Innovation Commercialisation Manager at Diageo

About the role: 

• The purpose of this role is to lead the commercialisation of Reserve innovation projects across Southern Africa, ensuring each launch is both commercially strong and experientially distinctive. This includes shaping channel‑specific execution standards, defining the commercial and experiential requirements for success, and collaborating with sales and marketing teams to deliver flawless in‑market execution. By uniting rigorous planning with luxury‑led experience design, the role maximises the impact, recruitment, and long‑term performance of Reserve innovations.

Role Responsibilities: 

End‑to‑End Commercialisation Leadership

• Leads the full commercialisation process for assigned innovation projects, ensuring seamless progression from concept approval to in‑market execution.
• Builds clear, channel‑specific commercial execution plans covering availability, visibility, pricing, distribution, sell‑in and sell‑out standards.
• Partners with Sales, Marketing, Customer Marketing, and Supply to ensure all commercial fundamentals are embedded and delivered with excellence.

Luxury Experience Design & Activation

• Translates each innovation’s brand world into elevated, channel‑relevant experiences across on‑trade, main-market, off‑trade, and e‑commerce.
• Defines the experiential standards required for luxury impact—including in‑venue theatre, brand rituals, POS visibility, and staff advocacy.
• Works with activation partners and agencies to curate high‑quality, brand‑building physical experiences that strengthen trial, persuasion, and premium equity.

Channel Strategy & Execution Excellence

• Develops channel‑specific guidelines and category execution standards to ensure innovations show up distinctively and consistently in priority outlets.
• Partners with sales teams to embed execution playbooks and secure retailer/bartender alignment on innovation priorities.
• Tracks in‑market execution and intervenes with corrective actions to protect launch quality and brand integrity.

Cross‑Functional Alignment & Project Leadership

• Leads cross‑functional teams (Commercial, Marketing, Supply, Finance, RGM) to align on launch requirements, timelines, and performance expectations.
• Ensures all operational, technical, and commercial inputs are integrated into robust launch plans and Gate‑process governance.
• Acts as the central point of accountability for project readiness, escalation, and decision‑making.

Customer Proposition & Sell‑In Storytelling

• Crafts compelling sell‑in narratives that articulate the consumer insight, customer opportunity, value chain, and commercial potential of each innovation.
• Partners with Sales to secure influential placements and premium visibility across key Luxury, Prestige, and Trend‑Leading outlets.
• Ensures customers clearly understand execution expectations, experiential standards, and co‑investment requirements.

Measurement, Tracking & Performance Optimisation

• Defines KPIs and success metrics across commercial performance, execution quality, consumer recruitment, and experiential impact.
• Tracks results against plan and provides actionable insights to optimise distribution, visibility, and activation.
• Feeds post‑launch learnings into future innovation cycles to strengthen the innovation pipeline and commercial readiness.

Continuous Improvement & Market Intelligence

• Monitors luxury, cultural, and category trends to ensure innovation execution remains relevant, distinctive, and ahead of competitors.
• Identifies executional opportunities and constraints across SWC Africa markets and adapts playbooks to local needs while retaining premium standards.
• Serves as a champion for elevating luxury execution across the business, sharing best practices and driving consistency.

Experience / skills required: 

• The ideal candidate is a commercially sharp and luxury‑minded professional who can translate insights into standout launches. They understand premium channels and know how to deliver both commercial impact and elevated brand experiences.

Preferred Experience:

• Strong commercial experience within premium or luxury consumer categories, ideally working on innovation or portfolio development.
• Proven ability to translate insights into clear, executable launch plans across key channels.
• Experience creating or enabling elevated, brand‑defining experiences in on‑trade and/or off‑trade environments.
• Comfortable leading cross‑functional teams and managing end‑to‑end project delivery with pace and precision.
• Excellent communicator and storyteller, able to influence internal teams and customer partners with clarity and confidence.

Barriers to Success in Role:

• Insufficient commercial grounding, making it difficult to ensure innovations are fully ready to win in‑market across availability, visibility, pricing, and distribution.
• Limited focus on luxury experience delivery, which may result in launches that lack the distinction and brand‑building impact expected in key channels.
• Challenges in cross‑functional collaboration, potentially slowing alignment or reducing the cohesion needed for seamless end‑to‑end commercialisation.
• Difficulty managing multiple projects with pace, which could impact launch timelines or the consistency of execution.
• Gaps in understanding on‑trade and off‑trade dynamics, limiting the ability to tailor execution standards to the channels where luxury brands are most influenced.

Deadline:6th March,2026