Senior Manager, Creative in London

Senior Manager, Creative in London

London Full-Time 60000 - 80000 £ / year (est.) No working from home possible
Coca-cola

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Create and execute shopper-focused content that brings Coca-Cola brands to life.
  • Company: Join Coca-Cola, a global leader in refreshing beverages with a creative culture.
  • Benefits: Enjoy a dynamic work environment, full ownership of projects, and opportunities for innovation.
  • Other info: Collaborate with top brand leaders and agencies in a fast-paced, multicultural setting.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact on how consumers experience Coca-Cola at the point of purchase.
  • Qualifications: 5+ years in creative roles with strong design skills and agency experience.

The predicted salary is between 60000 - 80000 £ per year.

The Senior Manager, Creative (Shopper) GB is responsible for developing, localizing and executing shopper focused content and instore activation assets that bring Coca-Cola brands to life across the GB retail and away from home landscape. This is a new local role, introduced only in Top 9 markets to enhance local relevance, commercial integration, and end to end creative excellence from sell-in to shelf.

As Smartwater, Costa, Stills, CCTM, and Sparkling Flavours categories accelerate in GB, the need for high impact shopper creative—tailored to retailer, channel, format, and consumption occasion—has become critical. This role ensures that local brand plans translate into breakthrough, insight driven shopper assets, optimized for POS, retail media, grocery multiples, convenience, forecourts, and foodservice outlets.

Working within the GB Integrated Marketing Experience team, this Senior Manager collaborates closely with local brand teams, Commercial, Shopper, RGM, bottler partners, and external agencies to deliver shopper-ready creative that converts demand into purchase, while strengthening brand equity at the point of choice. This role is hands-on, executional, and requires a strong understanding of shopper communication principles, design know-how, creative judgment, channel and retail understanding, familiarity of bottlers dynamics and the ability to work autonomously without central support.

What You’ll Do for Us
  • Shopper Strategy & Development: Develop shopper-focused creative ideas and activation concepts that connect brand strategy to retail execution across GB customers and channels. Translate brand narratives, global creative ideas, and IMX plans into channels specific simple and break-through shopper creative that drives conversion and visibility. Ensure creative solutions reflect shopper insights and principles, category triggers, customer needs, and consumption occasions.
  • POS, Retail & Customer Specific Creative: Lead creation or adaptation of instore and POS assets including shelf strips, gondola ends, wobblers, barkers, display units, digital commerce assets, retail media assets, and promotional material. Work with bottlers to localize central shopper material to local realities mastering Coca-Cola Tech tools (like ShopX). Implement local campaigns leveraging 360 integrated activation eco-system, when applicable. Adapt master creative assets into contextually relevant, retailers specific executions that respect customer guidelines while maintaining brand integrity. Develop or adapt creative for sell-in materials (customer decks, visuals, mockups, display concepts) working closely with Commercial and Shopper teams.
  • Cross Functional Collaboration: Partner with local brand teams to ensure end-to-end integration of creative across brand, shopper, and commercial plans. Work closely with Commercial & Channel, RGM, Shopper Marketing, Insights, and bottler partners to optimize creative impact at point of choice. Ensure creative assets ladder up to Integrated Marketing Experience and Total Connections plans. Partner and align with central shopper team to ensure local plans are utilising best practice and latest insights. Deploy latest shopper tools to streamline and increase efficiencies and speed.
  • Agency & Partner Management: Manage external creative, design, and production agencies to execute high-quality shopper assets efficiently and on-time. Provide clear briefs, feedback loops, and creative direction to ensure output meets strategic and executional standards. When needed, produce or adapt lightweight creative content using design tools (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.).
  • Creative Excellence & Performance: Ensure all shopper creative adheres to brand guidelines, design systems, VIS, and packaging principles outlined by central Operating Unit shopper team. Evaluate creative effectiveness through A/B testing, AI testing tools and shopper behavioural studies. Identify opportunities to innovate with new shopper formats, retail technologies, digital signage, and retail media platforms.
  • Ways of Working & Leadership Behaviours: Operate independently as a hands-on Shopper expert within the local GB network model (no central support). Collaborate, and act as key community member with Central Operating Unit Shopper/Integrated Marketing Experience team. Bring curiosity, problems solving, and “startup mindset” to unlock shopper impact with limited budgets. Influence without authority, partnering with cross-functional teams and bottlers to champion creative excellence at shelf.
Qualifications & Requirements:
  • Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Creative Design, Graphic Design, Marketing, Communications, or related field.
  • 5+ years of creative experience in agency or client-side roles with shopper, retail, or POS content development.
  • Demonstrated experience creating shopper, retailer, digital, social, experiential creative assets.
  • Strong conceptual and design skills, with the ability to both ideate and execute.
  • Understanding of print and production guidelines and confidence with Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign).
  • Experience working with agencies, printers, production partners, and cross-functional teams.
  • Strong understanding of bottlers’ dynamics of retail environments, shopper behaviour, and customer specific creative requirements.
  • Excellent collaboration, communication, and stakeholder influencing skills.
  • Ability to manage multiple creative projects simultaneously under tight deadlines.
  • Comfortable working in a fast paced, multicultural, highly networked environment.
What We Can Do for You:
  • Shopper Impact: Drive how consumers experience Coca-Cola brands at the most critical moment — the point of purchase.
  • Creative Playground: Opportunity to experiment with shopper formats, retail innovation, and new creative technologies.
  • Local Empowerment: Full ownership of GB shopper creative — a new, high visibility capability in a Top 9 market.
  • Creative Culture: Work alongside best in class brand leaders, agencies, and designers in a creative, innovative environment.

Senior Manager, Creative in London employer: Coca-cola

Coca-Cola is an exceptional employer, offering a vibrant and innovative work culture that empowers employees to take ownership of their creative projects. Located in London, the Senior Manager, Creative role provides unique opportunities for professional growth and collaboration with top-tier brand leaders and agencies, all while driving impactful shopper experiences at the point of purchase. With a commitment to inclusivity and continuous learning, Coca-Cola fosters an environment where creativity thrives and employees can make a meaningful difference.

Coca-cola

Contact Details:

Coca-cola Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Senior Manager, Creative in London

Tip Number 1

Network like a pro! Reach out to people in the industry, attend events, and connect with potential colleagues on LinkedIn. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings or can put in a good word for you.

Tip Number 2

Show off your creative flair! When you get the chance to meet hiring managers or recruiters, bring a portfolio that highlights your best work. Make it visually appealing and relevant to the role you're applying for—this is your chance to shine!

Tip Number 3

Prepare for interviews by researching the company and its culture. Understand their brand values and think about how your skills align with their goals. This will help you answer questions confidently and show that you're genuinely interested in the role.

Tip Number 4

Don’t forget to follow up after interviews! A simple thank-you email can go a long way in keeping you top of mind. It shows your enthusiasm for the position and gives you another chance to reiterate why you’re the perfect fit.

We think you need these skills to ace Senior Manager, Creative in London

Creative Design
Graphic Design
Shopper Marketing
Retail Media
Adobe Creative Suite
Project Management
Collaboration Skills

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show Your Creative Side:When you're applying for the Senior Manager, Creative role, make sure to showcase your creative flair. Use your application to demonstrate how you've developed shopper-focused content in the past. We want to see your unique style and how you can bring Coca-Cola brands to life!

Tailor Your Application:Don't just send a generic application! Tailor your CV and cover letter to highlight your experience with shopper marketing and retail execution. We love seeing how your skills align with our needs, so make it personal and relevant to the role.

Highlight Collaboration Skills:This role is all about teamwork, so be sure to mention your experience working with cross-functional teams. Share examples of how you've collaborated with brand teams, agencies, and other stakeholders to create impactful shopper assets. We value strong communicators!

Apply Through Our Website:We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it shows you’re serious about joining our team at Coca-Cola!

How to prepare for a job interview at Coca-cola

Know Your Shopper Insights

Before the interview, dive deep into understanding shopper behaviour and insights relevant to Coca-Cola's brands. Familiarise yourself with the latest trends in retail and how they impact consumer choices. This knowledge will help you demonstrate your ability to create impactful shopper-focused content.

Showcase Your Creative Portfolio

Prepare a strong portfolio that highlights your best work in shopper marketing and POS content development. Be ready to discuss specific projects where you successfully translated brand narratives into creative assets. This will showcase your design skills and your understanding of what drives conversion at the point of purchase.

Collaborate Like a Pro

Since this role involves working closely with various teams, be prepared to discuss your experience in cross-functional collaboration. Share examples of how you've partnered with different stakeholders to deliver successful campaigns. Highlight your communication skills and ability to influence without authority.

Be Ready to Adapt

Coca-Cola values creativity that respects brand integrity while being contextually relevant. During the interview, be prepared to discuss how you've adapted master creative assets for different retail environments. Show your flexibility and willingness to innovate with new formats and technologies in shopper marketing.