Description

Job Title: Innovation Commercialisation Manager

About Us:

Diageo is a global leader in premium drinks, home to one of the world's most celebrated collections of spirits and beers, with over 200 brands sold in 180 countries. Our talented workforce is united by a passion for creating exceptional products and experiences that shape celebrations across the globe. Our teams push boundaries, blend creativity with deep consumer insight, and continuously reinvent what's possible - building iconic brands that stand the test of time.

In South Africa, Diageo's Reserve business is well-established and highly profitable with a strong position within super premium & above spirits. Our portfolio includes industry icons The Singleton, Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Tanqueray No. Ten, Zacapa, Don Julio, Ciroc, Ketel One and others.

As the luxury market continues to gain momentum, within beverage alcohol, luxury spirits is one of the fastest growing segments. With premiumization expected to remain a long-term trend, this growth is forecasted to continue, and our award-winning portfolio is well positioned to captivate consumers across the global and income levels.

To win in luxury spirits, our manifesto guides what we aim to cause for consumers - to make their everyday more special, to make the many dream with experiences available and aspirational. Our consumers want to socialize in style, and this desire for specialness fuels the opportunity for premiumization.

Our success is owed to the strength of our people. It's why we trust them with our legacy and reward them with career-defining opportunities. We are looking for people with creativity, a bold and entrepreneurial spirit and a sense of purpose to take Diageo and our timeless, pioneering brands to the next level.

Function:

Our Sales team love building relationships, connecting with customers to sell our much-loved brands in new and vibrant markets where they can thrive. They help sell our iconic brands across 180 countries every year.

We're operating across different markets, channels, and areas of expertise. Using your curiosity and passion, you'll make the most of consumer insight and digital platforms, reaching new customers, markets, and celebrations to help us achieve our growth potential. We'll support your learning and growth as you develop your career with us and work with people across our business to realise your fullest potential.

Context/ Scope

Innovation is the growth engine of the Reserve portfolio, shaping the future of our business by delivering new products that respond to evolving consumer and customer needs, set trends, and redefine the choices available in the luxury spirits space.

The success of these innovations is highly dependent on the strength of their commercialisation in market - the end‑to‑end orchestration of market readiness that blends rigorous commercial execution with elevated experience design. This means ensuring each launch is commercially sound (availability, visibility, pricing, distribution, sell‑in and sell‑out excellence, activation) while also bringing the brand's world to life physically, across on‑trade, off‑trade, and e‑commerce in a way that reflects the standards, theatre, and distinction expected in luxury.

When done well, commercialisation converts innovation into meaningful consumer desire, recruitment, and sustained growth across Southern Africa.

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:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.
• 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.