Chief Marketing Officer

A fast-growing UK-headquartered consumer business with a premium pet-food portfolio of differentiated, natural and clean-label brands is seeking to appoint a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).

Following significant private equity investment and a series of recent strategic decisions, the business is entering its next phase of international growth. There is indeed a substantial opportunity to scale its brands further across North America, Europe and selected global markets through retail, pet-specialist, grocery, e-commerce and distributor channels.

Reporting directly to the CEO, the CMO will lead the global marketing agenda, acting as guardian of brand equity while also serving as a highly commercial growth leader. The role requires an individual who can combine world-class FMCG brand building with category leadership, shopper insight, innovation, digital marketing and close partnership with sales and regional market teams.

The successful candidate will help sharpen the organisation’s global brand architecture, unlock growth from its existing brands, support geographic expansion and ensure marketing investment translates into measurable revenue and margin growth.

The role will be broad, challenging and highly visible. The CMO will lead the global marketing strategy for the organisation’s brand portfolio, ensuring each brand has a clear proposition, consumer target, channel role and growth roadmap. They will define the overall brand architecture, positioning and communications strategy, ensuring the business continues to stand out in a competitive and fast-evolving pet-food market.

They will develop a clear global-to-local marketing model, balancing brand consistency with market-specific execution across the UK, Europe, North America and other priority international markets. Working closely with the CEO, sales, category, e-commerce, innovation, finance and operations teams, they will translate brand strategy into commercial plans by market, channel and customer.

A key priority will be to build a more sophisticated, insight-led and data-driven marketing function. The CMO will strengthen consumer, shopper and category understanding across pet owners, retailers and trade partners, using insight to inform pricing, range, packaging, claims, new product development and channel activation. The business has grown at pace, and now requires greater rigour in how data, technology and insight are used to support critical commercial decisions.

The CMO will also lead the innovation agenda, identifying growth opportunities across existing and adjacent product categories. They will build stronger digital, e-commerce and technology-enabled marketing capability, ensuring the business can compete effectively across both physical and online channels.

In addition, they will lead, develop and inspire the marketing team, raising capability across brand management, category, consumer insight, innovation, digital and international marketing.

To deliver on the above, the organisation is seeking a world-class CMO. The ideal candidate will be a senior marketing leader from a high-quality branded consumer goods, FMCG, food, drink, pet care, health, beauty or consumer healthcare business. They will bring a strong track record of building premium brands, launching successful innovation, using digital and technology to create competitive advantage, and working closely with sales teams across multiple channels and markets.

Experience in pet care would be desirable, but is not essential. More important will be clear evidence of consumer brand excellence, strong commercial judgement, international scalability and the ability to operate in a fast-paced, private equity-backed environment.

The strongest candidates are likely to have held roles such as CMO, Marketing Director, VP Marketing, General Manager, Category Director or senior commercial/brand leadership positions in businesses with both brand and customer complexity.

Candidates who can demonstrate proven senior marketing leadership, strong commercial credibility, a sophisticated understanding of digital and e-commerce, and a track record of accelerating growth will thrive in this role and organisation.

Please note, the role is based in the North West of England and requires a commitment to being in the office four days per week. Candidates who cannot commit to this working pattern will not be considered.

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