Senior Sales Planning & Activation Manager

This role offers a fantastic opportunity to join one of the most exciting spirits companies in the World. The Sazerac Company produces and markets some of the most popular brands across a range of spirits including Buffalo Trace, Southern Comfort, Fireball, Paddy Irish Whiskey and Buzzballz – to name but a few!

Since 1850, Sazerac Company has thrived as an independent, American family-owned company with operations in the United States and around the world. Since 2008, Sazerac has experienced double-digit growth every year! We attribute our success to a unique blend of our culture, relationships, innovation, and most importantly, our people. Whether you are a recent graduate or an experienced professional, Sazerac provides extraordinary opportunities for growth with competitive salaries and benefits in an exciting, entrepreneurial industry.

This is a senior role that leads the development and execution of best-in-class trade marketing and brand activation strategies across the UK for both Sazerac owned brands and our agency/distributor portfolio.

The role builds and executes the trade marketing/brand objectives across all UK Sales channels in conjunction with our European Brand & Shopper team.

Key Responsibilities:

Sales Cycle Planning

• Build the annual trade marketing calendar for the UK aligned to brand priorities and execution objectives. (Cycle planning).

• Design and deliver multi-channel execution strategies tailored to sales channels (IFT, National On Premise, Convenience, Grocery) – In partnership with channel leads and brand team.

Leadership & Stakeholder Management

• Act as the key link/bridge between brand marketing, sales, and shopper/insight departments.
• Influence and support the National Account and Field Sales teams with tools, activations, and commercial updates.
• Update and present upcoming activity in timely manner to allow for optimal sales performance.
• Liaise with European Marketing / Shopper teams to align on brand and execution priorities.

Executional Excellence

• Ensure brand equity and consistency across all customer-facing materials and activations
• Build and develop ‘Perfect Store, Perfect Venue and Perfect Depot’ in partnership with brand teams to drive executional excellence across all channels.
• Work with NSPC to ensure that all execution objectives are measured and drive a ROS increase.
• Monitor ROI of all activity.

Performance & Insights (winning with data).

• Own post-activation analysis and reporting/feedback.
• Partner with category, sales, and consumer insight teams to identify opportunities and build activation plans.
• Monitor competitor activity & market trends

Budget/Agency Management

• Manage and optimise the UK trade marketing budget, ensuring efficiency and maximum brand impact
• Brief and oversee external agencies (creative, POS, logistics, sampling, etc.) to deliver high-standard executions on time and within budget.