and global brand initiatives, development and execution of creative and communication frameworks, brand localization projects
• Manage regional marketing calendar execution and communication workstreams, including product and marketing collateral approval and media allocation
• Lead research and insights work related to Brand Marketing goals, such as, U&A studies, Product Testing, Claims Testing, and qualitative research
• Train and immerse local franchisees and agencies on brand positioning and standards
Innovation
• Lead guest innovation workstreams including, Core Food Quality Research & Development, Breakthrough Innovation Projects, and New Country Entry Menu Development
• Collaborate with the sales team, the global culinary and innovation teams, franchisees, and vendors to identify high potential innovations and product improvement opportunities to drive future growth for the business
• Manage portfolio of vendors and partners that support product development
Sustainability Initiatives
• Lead management of RBI’s regional sustainability projects, strategy and policy setting process
• Facilitate transition to better sustainability practices, e.g. removing ingredients from artificial sources, antibiotics, etc.
• Lead workstreams for nutritional improvements, sustainable packaging, and animal welfare
• Leverage guest insights to prioritize initiatives
Core skills:
• Brand strategy and brand building
• Flexibility and motivation to learn new content, consider new resources, and innovate
• Ability to anticipate and solve complex problems and resolve issues independently / with partnership guidance
• Ability to unearth consumer insights through guest research and to develop product stories and positioning
• Excellent organization skills, with strong ability to multitask and ability to prioritize to meet deadlines, and re-prioritize as-needed
• Ability to translate complex circumstances and ideas and clear, concise, and supported recommendations
• Ability to synthesize and analyze small and large data sets into useful information, depending on the need
• Strong ability to build strong relationships with global partners and franchisees
• Ability to influence senior leaders in the organization and across different cross functional groups
• Ability to create and tell compelling business cases for product improvement and innovation
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and/or highly sensitive situations
• Hard working, owner mentality
Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in business, operations, sustainability or a related field a plus
• 10+ years of professional experience
• Experience working with high-profile consumer brands and of franchisee model a plus
• Preferred experience in Food, R&D, Consumer Marketing or related field
• Preferred experience in QSR/Retail/CPG or related industry
• Fluent in both written and conversational English; fluency in Mandarin, Korean and/or Japanese an advantage
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite programs (Excel, Word and PowerPoint)
