Overview

The Marketing Director is a senior leader responsible for the Northern Europe beverage marketing agenda across 13 markets, with accountability for a significant marketing budget and a direct team of 10. Reporting to the Europe CMO and Northern Europe GM and serving as a member of the Northern Europe Leadership Team, the role translates PepsiCo’s global and European brand strategies into locally relevant, commercially focused growth plans. It stewards the core Pepsi and Pepsi MAX portfolio, helps shape emerging platforms such as Gatorade and poppi, and partners closely with franchise bottlers and cross-functional teams to accelerate brand growth, innovation, execution and marketing effectiveness across the region. The role is based in Copenhagen.

Responsibilities

• Set the Northern Europe beverage marketing and portfolio strategy. Define the annual and multi-year agenda across the core business and emerging platforms, making explicit choices by market, brand, occasion, channel and bottler system.

• Accelerate the Pepsi and Pepsi MAX growth agenda. Strengthen cola leadership by growing penetration, preference, frequency, brand equity and share, with particular focus on locally relevant activation, disciplined innovation and consistent execution of global brand positioning.

• Lead top-to-top bottler partnerships. Co-create joint growth plans with Royal Unibrew, Carlsberg, Ölgerðin and other partners; align brand, commercial and investment priorities; and own end-to-end growth across the system, from brand, innovation and investment through to in-market execution and shared economics.

• Identify and unlock growth pockets. Map and prioritise growth by market, occasion, channel, pack and consumer, then turn the highest-value opportunities into funded plans with bottler partners.

• Shape the next growth platforms. Partner with the New Platforms organisation to define the role of Gatorade, poppi and future hydration or functional beverage propositions, ensuring clear portfolio logic, launch readiness, consumer relevance and learning for scale.

• Localise and create platforms. Lift, adapt and deploy global and European brand strategies, creative platforms, sponsorships and cultural programs, including sports and entertainment properties, in ways that are locally resonant, compliant and commercially actionable; where the opportunity is local, originate locally relevant brand and cultural platforms with the potential to scale.

• Lead media strategy and investment. Own the Northern Europe media agenda across channel mix, digital, social, retail media and partnerships. Use media as a creative tool, not only a delivery channel, and bring cutting-edge planning, buying and measurement approaches in partnership with the European media team.

• Lead the agency roster. Directly manage creative, media and social agencies, including content and creator partners. Own briefing quality, creative standards, agency performance and value for money.

• Accelerate innovation and commercialisation. Shape the beverage innovation and renovation pipeline, pack-price architecture and launch plans, connecting consumer demand spaces with supply feasibility, system economics, customer priorities and PepsiCo’s pep+ commitments.

• Own marketing ROI. Be accountable for return on A&M across the portfolio. Set clear KPIs and use marketing mix modelling (MMM), brand tracking and commercial data to reallocate investment behind the highest-return brands, markets and channels.

• Build PepsiCo marketing capability and talent. Lead and develop the Northern Europe marketing team; build brand, media and franchise capability across the PepsiCo team and bottler marketing teams; clarify accountability; and own succession and the talent pipeline while fostering an inclusive, high-performing culture grounded in PepsiCo behaviours.

Qualifications

• MBA or equivalent advanced degree is an advantage.

• 15+ years of progressive marketing experience, including senior leadership in a large, complex consumer business.

• Deep capability in consumer insight, brand strategy, portfolio management, innovation, integrated communications and go-to-market planning.

• Deep media expertise across traditional, digital and social, with a track record of ROI-led investment decisions.

• Direct experience leading creative, media and social agencies, with high standards for briefing, creative quality, performance and value.

• Proven record of creating scale brand platforms and translating strong consumer and cultural insight into sustained brand and commercial growth.

• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including investment prioritisation, P&L understanding and the ability to connect marketing decisions to system economics.

• Senior partner management experience with bottlers, franchisees or major customers at leadership level; beverage, bottler or route-to-market experience is strongly preferred.

• Experience leading cross-functional teams in a complex matrix, with strong project management, prioritisation and execution discipline.

• Strategic, curious and externally oriented, with the ability to simplify complexity, make clear choices and translate insight into action.

• Track record of building high-performing teams, developing talent and creating an inclusive culture of accountability and growth.

• Fluent English required; additional Northern European language capability is an advantage.

• Willingness to travel internationally approximately 20% of the time.