Marketing Director MU Lead (Durban Based) at Beiersdorf

Your Tasks

• Leads the Marketing function as the lead market for Sub Saharan Africa (South Africa, Central East and West Africa (CEWA)) Management Unit (MU), delivering strong market outperformance in line with strategy across all MU markets.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Overdrives Market Share & Penetration
• Delivers market share growth across multiple categories, in a sustainable way.
• Responsible for topline performance (revenues growth, market share)
• Understand market dynamics to define and implement plans that make our products reach more households, more often, at a higher price.

Marketing Plan

• Owns and implements the Marketing Plan with excellence. 100% accountability in lead market (South Africa) and shared accountability with country managers in rest of the markets (Central, East and West Africa).
• Coordination with Sales, Shopper & Customer Marketing and E-Commerce teams to ensure tight coordination/synchronization.
• Ensures that Marketing plan is grounded on deep consumer and market understanding, to define the JBTD.
• Growth enabler with ROI behavior
• Timely identifies issues and growth opportunities, ensuring full funding behind key initiatives, across all touchpoints.
• Delivers highest ROI to drive in-market performance.
• Tears down internal and external growth barriers.

Commercial Skills

• Strong commercial skills needed to define and implement optimal plans with S&CM, Sales and E-Commerce teams.

Full-Funnel Excellence

• Role model on consumer-centric activation excellence & performance measurement.
• Excellence in Classical Media: SOV/SOI, WOA, Reach 1+, 3+, Frequency, Copy Length optimizations, etc.
• Excellence in Digital Media: Precision Marketing, Influencers Marketing, Social Media, Earned Media, etc.
• Data-driven decisions and optimizations in real-time, across the full-funnel (leading internal and external teams).
• Sets learning agenda and delivers Efficiencies and Effectiveness by Categories and Countries.
• Agencies Management (enables right structures, costs & owns strong relationship in line with strategy).

Brand Guardian :

• Is the frontline brand guardian across all touchpoints and stakeholders (internal and external ones).
• Ensures the brand is built with consistency, across categories and countries.
• Strengthens NIVEAness equity items.

Marketing Budget

• Owns and maximizes Marketing Budget, beyond Marketing function.
• Allocates resources in line with strategy, with 100% accountability in the MU (not only on lead market).
• Find’s “Can do’s” so they can be later reinvested in the business.
• Organization and Processes
• Enables further development (effective/efficient) of all processes as well as the structure of the Management Unit. Identifying organizational changes and measures for improvement of the organization and initiate adequate measures

Leadership

• Is seen as a leader in the organization, beyond own MU.
• Builds a pipeline of the next generation of MU NCG Marketing Leaders R .
• Ensures brands, business and people consistency across categories and countries.

Your Profile

• 15+ yrs. Experience in Brand Marketing, in global companies.
• Global, Regional and Local experience will be a plus.
• Proven ability to lead, develop, and empower a marketing team, providing clear vision, direction, and accountability.
• Skilled in building strong partnerships across commercial, finance, supply chain, and other key functions to drive integrated business performance.
• Serves as an active member of the local management team, contributing to strategic decision-making, governance, and long-term business planning.
• Capable of making high-quality, timely decisions on business priorities and executing with speed, focus, and agility.
• Brings a forward-thinking, change-oriented mindset to challenge the status quo and lead transformation initiatives that elevate marketing and business performance.
• Ability to influence and motivate large teams across the MU and region.
• Strong commercial skills.
• Expert in Media Management (full consumer journey, including Digital Excellence).
• Potential to become a Marketing VP.
• Globally mobile (if local candidate, should show strong willingness for an international career)
• Strong & broad leadership skills, has managed large & virtual and international teams
• Strong interpersonal/ networking skills.
• Ability to operate in a matrix structure and lead by influence
• Language: Excellent verbal and written communication in English Knowledge of local language highly beneficial