Innovation Commercialization Manager

About the Function

Our Marketing team are creators, helping to build and nurture some of the world's most loved brands. We craft amazing connections with people around the world to celebrate our brands' legacies and reimagine them for the world today, and into the future.

Everything we do is underpinned by a deep understanding of our consumers, behaviours, trends, and technologies. Using our genius and creativity, we unlock our brands' uniqueness, understand their purpose, and put them at the heart of celebrations everywhere. Together, we're celebrating diversity and challenging stereotypes through our advertising and marketing. Wherever your talents lie, from Design to Consumer Planning, you'll be celebrated and supported in our inclusive culture.

Our Innovation Ambition

We need to ensure a strong and supported pipeline into our region of 40+ countries driven by a distributor partner model, have a leading innovation commercialization function and a fully integrated innovation business across the broader market teams.

Whether brand extensions, new to world product launches or sustainable pack and format innovations to future proof our business, the innovation agenda is a high focus area within Eastern Europe, offering an opportunity to work in a fast-paced, varied and exciting team.

About the role

We are looking for a high-performing, commercially focused leader ready to take the next step in their career at Diageo. This role balances critical thinking with a keen eye for detail to ensure brilliant execution with customers and consumers.

As the primary owner of EE innovation performance, you will also play a key leadership role in the Europe Innovation team, bringing thought leadership and expertise to drive total regional EE innovation delivery. The ICM drives the innovation pipeline, owns the P&L for respective categories, and analyzes performance drivers to optimize outcomes.

Working in close partnership with commercial and marketing teams, you will deliver the annual operating plan in line with innovation and brand strategies. This role offers the opportunity to build a strong internal network across EE, Europe Innovation and Global Brand Teams.

The Innovation Commercialization Manager (ICM) role is accountable for translating the Eastern Europe innovation pipeline into a commercial reality through three main areas:

Innovation Development & Validation: ICM will partner with the European innovation team to bring projects to gate 3 approval (concept & design), ensuring EE-specific consumer and customer validation. Work alongside key partners across EE, Europe Innovation and Global brand teams to drive alignment and support. Commercialization & Execution: Lead cross-functional teams (commercial, customer marketing, brand, supply) to develop a 3-year launch plan and targets into gate 5. Inspire and engage the wider business to ensure seamless execution. Activation & Performance Monitoring: Oversee activation and results tracking through gate 6, driving interventions as needed. Engage partners to share takeaways refine for future innovation strategy.

The ICM will work closely with European Innovation and the Eastern Europe Commercial and Marketing teams throughout all stages, including collaboration with our distributor partners across EE.

Role Responsibilities

Top 3-5 Accountabilities

• Support the Eastern Europe innovation strategy by working with the EE LT and European innovation team to build a robust pipeline, ensuring alignment and buy-in across EE, Europe, and Global teams.
• Deliver best-in-class launches by leading a cross-functional team (Brand, Activation, Commercial, RGM) and engaging distributor partners to drive seamless execution, nurture, and exit plans
• Lead Innovation Performance Review by partnering with EE Marketing and Commercial teams to track success, address opportunities, and align on activation, distribution, pricing, and G5 targets.

ABOUT YOU

• 5+ years in Commercial and/or Brand roles with a strong track record in business delivery, P&L management, and FMCG commercial understanding.
• Proven ability to lead multiple projects in a fast-paced, complex environment, influencing senior partners and engaging cross-functional teams to get results.
• Ability to distill complexity into clear, engaging messaging with strong presentation and selling skills.
• Exceptional ability to build and maintain genuine relationships based on mutual trust & respect.
• Outstanding leadership, ownership and deep personal accountability for great performance.
• Curiosity to understand consumer behaviour and future socializing trends which are the foundation of shaping the innovations in markets.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and change, proactively simplifying and improving processes.
• Ability to think strategically while applying difficulty to executional detail, with strong numerical competence and attention to detail.
• Fluent in English

Dial-up Behaviours

• Be externally curious: Seek deep external insights, anticipate trends, adapt quickly.
• Collaborate efficiently: Challenge openly, decide with only essential input, share, and embrace what works.
• Experiment and learn: Aim high and disrupt, trial innovative solutions, fail fast and learn.
• Act decisively: Choose progress over perfection, prioritize what matters most, commit to decisions, and deliver.

Benefits

• Unique Family Leave opportunity
• Opportunity to work across market and cultures
• You will deal with world class brand portfolio
• Product Allowance to purchase company products from the staff shop

Flexible Working Statement

Flexibility is key to our success. Talk to us about what flexibility means to you so that you're supported to manage your wellbeing and balance your priorities from day one.

Diversity statement

Our purpose is to celebrate life, every day, everywhere. And creating an inclusive culture, where everyone feels valued and that they can belong, is a crucial part of this.

We embrace diversity in the broadest possible sense. This means that you'll be welcomed and celebrated for who you are just by being you. You'll be part of and help build and champion an inclusive culture that celebrates people of different gender, ethnicity, ability, age, sexual orientation, social class, educational backgrounds, experiences, mindsets, and more.

Our ambition is to create the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products companies in the world. Join us and help transform our business as we take our brands to the next level and build new ones as part of shaping the next generation of celebrations for consumers around the world.

Feel inspired? Then this may be the opportunity for you.

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