Senior Brand Strategy Consultant – Emerging Categories & Growth Platforms

Company Description

An Upwork Enterprise customer in the food and beverage industry is seeking a senior commercial and brand leader to shape the future of its Functional Fuel portfolio across Europe. This strategic leadership role will drive the company's next major growth platform spanning Energy, Hydration, Enhancers, and Alcohol, with end-to-end accountability for category strategy, innovation, commercial performance, and market execution.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in beverages or adjacent consumer categories, a track record of building high-growth brands, and the ability to influence cross-functional and international stakeholders. This leader will play a pivotal role in defining differentiated category positions, accelerating innovation, and unlocking sustainable, profitable growth across European markets.

Job Description

• Lead the overall Functional Fuel platform strategy across Europe, creating a differentiated position across Energy, Hydration, Enhancers, and Alcohol categories.
• Own the delivery of ambitious revenue, profitability, and market share objectives by identifying and scaling new growth opportunities.
• Develop and execute long-term innovation roadmaps that create new consumer occasions and expand the portfolio into adjacent categories.
• Drive pricing, portfolio architecture, and pack strategy to support premiumization, consumer recruitment, and category expansion.
• Oversee significant Above & Market (A&M) investment across consumer insights, integrated campaigns, digital platforms, and e-commerce initiatives while influencing market-level investment priorities.
• Champion e-commerce and direct-to-consumer capabilities as key growth engines, developing digital-first commercial models that unlock incremental business.
• Partner closely with Global Strategic Brand Teams to ensure alignment between global strategy and European market execution, while representing Europe in key cross-functional forums.
• Lead collaboration across Marketing, Commercial, Insights, Finance, Innovation, Supply Chain, and bottling partners to deliver a unified growth agenda.
• Build scalable playbooks and best practices that can be replicated across European markets to accelerate growth and execution excellence.
• Develop and mentor high-performing teams while influencing senior stakeholders around the long-term vision for the Functional Fuel platform.
• Monitor emerging consumer, category, and competitive trends to identify whitespace opportunities and shape future platform strategy.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in beverages or related consumer packaged goods categories, with significant experience in sports drinks, energy beverages, hydration, or adjacent functional categories.
• Proven success leading large-scale brand, category, or commercial strategies that deliver measurable revenue and profit growth.
• Strong expertise in brand strategy, purposeful positioning, integrated marketing, and 360° communications.
• Demonstrated experience leading innovation pipelines, portfolio strategy, pricing, and commercial growth initiatives.
• Experience managing significant marketing investment and influencing commercial resource allocation across multiple markets.
• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to balance long-term strategic vision and operational execution.
• Experience working within complex, highly matrixed global organizations and influencing senior cross-functional stakeholders.
• Exceptional analytical, strategic thinking, and decision-making capabilities supported by consumer and commercial insights.
• Outstanding leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills with experience building alignment across international teams.
• Passion for consumer trends, category innovation, and building brands that drive sustainable long-term growth.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience within sports drinks, energy beverages, hydration, or broader functional beverage categories.
• International leadership experience across European or global markets.
• Experience leading Strategic Brand Teams (SBTs) or equivalent cross-market governance forums.
• Proven success building high-performing teams and developing future organizational leaders.
• MBA or equivalent advanced business qualification is preferred.

Additional Information

This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for a senior executive looking to shape one of the company's most important strategic growth platforms. The successful candidate will play a critical role in building new categories, accelerating innovation, influencing investment decisions across Europe, and positioning the Functional Fuel business for long-term sustainable growth. The role offers significant exposure to senior global leadership and the opportunity to influence the future direction of a market-leading consumer goods organization.