Associate Director, Brand - Opi & Professional Care (12 Month FTC)

Location: Hybrid - Wimbledon (2 days)

Contract: 12 Month FTC

Reports to: Senior Marketing Director

Direct Reports: 4 +1 dotted line

Scope: OPI & Professional Hair Care (UK/I)

ABOUT THE WELLA COMPANY

Together, we enable individuals to look, feel, and be their true selves. Wella Company is one of the world’s leading beauty companies, comprised of a family of iconic brands such as Wella Professionals, Clairol, OPI, Nioxin and ghd. With 6,000 employees globally, presence in over 100 countries, Wella Company and its brands enable consumers to look, feel, and be their true selves.

THE ROLE

The Associate Director, OPI & Professional Care Brand Marketing is responsible for setting and leading the end-to-end brand and portfolio strategy across OPI and Professional Care in the UK & Ireland. This role leads two categories: Professional Haircare and Nail, with aligned channel strategies and increasing emphasis on media-first, social-led and education-driven activation on a mission to grow the reputation, demand and market share of our professional haircare and nail portfolio.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Brand & Portfolio Strategy: Own the long-term brand vision and annual brand strategies for OPI and Professional Care aligned to UKI business growth objectives. Lead portfolio prioritisation across core, hero franchises and innovation. Develop insight-led positioning that differentiates brands within professional, hybrid and consumer landscapes. Lead the IMP and brand performance forecasting and acceleration via the S&OP and Gp Gate process. Own the development of the annual brand plan, maximising market opportunities for brand growth driven by a clear understanding of consumer insight and the competitive landscape.
• Integrated Marketing, Media & Activation: Lead integrated marketing plans across professional and consumer channels with strong emphasis on digital, social, influencer and media activation. Own major launch moments and go-to-market strategies from strategy through execution. Champion omnichannel excellence including TikTok, Instagram, paid media, PR, education platforms, retail and e-commerce. Ensure alignment between education, content and commercial activation to drive conversion and loyalty. Fully embrace the power of digital across brands and through the purchase funnel working with in-house and external digital partners to deliver with excellence. Execute with excellence, work closely with design team, influencer marketing media team and external partners to step change quality of marketing materials to reach the aspirational standards of the brands in the portfolio. Create, develop and manage brand activity programmes to ensure all relevant activity focus across all trade sectors and markets, and media activity is clear and maximises budgets by brand. Working closely with an external media agency to lead media strategy planning to achieve the set KPIs in a cost-efficient way. Own brand marketing budgets and investment strategies across OPI and Professional Care. Partner with Finance and Sales on forecasting, phasing and performance management. Track performance against KPIs including net revenue, market share, awareness, engagement and conversion. Control Marketing expenditure and ensure evaluation of all expenditure on a continuous basis.
• Leadership & Team Development: Lead, coach and develop Brand Managers, Shopper Marketing Manager and Education Brand Managers to deliver the business goals and develop their capabilities and competencies in line with the Wella UKI strategic & competency framework. Build future-fit brand leadership capability both within the team but also role model leadership within the Marketing SLT. Develop team capabilities and skills to build strong brand business marketing teams, identifying both skills and capability development plans and enabling the teams in their growth. Foster cross-functional collaboration across Sales, Education, Digital, Trade Marketing, Finance and Global teams to support UKI as a Global flagship and enablement of delivery against our goals.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS, EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS

We are looking for a self-motivated individual with energy, enthusiasm, and great stakeholder management skills. We are looking for someone with a passion for brand building and beauty, particularly the hair categories. You like to hit the ground running, owning your projects, and driving them through to ensure the UK market is on the map for best in class. You live and breathe Wella’s company values: committed, collaborative, creative, connected, and courageous. You will excel in creating engaging communication and gaining buy-in from cross functional teams through creative storytelling and brand building.

Degree in Marketing or Business. Senior experience in brand marketing within beauty, FMCG or pro categories, ideally in premium retail. Proven track record leading integrated brand plans, launches and media activation. Strong commercial acumen including budget ownership and P&L mindset. Experience leading and developing teams at senior level. Able to influence effectively at all levels of the business and an able and persuasive presenter. Able to take ownership, work autonomously and use initiative to find solutions. An aptitude for and experience of analysing and interpreting data. Excellent PC skills, with strong Microsoft Excel/Word/Powerpoint capabilities.

WHAT WE OFFER

• 25 days holiday + additional day off for your birthday (not including bank holidays)
• 3 days’ personal leave for your own significant life events
• 2 paid days off for volunteering/charity work
• Optional Wella Pension Scheme (8% employer contribution, 3% employee contribution)
• Optional Family Private Medical Insurance Cover
• Income Protection
• Life Insurance (8x base salary up to 2 million payable in the event of your death in service of Wella)
• Staff Discount (80% of all hair products, 40% OPI, 1 x 50% ghd)
• EAP (Employee Assistance Program)
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, and adoption leave
• Eye Tests
• WOW Program (Bonus following exit from KKR, eligible after successful probation. For permanent employees only)
• Workplace/Nursery Benefits
• 4 weeks working remotely abroad
• Early Friday Finish during Summer

EEO OPPORTUNITIES

The Wella Company wants to meet the aims and commitments set out in its equality policy. This includes not discriminating under the Equality Act 2010 and building an accurate picture of the make-up of the workforce in encouraging equality and diversity. We offer equal employment opportunity to qualified individuals without regard to race, religion or belief, color, national origin, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Wella Company with federal and state disability laws and makes reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact us at: https://www.wellacompany.com/consumer-affairs. We strongly believe that cultivating a diverse workplace gives a company strength. The combination of unique skills, abilities, experiences and backgrounds creates an environment that produces extraordinary results.