Brand & Marketing Director EMEA

As the Brand & Marketing Director EMEA, you will be the guardian of the brand identity and the strategic architect of our growth across the European market. You will lead the team to deliver cohesive, high-impact marketing strategies while maintaining a global brand vision. This is a hands-on leadership role that balances creative storytelling with commercial rigor. This role is also responsible for direct-to-consumer events and is part of the EMEA senior leadership team, working closely with the Brand and Marketing team in the US.

This individual will drive brand strategy, creative development, and activation efforts while leading all aspects of marketing communication. This role is ideal for a strategic thinker and strong collaborator—skilled at developing effective marketing plans and presentations, driving high-quality execution, and aligning stakeholders across all levels of the organisation, including the senior team. Exceptional planning, communication, and organisational skills are essential in this fast-paced, high-impact role.

• Orchestrating a seamless strategic alignment between our sales, marketing and product teams.
• Refine and execute a sophisticated omnichannel strategy, maintaining a balance between D2C and B2B channels.
• Drive growth across our product categories, ensuring each category resonates with our target consumer while upholding the core brand values.
• Leading the strategic marketing roadmap to grow brand awareness, engagement, and conversion across all our channels – equestrian, lifestyle, work, western and denim.
• Developing the annual marketing strategy, define brand vision, and create campaign calendars to achieve business objectives and brand positioning.
• Managing, mentoring, and guiding the marketing and events teams to foster a high-performance culture.
• Setting, managing, and allocating the marketing budget effectively for maximum return.
• Responsible for our D2C events, managing the events team to drive brand awareness and commercially successful events.
• Conducting market & competitor analysis research to identify trends, customer needs, and competitive landscapes to inform strategy.
• Monitoring KPIs, analyse campaign performance, and use data to make informed decisions.
• Ensuring consistent branding, communications, and positive company image across all channels.
• Building strong relationships with agencies, partners and other external stakeholders.
• Owning go-to-market planning and seasonal calendars to meet growth goals.
• Partnering with B2B Sales to develop campaigns and tools that drive awareness and traffic.
• Building strong relationships with the US Marketing team.
• Monitoring the competitive landscape and developing marketing strategies that differentiate the Ariat brand in the marketplace.
• Overseeing multi-channel campaigns (digital, content, PR, events, offline) to drive engagement and ROI.
• Responsibility for the design and implementation of our stand at key strategic shows including Badminton and Burghley.

• Full rounded marketeer with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in a senior marketing role, including 3+ years of people management.
• Experience of brand marketing in a European business.
• Deep knowledge and experience of digital and social marketing.
• Strong track record of presenting and advocating for market-specific marketing strategies at senior leadership level to ensure appropriate prioritisation and organisational support.
• Proven ability to build seasonal campaigns, then measure and present insights to drive leanings/improvements.
• Experience in apparel, footwear, or lifestyle.
• Spoken and written English is essential. German speaker would be desirable.
• The ability to travel without restrictions to mainland Europe and the US.
• Thoughtful and adaptive strategic thinker who can interpret needs and drive execution.
• Strong communicator with exceptional presentation skills and experience engaging senior leadership.
• Highly collaborative, with a proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and external partners.
• Comfortable with rapidly changing priorities and managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Passion for managing people and developing talent.
• Excellent leadership and team management skills to ensure marketing programs are on schedule and within budget.
• Ability to think creatively and innovatively.
• Strong analytical skills to interpret data and make data-driven decisions.
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Proficiency in marketing software and tools.
• Self-motivated, flexible, determined, a motivator, personal drive, results orientated, integrity and strong business ethics.

Our values are ingrained in everything we do at Ariat and we believe this is what drives our success as individuals, as teams and, overall, as a Company.

• Innovation - Be bold and adventurous and try new things. Constantly challenge how you can create change for the better. Learn from the past and don’t let it limit you.
• Integrity - Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. Say what you mean and do what you say. Build trust through consistency, dependability and honesty.
• Quality - All work matters. Be proud of your work and strive to have it reflect your best and the best of Ariat.
• Respect - Communicate openly, directly and constructively. Recognise different perspectives and listen with an open mind. Be thoughtful in how you show up and interact with others.
• Teamwork - Create fun and joy and contribute to the Ariat family spirit. Focus on people’s strengths. Learn from others and share your own knowledge and experience. Ask for help when you need it and offer to help when others may need it.