Senior Manager, International RTD and Geo Expansion Innovation

The alc/bev industry is an exciting, dynamic, and fast-paced business. Suntory Global Spirits is a top player in the spirits business and focused on becoming a top player within the Ready to Drink category, capturing new consumers and occasions not currently being serviced by our full bottle strength spirit brands in our key markets.

This individual will serve as an integral part of the International RTD innovation team to drive growth in an exciting category and will have the opportunity to shape Suntory Global Spirits’s long-term ambitions in the Ready to Drink Space in International markets.

Opportunity to work on an exciting, priority category – to set and implement brand strategies in conjunction with cross-functionals (R&D, Finance, Consumer Insights, etc.), and to partner with sales/commercial teams to ensure execution of strategies and tactics.

Serve as lead brand steward in developing plans to extend Suntory Global Spirits’s presence in the Ready To Drink category in International markets.

Role Responsibilities:

• Develop and lead the multi-year international RTD innovation and geographic expansion strategy across international markets, identifying priority markets, consumer needs, occasions, demand spaces, price tiers, formats and propositions that can drive incremental portfolio growth.
• Identify and prioritize where the RTD portfolio has the greatest right to win internationally, assessing market attractiveness, consumer relevance, category dynamics, brand fit, competitive intensity, route-to-market feasibility and scalability to inform investment and sequencing decisions.
• Define expansion strategies for priority RTD brands, determining where propositions can scale consistently across markets and where adaptation of liquid, flavor, ABV, format, pack, positioning, price or activation is required to unlock local relevance.
• Lead and/or support international RTD innovation and market-entry initiatives from opportunity identification through commercialization, establishing clear priorities, stage gates, resources and timelines across multiple brands and markets.
• Lead concept and proposition development for international RTD opportunities, including consumer proposition, positioning, brand identity, liquid and flavor strategy, packaging, format and key consumer touchpoints.
• Lead cross-functional and multi-market teams through the end-to-end innovation and expansion process, aligning Marketing, Insights, R&D, Packaging, Supply Chain, Finance, Commercial, Legal/Regulatory and local market stakeholders from initial opportunity through launch.
• Partner closely with Consumer Insights and market teams to build a deep understanding of local consumer behaviour occasions, tensions and unmet needs that should shape innovation and determine whether existing portfolio brands can credibly meet them.
• Direct and influence the R&D product and packaging teams to develop excellence in taste delivery and pack presentation.
• Lead post-launch and market-expansion performance reviews, identifying drivers of consumer adoption and commercial performance and recommending optimization, further geographic expansion, continued investment or discontinuation.
• Systematically embed learnings into future market-entry and innovation decisions.
• Champion international innovation excellence, continuously improving tools, processes, decision criteria and ways of working to increase innovation quality, speed-to-market, organizational learning and the probability of scalable commercial success.

Qualifications & Experience:

• 7 years Consumer Marketing or Brand innovation experience or a similar amount of solid experience in a related field.
• Experience in Beer or RTD required.
• BA required, (MBA preferred).
• Up to 30% travel.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with ability to communicate effectively in a multicultural, cross functional organization and a strong ability to develop and foster internal and external partnerships.
• Self-starter, flexible and comfortable working in unstructured environment, and able to manage multiple priorities effortlessly.
• Passionate and determined, committed to delivering projects on-time and above expectations.
• Demonstrated experience in working across and up, within the organization, gaining credibility amongst peers, managers and other commercial leadership.
• Resourceful, with a problem-solving attitude and willingness to think creatively to reach resolutions.
• Collaborative and able to build bridges across cross-functional teams and geographies; more specifically strong communicator, active listening skills, ability to listen for feedback and validate and address concerns; and excellent influencing and presentation skills.