ACTIVATION MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION

Retail activation is the work that turns a brand strategy into a shelf reality. The Activation Manager owns the in-market execution layer for CPG and FMCG brands, translating category plans and shopper insight into point-of-sale programs, merchandising vehicles, and promotional activations that move product at the trade level. This role answers to both brand and commercial stakeholders, with performance measured against category share and trade spend efficiency. The combination of analytical rigor and cross-functional influence required here is sharper than what a Shopper Marketing Manager or Category Manager typically carries alone.

As the Activation Manager, you translate category strategy and shopper insight into executable trade programs that drive measurable volume and market share growth for a portfolio of CPG or FMCG brands. You sit within the commercial or marketing organization, working across brand, field sales, category management, and external agency partners to deliver activation that meets retailer requirements and internal investment targets.

Career Impact: Owning the activation planning process for a multi-brand CPG portfolio builds the category management and trade marketing credibility that accelerates a path to Senior Activation Manager or commercial leadership within FMCG.

Business Impact: The programs this role executes directly determine whether promotional spend converts to incremental volume at shelf, making it the point where brand investment either performs or leaks.

Growth Opportunity: Exposure to shopper insight platforms, joint business planning cycles, and retailer-specific sell-in processes develops the commercial fluency that opens doors in key account management and trade marketing at a regional or national level.

• Lead development of customer activation plans across the retail and impulse channels, ensuring alignment with category strategy and annual brand objectives.
• Design point-of-sale and merchandising solutions for key accounts, including corrugate display, permanent fixtures, and on-shelf racking, to maximize shopper visibility.
• Coordinate the critical path for product launches and promotional initiatives from brief through to in-store execution and post-event evaluation.
• Manage trade communications and activation budgets across multiple brands, tracking spend against plan and flagging variances to commercial leadership.
• Partner with field sales teams to deliver category growth narrative and shopper programming to chain and independent retail customers.
• Analyze market trends, competitive activity, and category performance data to identify activation opportunities and refine future program recommendations.
• Conduct post-activation evaluation by consolidating campaign results, ROI analysis, and key learnings into business recommendations for the planning cycle.
• Collaborate with procurement and supply chain on display commercialization timelines to ensure activation materials are available and compliant at launch.

Generic ROI analysis descriptions get filtered, so how to present trade activation duties on a resume shows the framing that passes.

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
• 3 or more years of activation, shopper marketing, or trade marketing experience, with direct accountability for in-store program execution.
• Demonstrated ability to manage activation budgets and track promotional spend against investment targets.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to run multiple simultaneous initiatives across brands and retail accounts.
• Experience working cross-functionally with brand, sales, category, and supply chain teams in a matrixed organization.
• Analytical capability to interpret category and shopper data and translate findings into actionable activation plans.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present clearly to internal stakeholders and retail customers.
• Valid driver's license and reliable access to transportation for field or retailer visits.

Cross-functional activation experience is rarely defined, so the competency bar postings set shows what employers actually expect.

• Experience in the impulse or convenience channel within a CPG environment, including foodservice and gas station retail formats.
• Familiarity with joint business planning processes and the ability to develop customer-specific merchandising proposals for strategic accounts.
• Previous exposure to profit and loss management or trade term structures within a commercial marketing function.
• Experience leading or coordinating a team of field marketing representatives or brand ambassadors across a regional territory.

• Category share growth within managed accounts, reflecting activation program effectiveness at the trade level.
• Trade spend ROI per activation program, measuring how efficiently promotional investment converts to incremental volume.
• On-time delivery rate for display and POS materials across product launches and key promotional periods.
• Post-activation evaluation completion rate, indicating how consistently campaign learnings are captured and fed back into planning.
• Budget variance against plan across managed brands, tracking financial discipline within the activation function.
• Typical tools: campaign tracking and reporting platforms (commonly spreadsheet-based dashboards or retail analytics tools); project management software (commonly collaborative task-management platforms).

After working through the ROI and budget expectations here, the activation manager career guide shows where this role leads commercially.

• Base Salary Range: $70,000 to $95,000 annually, depending on experience and market
• Bonus: Annual performance bonus, typically 8 to 12% of base salary
• Equity: Rarely offered at this level in FMCG; RSUs possible at larger publicly traded CPG companies
• Health Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer contribution standard
• PTO: 15 to 20 days annually, plus company holidays
• Common Perks: Car allowance or mileage reimbursement for field travel; corporate retail discount programs

Figures are estimates based on general US market benchmarks and may be outdated. Adjust based on location, company size, and seniority level.

Employment in this role is contingent on successful completion of a background check conducted in accordance with applicable law. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under federal, state, or local law. Reasonable accommodations are available to individuals with disabilities throughout the application and employment process upon request. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States.

Match your trade spend ROI and critical-path coordination experience to a resume that moves you to the screening stage.

The Activation Manager owns the end-to-end execution of partner benefits and promotional programs for a sports organization, including coordinating stadium advertising, sponsorship logistics, and in-game activations across video, ribbon board, and LED signage assets. Working closely with clients, client agencies, and internal departments, this role protects partner exclusivities, manages budgets, and delivers proof-of-performance reporting that demonstrates measurable return on investment for each partner.

Key Responsibilities

• Execute client deliverables and provide weekly and monthly program progress reports.
• Evaluate upsell opportunities and suggest value-added enhancements to sponsors.
• Manage the creation, implementation, and strategic management of promotional programs and partner activations.
• Initiate and maintain regular contact with clients and client agencies to develop strong professional relationships.
• Lead business review meetings with each partner on a regular basis.
• Communicate partnership benefit particulars, including deadlines, approval processes, specifications, and logistics.
• Audit and execute client benefits on a timely and effective basis.
• Work with internal and external parties to execute partnership benefits and protect partner exclusivities.
• Analyze research findings and identify activation concepts that align with the brand and support partners' marketing objectives.
• Develop and maintain return-on-investment and trending documentation, and create proof-of-performance books for each partner.
• Monitor contractual obligations and exclusivities for stadium and third-party events.
• Manage partner budgets and update inventory spreadsheets.
• Communicate key issues internally via status reports and meeting updates.
• Coordinate stadium advertising and all signage production, installation, and updates across the organization.
• Coordinate partner tickets, suites, tailgates, away trips, special events, and partner trips, including travel, accommodation, transportation, and entertainment arrangements.
• Design and implement monthly business-to-business and networking forums.
• Develop and review creative, integrated promotional concepts, including evaluation and approval of program rules, artwork, and supporting media.
• Interpret and enforce league marketing guidelines and regulations.
• Coordinate the mobile marketing team and all in-game benefits, including video board features, ribbon board exposure, LED signage, and game-day sponsorships.
• Catalog television and radio affidavits as well as signage and LED logs.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree, preferably in Marketing or Sports Management.
• Minimum 2–3 years of experience in corporate partnership activation with knowledge of the sponsorship space.
• Experience in a team venue or brand/agency environment specific to sponsorship or events.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to meet deadlines while managing multiple projects and priorities.
• Excellent oral, written, and presentation skills.
• Ability to work non-traditional hours, including nights, weekends, and holidays.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including maintaining confidentiality, openness to others' ideas, and willingness to try new approaches.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to gather and analyze information and resolve issues in a timely manner.
• Adaptable to changes in the work environment, including competing demands and unexpected events.
• Proficient in computer skills with the ability to learn new software as needed.

Embedded within the Global Marketing Communications and Programs team, the Activation Manager delivers integrated marketing programs spanning messaging frameworks, sales enablement, digital campaigns, and video content to support the growth strategy for a technology or corporate B2B organization. Working closely with business leaders, alliance teams, PR, and regional marketing counterparts, this role develops metrics and KPIs that measure campaign success at the channel and activity level and drives brand eminence through content and competitive intelligence.

Core Functions

• Speak with authority on all matters relating to the brand, including brand architecture.
• Work with senior marketing professionals to identify content for external channels and collaborate with publishers on new content to enhance brand eminence.
• Initiate and disseminate research and competitive intelligence related to brand strategy.
• Own the brand council agenda and cross-marketing communications.
• Collaborate with business leaders to develop marketing strategies and drive campaigns utilizing the full spectrum of traditional and innovative channels.
• Deliver integrated marketing programs, including messaging frameworks, sales enablement materials, website content, email and social media campaigns, advertising, and video content.
• Provide strategic counsel and idea generation in support of growth strategy.
• Develop metrics and KPIs to assess campaign success at the campaign, activity, and channel levels.
• Bring innovative thinking and best practices to all marketing activities.
• Collaborate across business, alliance, industry marketing, PR, and internal communications to deliver an integrated marketing strategy.
• Manage project delivery of asset development and deliverables with agency and firm partners.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree, ideally with a focus in Marketing or a related business or technology field.
• 8+ years of relevant technology or corporate B2B marketing experience.
• Deep understanding of integrated marketing and communications strategies and how they combine to deliver measurable results.
• Strong organizational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex projects with aggressive deadlines.
• Detail-oriented with excellent follow-through skills.
• Strong persuasive written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to position offerings and influence internal and external audiences.
• Experience with advanced analytics and the use of campaign and sales data to determine priorities and measure effectiveness.
• Proficient in the MS Office suite, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to work in a matrixed organization with a virtual team.
• Ability to travel 0–15% on average.

Reporting to senior stakeholders, the Activation Manager leads the sports activations calendar across the UK, EU, and global markets, owning brand tone of voice across all activations and coordinating with external agencies to deliver concept decks, event briefs, and health and safety compliance for every event. Partnering with social teams, the wider omni-channel team, and the creative studio, this role gathers and analyzes event success metrics across sales, social media, and PR impressions to determine ROI and shape best-practice recommendations.

Primary Duties

• Own the sporting events and activations calendar, identifying all key moments of relevant activity across the year from a UK, EU, and global perspective.
• Serve as the key stakeholder for the wider omni-channel team for all sports activations.
• Support strategy development and tiering of activations and moments throughout the year.
• Lead on brand tone of voice across all activations in coordination with external agencies and management.
• Collaborate on brainstorming sessions with wider teams to ensure a considered approach to each event.
• Execute the logistical side of every event, including health and safety requirements and permits.
• Deliver concept decks with wider marketing channels, ensuring all activations have clear objectives, KPIs, benefits, and alignment with overall channel strategies.
• Deliver detailed event, content, and branding briefs for the creative studio and external agencies.
• Work with senior stakeholders to approve all creative and branding.
• Conduct and compile research, staying informed on relevant trends and changes in sports activation.
• Identify first-to-market trends and innovations in sports activations in collaboration with all marketing teams.
• Work alongside the social team and key stakeholders to manage supplier relationships and ensure activation with the correct partners.
• Prepare and conduct pre-event meetings for all staff attending events, setting clear expectations, roles, and staff briefs.
• Gather and analyze event success by compiling results from sales, social media, PR impressions, and event-specific metrics to determine ROI and provide best-practice recommendations.
• Manage budgets in partnership with the sports partnership team, ensuring KPIs are delivered on time and within budget.
• Forecast potential activation budgets throughout the year and contribute to onboarding tier-one partnerships.

Skills & Qualifications

• Experience managing large budgets.
• Sporting knowledge and experience are essential.
• E-gaming knowledge and experience are desirable.
• Team management experience.
• Strong Excel skills and experience with campaign tracking platforms.
• Strong understanding of event reporting with a commitment to best practice.
• Strong organizational skills with a proven record of demonstrating initiative and delivering results.

Sitting at the intersection of regional marketing strategy and event execution, the Activation Manager shapes monthly, quarterly, and annual marketing strategies for regional events tied to in-store retail, vendor partnerships, collaborations, and community objectives to maximize return on investment and drive brand awareness. Operating across cross-functional meetings, regional PR programs, and national event planning cycles, this role manages all logistical coordination for multiple simultaneous events and leads post-event reporting that informs future national decisions.

Duties

• Concept, plan, and execute events linked to in-store retail, vendor partnerships, collaborations, and community objectives to maximize return on investment and drive brand awareness.
• Foster strong relationships with external vendors, community partners, and store teams.
• Coordinate with the VP of Marketing to aggregate insights and evolve event and partnership opportunities.
• Research and present insights on the industry landscape, competitive activity, and innovation trends.
• Review business results against projections in cross-functional meetings to inform future decisions for national events and partnerships.
• Develop monthly, quarterly, and annual marketing strategies for all regional marketing events, ensuring alignment with other marketing initiatives.
• Develop strategic event proposals and execute all logistics and communication with internal and external partners from start to finish.
• Establish and manage relationships with regional contacts, ensuring branded events and regional PR and partnership programs are accurately represented in stores.
• Support financial strategies using historical performance, trend analysis, market research, and cross-functional feedback.
• Manage coordination of all event logistics for multiple simultaneous events, including timeline creation, invitation mailings, guest lists, vendor procurement and management, partnership agreements, and sourcing of event materials.
• Oversee on-site, day-of coordination, including event setup and breakdown.
• Manage individual and roll-up event budgets and tracking to ensure invoices are paid in a timely manner.
• Lead post-event reporting and recapping, and update reporting documents on a continuous basis.
• Contribute to weekly, quarterly, and yearly regional marketing hindsight documents.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree (B.A. or B.S.) from a four-year college or equivalent.
• 3 years of experience in event management.
• Proficiency across all Microsoft products and Keynote.
• Highly organized with outstanding attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills.

A key member of the regional commercial team, the Activation Manager leads all market activity for the chain business, including point of sale, sampling events, shopper programming, and customer digital excellence, advocating for local market needs with central teams across the region. Collaborating across national sales leads, local distributor counterparts, and agency partners, this role drives best-in-class execution of programs at scale to deliver market share growth for multiple priority brands.

Functions

• Understand which activities and growth drivers are effective at the local level within the core chain business.
• Advocate for market needs and opportunities with central teams across the region.
• Advise sales teams on brand strategies, investments, and resources to deploy in the market.
• Serve as the communication liaison between national strategic account leads and local market leads.
• Lead all market activity about the chain business, including point of sale, value-added packs, sampling events, customer digital excellence, and shopper programming.
• Ensure all brand activity is compliant with marketing codes, regulatory requirements, and legal standards, and that brands show up in the market consistently with brand purpose, target audience, and tone.
• Build relationships with and influence decision-making at local key customers.
• Encourage, influence, and mentor local distributor counterparts, national sales leads, and agency partners.
• Drive project management across multiple focus brands via activation at key customers.
• Partner nationally with customer leads to ensure KPI success in the local market.
• Drive best-in-class execution of programs and platforms at scale to deliver market share growth.
• Plan and effectively implement chain activation, advertising, and promotional budget.

Experience & Qualifications

• 5–7 years of commercial or marketing experience.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with experience working across a matrixed organization with multiple partners.
• Strong influencing and negotiation skills.
• Strong financial acumen and budget management skills.
• Strong project management skills to drive activity across multiple brands and priorities.
• Ability to function as a change agent, with an understanding of the current go-to-market strategy and a passion for the evolution of local activation.

Category leadership and shopper marketing effectiveness depend on the Activation Manager, who leads the activation, execution, and evaluation of shopper activation solutions, including on-pack event strategy, full media plans, and category communications to deliver competitive advantage through customer strategies and shopper insight. Based within an integrated commercial planning process, this role manages external shopper marketing and media planning agencies and drives the embedding of shopper insight across the business through knowledge sharing and coaching.

Accountabilities

• Lead the category activation, execution, and evaluation of shopper activation solutions to deliver competitive advantage through category plans, customer strategies, and shopper insight.
• Lead the customer activation input into the integrated commercial planning process, ensuring quality insight and a robust understanding of operational constraints are considered.
• Consolidate customer activation campaigns to deliver a total initiative evaluation, key learnings, and business recommendations.
• Lead and develop on-pack event strategy, including full media plan and communications messaging for format-led and multi-brand events.
• Manage all trade communications to deliver category leadership and support brand and format goal delivery.
• Lead the identification of future innovation, thinking, and best practices in shopper marketing.
• Manage the selection, relationships, and performance of external shopper marketing and media planning agencies.
• Complete external benchmarking for campaigns and create recommendations to optimize shopper marketing effectiveness.
• Drive understanding and embedding of shopper insight within the business through knowledge sharing and coaching.

Technical Qualifications

• Strong understanding of brand strategy, communications approaches, the retail environment in-store and online, and the broader commercial landscape.
• Ability to constructively assess messaging and creative to ensure it engages shoppers and drives behavior change.
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally and manage deliverables to tight deadlines.
• Strong influencing and communication skills at all levels of the organization.
• Passionate about building strong relationships and delivering excellence in results.

As the Activation Manager, this role drives in-store engagement and communication of priority brands through demos, signage, and consumer promotions, managing the critical path for major category initiatives such as product launches and promotions presented to sales, roadshow, and planning teams. The sales and category team relies on this work to develop customer-specific merchandising solutions for key accounts, support revenue investment strategy, and lead category alignment calls that advance an overall omni-channel strategy.

Activities

• Work with customer teams and marketing to drive in-store engagement and communication of priority brands through demos, signage, activation, and consumer promotions.
• Manage and optimize return on investment on budget while driving innovation and market leadership in retail, shopper engagement, and merchandising activation solutions.
• Drive insight-based retail presence and merchandising strategies to support divisional and category objectives and annual planning.
• Develop sales playbook components for the category, including display and merchandising, convenience and gas, and foodservice strategies, and manage playbook updates.
• Lead strategy and development of customer-specific merchandising solutions for key accounts as part of an overall omni-channel strategy.
• Manage the critical path for major category initiatives such as product launches and promotions presented to sales, roadshow, and planning teams.
• Facilitate roadshow and retail sales meetings for the category.
• Support customer calls to drive category growth narrative and strategy.
• Lead category alignment team calls with sales.
• Support the revenue manager in customer investment strategy, including trade term spending controls to improve investment effectiveness and efficiency.

Position Requirements

• University degree in a business-related discipline.
• 5–7 years of related experience in account management, shopper marketing, retail activation, or category management.
• Experience in the impulse channel in a CPG environment is an asset, including convenience, gas, and foodservice.
• Very strong project management skills.
• Ability to multi-task in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Results-oriented and a self-starter with a highly motivated, can-do attitude.

Activation Manager builds and manages a regional team of brand ambassadors responsible for in-store demos, merchandising, store leadership relationship building, and event activations, working within a snack or CPG organization to increase market share across multiple regional markets. Success in the position means budget allocation across markets is aligned to organizational scorecard goals, while insight on products, categories, competitive activities, and promotional trends is consistently reported to inform future marketing programs.

Operational Focus

• Hire, train, and manage a team of brand ambassadors responsible for in-store demos, store leadership relationship building, merchandising, sales support, and event activations.
• Understand regional market dynamics and provide insight and direction to develop marketing solutions to build the brand.
• Work closely with the Director of Field Activation, sales teams, and retailers to establish and implement successful marketing programs, campaigns, and materials to increase market share.
• Manage budget allocation for markets in the region in relation to organizational scorecard goals and activation expectations.
• Report on products, category, innovation, market conditions, competitive activities, advertising, and promotional trends.
• Identify opportunities to improve consumer experience both in-store and in-market, and build relationships with in-store leadership in the region.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing or a related field.
• 4+ years of field marketing or brand marketing experience with budget accountability, ideally with a snack or CPG company.
• 3-5 years of experience in events and promotional work.
• Experience leading a field marketing team and managing remote employees.
• Strong business acumen, relationship management skills, customer focus, and drive for results.
• Strong technology skills, specifically in Microsoft Office programs, and experience with internet research and social media.
• Detail-oriented, extremely organized, and able to juggle multiple tasks promptly with minimal supervision.
• Valid driver's license and access to reliable transportation required.

The Activation Manager shapes the customer adoption journey within an enterprise software organization, supporting sales teams with opportunity qualification, demonstrations, proof-of-value presentations, and RFP responses in a presales capacity while leading all aspects of product integration within customers' business and technical environments. Working closely with sales, product management, and engineering groups, this role identifies upsell revenue opportunities and delivers customer feedback that directly informs product development for mobile, cloud, and performance monitoring solutions.

Key Deliverables

• Support the enterprise sales team with opportunity qualification, demonstrations, proof-of-value presentations, RFP responses, and business justification in a presales capacity.
• Lead all aspects of the adoption, optimization, and integration of products within customers' business infrastructure.
• Partner with sales to identify revenue opportunities through upsell of new services and contract renewals.
• Provide support for new product features and deliver customer feedback to product management and engineering groups.
• Maintain a deep understanding of each customer's business and technical environment.
• Travel as required for a field-based role.

Professional Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent.
• 7+ years of technical sales experience within the software industry.
• 5+ years of demonstrated experience working with enterprise customers.
• Strong technical background combined with a sales and customer orientation.
• Familiarity with one or more development languages, including Java, .NET, Ruby, C, Python, and Node.js.
• Exposure to or interest in cloud technologies, including Kubernetes, containers, microservices, DevOps, and CI/CD.
• Background in mobile device platforms and architectures, including iOS and Android.
• An interest in or previous experience with performance monitoring tools covering infrastructure, application, web, mobile, and user experience.

Embedded within the global brand activation function, the Activation Manager produces consumer engagement playbooks and omnichannel implementation guidelines for relevant consumer segments across tier-one through tier-three markets, drawing on activation center of excellence guidelines and brand identity frameworks to create impactful toolkits. Working closely with regional marketing teams, clusters, markets, and the insights team, this role ensures consumer engagement techniques are fully understood and locally applied to achieve the best consumer experience and return on investment.

Areas of Ownership

• Develop consumer engagement playbooks and toolkits for relevant consumer segments and markets.
• Develop new ideas and frameworks for consumer engagement across omnichannel touchpoints for various market environments and consumer segments.
• Create implementation guidelines in collaboration with tier-one and tier-two lead markets, ready for localization for tier-two and tier-three markets.
• Collaborate closely with regional marketing, clusters, and markets to ensure full understanding and application of consumer engagement techniques and implementation guidelines.
• Collaborate with the insights team to access consumer metrics and market intelligence.
• Use brand activation and identity guidelines and best-practice guidelines from the activation center of excellence to create impactful toolkits that enable the best consumer experience and return on investment.

Background & Experience

• Previous experience in consumer activation, consumer experience, brand activation, or marketing roles, including activation experience at the global and local levels.
• Previous brand marketing experience, ideally within FMCG.
• Experience working with stakeholders across various projects.
• Outstanding English verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Commercial understanding combined with strong analytical skills.
• Demonstrated ability to think both strategically and creatively.
• Experience using customer and market insight to drive commercial gain.
• Highly collaborative with a creative and entrepreneurial spirit.

Reporting to senior channel leadership, the Activation Manager refines best-in-class activation within customer environments by developing and implementing customer activation plans, marketing conversations, and new product development initiatives in line with the controller's strategy guidelines for an FMCG organization. Partnering with the wider marketing team and profit revenue growth management teams, this role conducts data and statistical analysis to evaluate market trends, identify public demand, and develop opportunities for brand resources.

Role Responsibilities

• Develop best-in-class activation within customer environments and develop and activate customer activation plans.
• Develop marketing conversations and implement plans within key customers in line with the controller strategy guidelines.
• Implement new product development within the channel.
• Implement strategies to maximize pricing and product mix opportunities.
• Collaborate with the wider marketing team and profit revenue growth management teams to create market-leading plans.
• Develop and nurture relationships with key customer contacts.
• Conduct data and statistical analysis to evaluate current market trends, identify public demand, and develop opportunities for brand resources.

Minimum Qualifications

• Degree-level education, preferably in Marketing, Advertising, or Marketing Management.
• 3+ years of experience in a trade manager role, ideally within FMCG.
• Evidence of delivering successful brand-building initiatives.
• Experience handling product launches with proven ability to build strong partnerships across business, operations, product development, and other key stakeholders.
• Critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent presentation and communication skills in English and Arabic.

Sitting at the intersection of retail sales strategy and supply chain execution, the Retail Activation Manager serves as the subject matter expert for in-store fixturing and point-of-sale solutions, including retail shelving, perimeter placement, and joint business planning merchandising vehicles, managing both the design of new solutions and the logistics of existing ones. Operating across brands, field sales, finance, supply chain, and procurement partners, this role leverages creativity to optimize display effectiveness and profitability while identifying white-space supplier opportunities to drive earnings improvement.

Job Functions

• Act as the subject matter expert in retail shelving, point-of-sale effectiveness, and the creation of best-in-class merchandising vehicles.
• Support sales strategy, brand, and field sales to guide effective display selection tied to key drive periods, innovative products, and specific retailer execution.
• Work with procurement to drive the strategic direction of key vendor partners, covering corrugate display, permanent display, door cards, on-shelf racking, and e-store solutions.
• Act as the link between field sales and supply chain for new display commercialization timelines, and provide data and information to assist field sales in executing display opportunities.
• Partner with sales strategy to provide accurate forecasts and annual operating plan targets for the finance team.
• Manage budgets for on-shelf racking, door cards, and overall point-of-sale spend.
• Partner with brand, finance, and supply chain to optimize display effectiveness, profitability, and consumer tie-in for corresponding displays.
• Develop productive working relationships with brand, sales strategy, supply chain, and finance partners.
• Leverage creativity to provide joint business planning options to strategic customers and teams.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously across a wide variety of areas of expertise.
• Identify white-space opportunities with suppliers and use technology to drive earnings improvement and create efficiencies in merchandising processes.

Education & Experience

• Minimum 2–3 years of prior internal or external sales experience.
• Preferred project management experience.
• Financial acumen with an understanding of cost structure and drivers.
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills.
• Ability to navigate and influence cross-functional partners.
• Creative thinking skills with the ability to build brand partnerships and create joint business planning display vehicles.

A key member of the Global Marketing Communications and Programs team, the Activation Manager advances the marketing communications strategy for new product introductions and global campaigns, driving content development, creative project management, and go-to-market alignment across product lines and regional marketing teams. Collaborating across product line content authors, internal and external creative agencies, and communications stakeholders, this role leads post-mortem reviews and maintains the content management system to enable consistent marketing, sales, and partner use.

What You'll Do

• Develop the marketing communications strategy to support new product introductions and global campaigns.
• Collaborate with product lines, communications, and regional marketing teams to gather input on strategy and plan.
• Drive content commitments with product line content authors.
• Understand the customer journey and make content recommendations based on needs and goals.
• Drive creative projects with internal and external creative teams and agencies.
• Lead a consistent communication process to ensure stakeholders are informed and aligned with go-to-market plans and deliverables.
• Drive post-mortem and feedback reviews on product launches and programs with marketing peers.
• Maintain the content management system, including archiving, for marketing, sales, and partner use.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent.
• 8+ years of marketing communications program management or digital marketing experience.
• Experience developing presentations, copy, and marketing communications, reviewing content.
• Experience working with vendors and creative agencies.
• Deep understanding of digital marketing and social media.
• Experience with email marketing, including marketing automation.
• Skilled with Microsoft 365 products.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Availability to attend meetings with global marketing teams across different time zones.

Profitable brand media performance depends on the Activation Manager, who drives the adoption of data-driven marketing practices at Unilever and within partner agencies, owning the brand's annual media strategy and budgeting process while managing media activation for countries in scope across traditional and digital channels, retailer media, and programmatic. Serving as the face of the organization in local markets, this role networks with industry bodies and media networks to drive innovation, co-creates capability-building training material, and facilitates media approaches, including negotiation strategies for an extensive cross-functional, cross-market stakeholder group.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

• Support the operationalization of business unit and brand media strategies by developing strategies that connect insights with media channels and fit business objectives.
• Partner with brand teams, media agencies, and external partners to leverage media in growing brands.
• Own the brand's annual media strategy, budgeting, and planning process.
• Bring brand campaigns to life by working with agencies and partners to craft channel and asset blueprints, media strategies, and holistic media plans that create and convert demand.
• Design single-market and cluster business unit media plans and allocate budgets for holistic plans covering all media and platforms, including retailer media.
• Collaborate with shopper marketing to ensure the full end-to-end plan works on and offline with key customers.
• Manage media activation for countries in scope based on the marketing plan and activity calendar, including coordinating digital hub channel specialists to deploy in the market.
• Execute all traditional media in the market and manage all media and agency-led operations.
• Facilitate media approaches and principles, including negotiation strategies, traditional and digital media planning, budgeting processes, and new media models.
• Engage with regional media and digital teams quarterly, sharing case studies and performance reviews.
• Serve as the face of the organization in the local market, networking with industry bodies and media networks to drive innovation and better negotiations.
• Co-create and share training material to increase marketers' capabilities in the evolving media environment.

Skills & Qualifications

• 4+ years of hands-on experience and superior knowledge of media, digital, programmatic, performance marketing, e-commerce, and social commerce from a media perspective.
• Excellent English language communication skills with senior stakeholders, peers, and reports, both conversational and presentational.
• Excellent listening skills with the ability to articulate customer needs in business and technical vocabulary.
• Ability to process multiple data sources and information to develop logical solutions to business opportunities.
• Experience managing relationships in a large, multinational, matrix organization.
• Experience working as or with marketing stakeholders and agencies, with an understanding of their challenges and information requirements.
• Strong project management skills, particularly in project planning and demand forecasting.
• Facilitation and capability-building skills.
• Cross-cultural sensitivity and working capability.
• Agile and Scrum experience is a plus.

As the Activation Manager, this role oversees the activation delivery for Martell, Mumm, and Perrier-Jouët across a cluster of non-drive markets, serving as the direct brand representative for business and brand matters and ensuring marketing and commercial plans are aligned with both local needs and global brand strategy. The BrandCo and PR affiliates team relies on this work to broadcast integrated business planning initiatives at scale, consolidate market asset needs, monitor value-added pack and point-of-sale processes, and facilitate efficient communication between asset creators and users across geographies.

Scope of Work

• Nurture strategic thinking through bottom-up insight generation and competitive review.
• Disseminate commercial and go-to-market strategic guidelines across geographies within scope.
• Support senior leadership in the preparation of key business interactions, portfolio discussions, and commercial presentations.
• Serve as the direct brand representative for business and brand matters within a selection of markets in the cluster.
• Ensure marketing and commercial plans are relevant and aligned with business objectives, local needs, and global brand strategy.
• Broadcast integrated business planning initiatives at scale, assess asset efficiency, and recommend and implement solutions to better engage markets.
• Facilitate efficient communication between asset creators and asset users within the brand marketing community, and share best practices across geographies.
• Support local plan delivery to ensure operational excellence in execution.
• Share top-down directions on brand guidelines and ensure style consistency and compliance.
• Monitor value-added pack and point-of-sale material processes within the cluster and participate in supply reviews with key markets.
• Consolidate market needs, identify asset synergies and gaps across geographies, and provide recommendations to creative content managers.
• Adapt assets for non-drive markets when necessary.
• Monitor business performance, report brand activations and competitor activity, and support the activation team with transversal missions to enhance market management and simplify ways of working.

Experience & Qualifications

• Master's degree.
• WSET Level 2 qualification is a plus.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in a related field.
• Experience working with different cultures, with the ability to thrive in a complex, cross-functional environment.
• International marketing experience with a market background.
• Solid commercial skills with a strong foundation in finance and profit-and-loss management fundamentals.
• Strong understanding of brand owner organization dynamics.
• Understanding of the wine and spirits category, ideally including cognac and champagne.
• Well-developed planning, organizational, and project management skills.
• Strong relationship management, networking, influencing, and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team.
• Creative and lateral thinking, with a self-starter and independent mindset.
• Agile mindset with a nimble learning approach.
• Fluent in English and French.

Profitable sales growth for a bookmaker-facing product portfolio depends on the Activation Manager, who develops marketing assets, in-shop collateral, online banners, and business-to-consumer website content to promote products and drive consumer engagement across retail and digital channels. Based within a marketing team that works closely with sales and external agencies, this role shapes and coordinates a program of key international horse racing festivals and manages budgets for respective marketing areas within the annual budget development process.

Work Activities

• Work closely with the sales team to understand customer requirements and develop appropriate support to engage end consumers with products.
• Determine the level of support required and develop a suite of in-shop and online marketing collateral or supply assets for customer marketing teams to use.
• Plan and develop appropriate marketing assets for retail and online channels, including in-shop leaflets and posters, and online banners.
• Identify additional opportunities to help educate and promote products with customers, including staff competitions for retail customers.
• Shape and coordinate a program of key international horse racing festivals to promote to customers.
• Shape business-to-consumer marketing plans for the three key product areas, covering awareness-driving activities including social media.
• Manage the development of business-to-consumer websites for competitive gaming and racing, and oversee website content creation.
• Ensure ongoing tracking of invoices against purchase orders and manage budgets for respective areas.
• Contribute to the annual budget development process and work with agencies to build the plan and associated budget recommendations.

Technical Qualifications

• Degree-level education preferred.
• Experience working with marketing agencies and managing website and social media content development and reporting.
• Marketing budget management experience.
• 3-5 years of experience in marketing communications development and execution, ideally with a mix of B2B and B2C experience.
• Strong commercial awareness with exposure to fast-changing markets.
• Track record in developing and executing marketing and communications plans, with a proven understanding of the marketing mix.
• Skilled in judging creative work for cut-through communications in line with brand and tone of voice.

The Data & Programmatic Activation Manager creates and deploys audience segments in the demand-side platform for each brand and communication objective, coordinating all data and audience segment creation needs, second- and third-party data partnerships, and audience profiling technology for an assigned market within an outsourced collaboration with The Coca-Cola Company across Europe. Working alongside local market data activation and media managers, omni-media teams, and a data analytics team, this role upskills the organization on data management platform best practices and establishes measurement goals and success KPIs that advance data-driven thinking across a constantly changing ecosystem.

Performance Expectations

• Process and coordinate all data and audience segment creation needs for the assigned market.
• Manage the single market's profit and loss.
• Manage second- and third-party data partnerships and coordinate all audience profiling technology activities needed to create and maintain a high-quality interest and attributes taxonomy for the assigned market.
• Create audience strategies that align with campaign and business goals.
• Design and deploy audience segments in the demand-side platform for each brand and communication or media objective, building segments based on engagement signals and monitoring audience volume.
• Assist the local market data activation and media manager to develop a data activation plan, partnering with omni-media and brands to support data and segment activation in programmatic.
• Upskill and educate the organization on the data management platform and data activation best practices.
• Work with the data analytics team to establish measurement goals and success KPIs.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Experience in ad tech, audience and data management technologies, with deep knowledge of programmatic buying, ad operations, and the CDP/DMP-to-DSP workflow.
• Ability to work in agile, cross-functional, and cross-geographical teams and collaborate effectively with key stakeholders.
• Strong analytical skills combined with the ability to comprehend technology and solve problems creatively.
• Passion for data, technology, and programmatic, with the ability to work autonomously while prioritizing team interests.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Embedded within the Strategic Planning and Customer Insight function of CCM&B, the Activation Manager develops the customer engagement framework and drives the adoption of strategic customer automation programs covering acquisition, growth, and retention for an airline or travel industry organization. Working closely with data teams, execution teams, and stakeholders across business units, this role delivers customer and data capabilities that inform better marketing activity and acts as a translator between the data team and execution teams to advance a customer-centric, data-informed approach across all marketing channels.

Core Responsibilities

• Manage the customer engagement framework, setting out governance and best-practice guidelines around all marketing personalisation, including campaigns, messaging, offers, guidance, and recommendations.
• Drive adoption of strategic customer automation programs covering acquisition, growth, and retention.
• Deliver customer and data capabilities that inform better marketing activity by driving the utilisation of segments and audiences from the Marketing Data Platform through to activation across all marketing channels.
• Contribute to the ongoing development of the Marketing Data Platform with new segments, audiences, and flags.
• Drive activation of personalisation programs in line with customer and data activation strategy, informing segments and content, including products and offers, that can be pushed across marketing communications.
• Act as a translator and catalyst between the data team and execution teams, working with stakeholders across business units to drive adoption of a customer-centric and data-informed approach to marketing.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing or Communications.
• 8+ years of relevant work experience.
• Experience in a senior marketing role with demonstrable experience in interpreting and exploiting customer insight to drive change and revenue.
• Experience in personalisation, database marketing techniques, and CRM platforms.
• Experience in the airline or travel industry is preferable.
• Customer-centric, pragmatic, and commercially astute, with the ability to manage new communications that may cut across existing historical activities.