Head Marketing Strategy, Innovation and Planning

    Date: December 24, 2025

   Ref. No: HEIN/HO/28352008/25

Vacancy Announcement

Position Title: Head of Marketing Strategy, Innovation and Planning

Locations: Head Office

Application Closing Date: December 30, 2025

Job Purpose:

As business contributor, the Head of Marketing Strategy, Innovation and Planning provides strategic information to the business and filters all research with his Team support into key insights for Portfolio Managers, Brand teams and the business, whilst supporting the measurement of marketing effectiveness. o The individual is also an expert marketeer, grounded in strategic planning liaising with regional commercial excellence team, coordinating all annual planning, integrated commercial planning, brand and channel planning, while also taking a lead role within the commercial team in the strategic planning process o As Head, Marketing Strategy, Innovation and Planning, translates multiple data sources of the OpCo into usable, practical insights- which can be used as input for commercial plans, brand plans and on frontline sales executions. He thinks portfolio first- developing strategies that supports the company’s robust portfolio of brands in beer, and beyond beer o He leads a team of consumer centric professionals who bring to bear their experience in understanding consumers, analyzing consumer trends, understand brand challenges, and can clearly define brand challenges- using a rigorous data driven approach, while also bringing the right qualitative context.

Key Responsibilities

Leading A Robust Insights Ecosystem Through Continuous And Ad hoc Research

• Full responsibility for briefing and designing complex research projects- covering continuous studies (retail audience measurements, holistic brand guidance system, innovation tracking), and ad-hoc research covering pack tests, communication testing, consumer acceptance tests, competitive performance tests, concept tests etc.- to track business and brand performance and to answer strategic business questions.
• Shaping, briefing and designing strategic research projects that give the business a broad view on how consumers and categories are evolving- Fundamental meaning of Beer, flavored and Nonalcoholic, Usage and Attitude research, consumer segmentation, etc.- to make informed business decisions.
• Liaise with relevant data and intelligence providers to source accurate external data- covering demographic information, psychographic assessments, macro-economic analysis, beverage category trends, case studies etc.
• Manage the development and delivery of consumer research plans to generate the understanding required to address the identified issues and opportunities, while also identifying and defining the key strategic issues and opportunities relevant to the assigned category, portfolio and brands and the business at large.
• Lead the identification and quantification of consumer targets and consumer objectives- using relevant data sets, thus playing an important role in target setting across brand and channel activities.
• Reports all key market insights- volume share, value share, brand power, distribution, consumer and category penetration, distribution etc.,

Strategic Business Partnering Across All Portfolios and Channels.

• Using relevant data points and insights, The Head Marketing Strategy and Planning is a strategic business partner to the portfolio managers- He does this through rigorous analysis of equity drivers and provides strategic builds to drive brand growth- particularly with insights from the retail audit, and brand guidance system.
• The Head, Marketing Strategy, Innovation and Planning provides support to the media team through development of bespoke Market Mix Modelling- which in turn guides commercial investment in various traditional and digital channels, He provides guidance on the ROI of the various media channels and guides in budget optimization across these channels- effectively playing a role in the commercial media investment in all brands.

The Head, Marketing Strategy, Innovation and Planning Empowers the Trade Marketing and Channel Teams by

• Providing insights into channel segmentation, channel contribution, the role of channels in brand building, as well as identifying relevant and viable channels for prioritization. Through regular shopper insight strategic research, he informs, and guides channel executions, helping to identify key channel drivers, and equity contributors in on trade and off trade channels.
• This role also supports the sales leadership team by providing monthly insight reports covering key retail metrics- distribution, rate of sales, net numeric distribution, weighted distribution, value and volume share, out of stock etc.- all which are used in target setting, performance steering and driving in market executions, preceding competitive information that aids sales execution.
• Work in partnership with Innovation Manager to identify Innovation opportunities which meet new/unfulfilled consumer/shopper needs and wants; can deliver incremental margin; and deliver business/brand/channel strategies.
• Ensures that all OpCo innovations are tested from concept to execution, using the standard Heineken protocol- taking a lead role in the end-to-end design, execution and testing of all innovations.
• Supports the communications team by reviewing all creative briefs, to ensure they are inspiring enough, and able to spark breakthrough creativity, ensuring all agencies are clear on the drivers of meaningful and difference for all brands, while also enriching briefs with the relevant consumer, shopper, and category insights to spark the right ideas.

Leading Annual, Strategic and Integrated Commercial Planning

• The Head, Marketing Strategy, Innovation and Planning orchestrates the annual planning cycle from the marketing team and supports the broader commercial team in the annual planning process.
• He ensures market estimates are done in time and in full, to support the supply chain, finance, and sales teams during the planning cycles- after which these estimates are translated into the broader business plans.
• He is to ensure that all market estimates, channel data, portfolio strategies, brand investments are in sync with the broader OpCo plan during the planning cycles- while also collaborating with the region to develop and implement the integrated commercial plan.
• He is responsible for the strategic planning process within the commercial function- working under the guidance of the commercial directors- clearly articulating brand and channels plans, preparing the relevant booklets and data files as required.
• The Head Marketing Strategy, Innovation and Planning takes full responsibility for the Annual Brand Planning Process. He provides all data input- that allows for proper brand diagnostics- effectively guiding portfolio and brand teams through frameworks that allow for development of commercially viable brand plans.
• He/she is responsible for thought leadership across all marketing issues, helping to upscale the knowledge of all team members through coaching, learning plans, sourcing relevant training opportunities, and working closely with the HR team to develop bespoke learning plans for new joiners, mid-career joiners and cross functional joiners alike.
• He is to ensure alongside the media team and OpCo that clear success metrics (KPIs) are set before campaigns kick off and success metrics should be closely aligned to business outcomes as far as local tracking allows.

 Innovation Management

• Innovation Stagey- To develop the Opco Innovation strategy (3-5 years vision) In line with the overall company strategy to satisfy consumer and customer needs and grow the business
• Innovation prioritization- To valuate and prioritize innovation opportunities Based on business needs and consumer trends and insights to develop and manage a balanced and relevant portfolio of innovation projects for the business
• Innovation Process- To lead the innovation process across the organization from idea generation to successful implementation by managing and securing cross functional organizational alignment and commitment behind innovation priorities and plans to ensure effective MT decision making at each gate and OTIF execution of the innovation agenda across all functions.

Embedding Commercial Frameworks and Toolkits

• Lead in establishing and embedding the Winning with Consumers and Customers framework by clearly articulating and communicating to the broader commercial team.
• The Head, Marketing Strategy, Innovation and Planning will ensure all agency partners, (ATL, BTL, experiential, research) understand how brands are built within Heineken, by establishing and ensuring the right protocols are followed to map out market opportunities, map out deep human insights, monitor explain and optimize performance.
• He will also be responsible for curating marketing best in class learnings within and outside the organization- helping the teams to learn, share and re-apply key strategies to drive growth for their brands in the mid to long term.

Stakeholder Management

• Align market developments & insights with commercial directors, relevant exco members and cascades according to portfolio managers, Zonal > Regional Business Managers.
• Develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders at OpCo, AMEE Commercial Excellence Team, Portfolio strategy, Global Commerce, Integrated Commercial Excellence, regulatory bodies in Ethiopia and other relevant government bodies.
• Focuses Externally; focus on consumer, shopper and broader market trends to gain insights that affects channel and occasion dynamics.
• Translates Regional (AMEE) ambitions and practices to regional relevant framework in the context of local nuances that deliver value for the OpCo.

Lead Capability Building and Development

• He is to ensure that all creative and digital agencies are well abreast of Heineken’s way of building brands, by thoroughly embedding GCU modules, Global Heineken frameworks to fuel strategic plan development, integrating data into creativity and ensuring that all agencies become invaluable extensions of the marketing division of NB, so that they can effectively support our growth ambitions.
• He is to ensure that all Heineken frameworks are consistently learnt and applied by all marketing and trade marketing personnel in NB- constantly updating and refreshing content to keep the team abreast of latest learning.

Other Accountabilities

• Manages the CMI budget to ensure that they are developed and supported with the right levels of expertise across all creative stages.
• Ensure prompt payment by Agency to 3rd party ensuring that NB remains reputable in paying for services rendered.
• Provide marketing team with regular trends/performance tracking on NB brands’ communication.
• Play a lead role in accelerating Capability Building across the AMEE Region, working closely with the Commercial Excellence Team to deliver high impact capabilities interventions in Ethiopia and other OpCos in AMEE that may require such.
• Ensure that performances of all research agencies and data partners working for NB Plc are continually monitored against their core competencies and ensure on-time and full execution on all research projects

Job Requirements

Experience and Skills

• At least 8 years spent in Strategic Planning/ CMI/Innovation/Brand Management in FMCG, preferably Beverage Industry

Education

• BSc, BA in relevant fields including Marketing, Finance, Business Administration, Economics, Psychology or any of the Humanities or equivalent

Please note the following:

• Interested applicants should send their application to the link
• Applications sent after the closing date will not be considered
• This is a local position for Heineken Ethiopia OpCo

FEMALE APPLICANTS ARE HIGHLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY!