Senior Brand Manager - Beverages

PepsiCo; Reading; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global food and beverage company is seeking a Senior Brand Manager to drive brand growth in the UK market. The role involves leading marketing strategies for iconic beverage brands, managing collaborative campaigns, and leveraging consumer insights for sustained growth. Ideal candidates will possess strong brand building skills, project management experience, and the ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams. This position comes with a competitive salary and benefits, emphasizing career growth and employee wellbeing.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Bonus

Car allowance

Flexible working

Discounted gym memberships

Enhanced parental leave

Electric car schemes

Qualifications

• Proven experience in brand building and consumer insights.
• Demonstrated analytical skills to drive actionable insights.
• History of successful project management in fast-paced environments.

Responsibilities

• Deliver brand growth strategy and execute brand plans.
• Lead high-impact brand campaigns and consumer experiences.
• Manage A&M budget effectively to unlock brand opportunities.

Skills

Strong consumer understanding and brand building skills

Analytical skills

Commercially savvy

Project management

Experience of engaging cross-functional teams

Leading external agencies

Budget Management experience

Job description

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Overview

PepsiCo is one of the world's leading food and beverage companies, serving more than 200 countries and territories around the world. With over 20 global megabrands, we have a reputation for strong brand marketing expertise. At PepsiCo, marketing is as much about sharp commercial thinking as it is creativity, and we are proud to be home to some of the best marketers in the world.

We have an exciting opportunity for a talented Senior Brand Manager to join us as we accelerate the growth of our successful Beverage portfolio in the GB market, including brands such as Pepsi, Rockstar, Lipton Ice Tea & Gatorade. You'll be joining the team at an exciting phase of our portfolio's development, with an opportunity to lead breakthrough marketing plans that continue to deliver penetration growth.

Responsibilities

As Senior Brand Manager you'll play a pivotal role and be responsible for supporting the Marketing Leadership to create and execute brand strategy for GB, working in collaboration with our agencies and bottling partner, Carlsberg-Britvic. You will need to be experienced in working in a matrix organisation with a very collaborative approach and strong organisational skills, to deliver against strategic objectives. This position will lead the execution of the 2026 annual plans, encompassing high-impact brand campaigns and immersive consumer experiences, in collaboration with leading agencies. You'll leverage robust consumer insights to identify key category drivers and overcome barriers, ensuring sustained market share growth for our brands.

You will bring proven experience operating within a complex matrix organization, demonstrating a highly collaborative mindset and exceptional organizational capabilities to drive seamless execution and stakeholder alignment.

• Deliver brand growth strategy in robust local brand platforms, working closely with insights to understand key drivers and barriers of the brand and category
• Deliver brand campaigns and initiatives, leading the workstreams for OOH, social, experimental, digital and PR.
• Work closely with our bottling partner, to ensure shopper and trade customers have full end-to-end plans.
• Manage A&M budget, for your campaigns, ensuring most efficient budget deployment, to unlock brand opportunities across the year.

Qualifications

• Strong consumer understanding and brand building skills - understanding consumer insights to help build stronger activations & campaigns
• Analytical skills - create robust analysis and meaningful insights to drive actions and highlight opportunities
• Commercially savvy - knowing the commercial basics to work independently with the Carlsberg Britvic brand managers
• Project management - proven track record of managing multiple projects in a fast moving and ever-changing environment (ideally FMCG) with maturity and foresight to cope with input and changes.
• Experience of engaging and leading cross-functional teams, internal and external partners
• Leading external agencies to develop and deliver winning marketing plans & content
• Budget Management experience

Key Behaviours

• Proactive approach and can-do attitude - a real self-starter with the ability to manage multiple complex and hands-on projects. Strong bias to action with proven track record to overcome challenges and issues
• Innovative / curious / comfortable challenging status quo & bringing creativity to problem-solving.
• Fluent in digital & social media, displaying passion to ensure our brands are connected into cultural conversations.
• Collaborative and ONE TEAM approach - high-capacity leadership to influence others, encourage teamwork, and build strong relationships to get things done.
• Excellent communication skills - engage and influence stakeholders, with an aptitude to galvanize teams and get buy in across organisation.
• Demonstrates a sense of passion, enjoyment and pride about their work to inspire others
• Time management - strong time management skills and ability to prioritise & focus to get things done fast

Why Join Us?

We offer a competitive salary, bonus, car allowance, flexible working, and a wide range of benefits-from critical illness cover and discounted gym memberships to enhanced parental leave and electric car schemes. Our commitment to wellbeing and career growth makes us a Top Employer for 14 years running.

Equal Opportunities

We're an equal opportunity employer, committed to the Equality Act 2010. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and will provide any necessary adjustments to support you through the recruitment process.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated nearly $92 billion in net revenue in 2024, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with pep+ (PepsiCo Positive). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human (sic) capital at the centre of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com, and follow on X (Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @PepsiCo.