At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the brand strategy for Sprite across Europe, driving growth and innovation.
- Company: Join Coca-Cola, a globally recognised brand with a vibrant culture.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, annual incentives, and comprehensive benefits package.
- Other info: Dynamic work environment focused on inclusivity and continuous learning.
- Why this job: Shape the future of a beloved brand and make a cultural impact.
- Qualifications: 15+ years in marketing with strong leadership and strategic skills.
The predicted salary is between 78750 - 96250 £ per year.
Reports into: Vice President, Sparkling Flavors
Sprite is one of The Coca-Cola Company’s most globally resonant and culturally influential brands—an engine of growth, identity, and youth relevance within our total beverage portfolio. Across Europe, Sprite plays a critical role in shaping our sparkling category performance, equity leadership, and system value creation. We are seeking a highly strategic, visionary, and influential Senior Director to lead the full brand and business agenda for Sprite in Europe, driving long-term growth, cultural resonance, and sustained financial impact.
This role sits at the intersection of global brand strategy, system leadership, enterprise commercial priorities, and regional transformation, requiring exceptional strategic judgment, influence, and leadership. The Senior Director will serve as the most senior brand steward for Sprite in Europe, co-leading the long-term portfolio vision, innovation strategy, commercial acceleration roadmap, and integrated brand-building agenda across more than 40 markets. This leader will guide a cross-functional ecosystem and ensure the brand delivers against ambitious financial, equity, and category outcomes. This role includes formal people leadership and requires extensive orchestration of senior stakeholders, including Global Brand Leadership, EMEA OU leaders, bottling partners (especially in multicounty system structures), commercial leads, finance, and the full IMX network.
Key Accountabilities
- Set and Steer the Long-Term Brand & Business Strategy: Own the end-to-end strategic direction for Sprite in Europe, ensuring strong alignment with global brand vision while shaping a regionally differentiated strategy that drives long-term market leadership. Define and govern the 10-year brand ambition, category role, and portfolio guardrails with a clear enterprise lens. Translate macro consumer trends, cultural shifts, category dynamics, and system economics into actionable brand choices and business growth strategies. Shape and influence the global strategy agenda by representing Europe’s strategic needs, future opportunities, and business imperatives.
- Lead Portfolio, Category, and System Value Creation: Act as a senior partner in shaping the sparkling and total beverage portfolio, driving clarity on Sprite’s role, boundaries, and interdependencies across brands and categories. Influence system-wide plans by working closely with bottlers to drive networked investment decision-making, orchestration of market execution, and multi-year commercial roadmaps. Serve as the senior leader accountable for shadow P&L management, margin expansion levers, RGM partnership, and capital allocation recommendations.
- Accelerate Innovation, Renovation & Future Growth Platforms: Lead the multi-year innovation masterplan, overseeing the pipeline from upstream concepting to commercialization, ensuring acceleration into emerging spaces such as zero-sugar and function-forward platforms, energy-adjacent and new consumption occasions, and breakthrough packaging and sustainability innovations. Shape long-term category disruption opportunities and champion transformational innovation that expands the brand’s relevance and business footprint.
- Lead Integrated Brand-Building Excellence at Scale: Oversee the Europe IMX masterplan, ensuring that communication, digital, experiential, partnerships, shopper, and in-market activation work cohesively to drive both short-term results and brand equity growth. Guide creative excellence at the highest level, setting the standard for insight-driven, culturally relevant creativity. Drive pan-European brand platforms that create repeatable, scalable, multi-market impact.
- Deliver World-Class Commercial & Execution Performance: Partner closely with commercial, channel, and customer teams to ensure that Sprite delivers breakthrough execution across retail, away-from-home, and eCommerce environments. Govern annual DME investment decisions across the region to maximize ROI, commercial outcomes, and brand equity. Support system partners in embedding best-in-class route-to-market strategies that drive penetration, availability, and transaction growth.
- Lead Teams, Culture & Enterprise Influence: Inspire, coach, and elevate high-performing teams across local markets, regional hubs, and cross-functional SMEs. Build a culture of strategic clarity, creativity, commercial accountability, and experimentation. Act as a senior thought partner to global brand leadership, system executives, and European OU leadership. Model leadership behaviours that promote cross-market collaboration, transparency, and organizational alignment.
Requirements & Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Business, Strategy, or related field; MBA strongly preferred.
- 15+ years of progressive marketing and business leadership experience within FMCG, beverages, or high-growth consumer sectors.
- Proven experience leading iconic global or regional brands, including end-to-end brand strategy, commercial acceleration, and innovation.
- Demonstrated track record influencing senior executives, bottlers, and cross-functional leaders in highly matrixed organizations.
- Strong financial acumen, including P&L fluency, RGM, forecasting, and investment allocation.
- Deep expertise in brand building, cultural strategy, digital ecosystems, and scalable IMX development.
- Demonstrated ability to lead large multi-disciplinary teams, drive transformation, and create high-performance cultures.
- Extraordinary storytelling, communication, and influencing skills, capable of shaping decisions across a global network.
Location(s): Ireland - Dublin; Germany - Berlin; Greece - Athens; Poland - Warsaw; Netherlands - Rotterdam; United Kingdom - London; Romania - Bucharest; Belgium - Brussels
Type: Full time
Senior Director, Sparkling Flavors, Sprite in London employer: The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work culture that fosters innovation and collaboration. With a strong commitment to employee growth, you will have access to extensive training and development opportunities, enabling you to thrive in your role as European ARTD Marketing Director. Located in vibrant markets across Europe, the company provides a unique chance to make a significant impact while enjoying a diverse and inclusive environment.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Director, Sparkling Flavors, Sprite in London
✨Show Your Creative Side
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We think you need these skills to ace Senior Director, Sparkling Flavors, Sprite in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Craft an Impactful Cover Letter:Your cover letter is your chance to shine! Focus on your passion for marketing communications and how your previous experiences can benefit The Coca-Cola Company. Make sure to mention specific campaigns or projects you’ve worked on that showcase your creativity and strategic thinking.
Showcase Your Writing Skills:As you're diving into a marketing communications role, your writing ability is crucial. Include samples of your work, like blog posts, press releases, or social media campaigns in your application. This lets us see your style and how you engage with different audiences.
Tailor Your CV to Marketing:Your CV should highlight relevant marketing skills and experiences! Include specific tools or platforms you’ve used, like Google Analytics or social media management software. Mention any certifications or workshops related to marketing that you've completed – they can give you an edge!
Demonstrate Your Understanding of The Coca-Cola Company:Show us that you’ve done your homework! In your application, briefly mention what you admire about The Coca-Cola Company’s marketing approach or any recent campaigns that caught your attention. This can reveal your enthusiasm for the role and your genuine interest in joining our team!
How to prepare for a job interview at The Coca-Cola Company
✨Showcase Your Creative Campaigns
Get ready to flaunt your portfolio! Include examples of previous marketing campaigns you've worked on, especially those that showcase your creativity and strategy. Recruiters at The Coca-Cola Company will be keen to see how you conceptualise and execute campaigns, so highlight any measurable outcomes to back up your claims.
✨Know Your Digital Tools Inside Out
If you’re heading into a marketing-communications role, make sure you're comfortable discussing key digital marketing tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, or Hootsuite. Expect some technical questions about how you've used these tools in the past, as they'll want to gauge your hands-on experience and how you analyse data to drive marketing decisions.
✨Be Ready for Scenario-Based Questions
At The Coca-Cola Company, they may throw some scenario-based questions your way, aimed at testing your problem-solving skills in real-life marketing situations. Think through potential challenges you’ve faced, how you navigated them, and be prepared to discuss your thought process and outcome.
✨Demonstrate Your Passion for Marketing
As you’re applying for a full-time position, show that you're not just looking for a job, but a career in marketing. Talk about the latest trends in marketing communications, your favourite campaigns, and why they inspire you. Your enthusiasm can really make you stand out and demonstrate that you’re committed to growing within the field.
