Director, Food Service Japan

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Job Description Summary:

Director, Food Service Japan

Job Objective

Lead strategic marketing, commercial execution, and digital transformation initiatives for key QSR customers in Japan (excluding McDonald’s). Strengthen customer partnerships through data-driven insights, end-to-end execution, and innovation aligned with Coca-Cola system priorities.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Marketing & Execution

• Partner with major QSR accounts in Japan to understand their strategies and execution plans.
• Co-develop and implement joint business and beverage strategies across categories.
• Deliver topline growth by aligning joint priorities and executing cross-functional marketing initiatives.
• Develop mid-to-long-term sales plans to protect, grow, and diversify customer relationships.
• Own and execute strategic initiatives end-to-end while maintaining trusted relationships with customers.
• Champion sustainability and digital transformation programs (e.g., plastic reduction, digital ordering integration, customer CRM connection).
• Focus on increasing beverage incidence and recruiting new shoppers through 360 Integrated Activation.
• Maintain a healthy profit & loss structure by ensuring commercial discipline with customers.
• Work closely with Franchise Operations teams to align on business initiatives from a system-wide financial perspective.

Digital & Insights Strategy

• Lead data-driven initiatives to enhance customer performance and engagement.
• Collaborate with Platform Services and analytics teams to develop automated reports, dashboards, and insights for performance tracking.
• Translate large data sets into executive-level insights to guide QSR strategies.
• Partner with global and local insights teams to connect consumer segmentation with market opportunities.

Strategic Business Development

• Identify and prioritize high-impact business opportunities through customer model analysis and ROI-based investment planning.
• Lead development of business cases and implementation of new product launches, frequency-driving programs, and innovation pilots.
• Build alignment with bottlers and internal stakeholders on shared strategic imperatives, KPIs, and execution milestones.

Core Competencies

• Accelerates Growth: Drives innovation and balances short- and long-term priorities.
• Drives Execution: Delivers consistent results and leverages system-wide best practices.
• Unleashes Potential: Inspires teams and cross-functional partners.
• Acts Like an Owner: Makes sound decisions and manages priorities for impact.

Functional Skills

• Strong understanding of QSR customer needs and operations in Japan.
• Expertise in joint business planning and cross-functional marketing program development.
• Strong analytical and negotiation skills to drive profitable partnerships.
• Proficiency in leveraging digital platforms, CRM tools, and marketing assets for customer growth.
• Experience collaborating with global teams and bottlers to maximize customer value.
• Ability to manage wide-ranging agendas, including sustainability and innovation.
• Strong financial acumen with the ability to manage customer profitability and system-wide value creation.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Finance, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in FMCG marketing, customer development, or strategy.
• Experience handling large data sets and deriving actionable insights (e.g., SQL, Tableau, Power BI a plus).
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience in matrixed, cross-functional, or global environments.
• Proven ability to lead marketing strategy and deliver business results.
• Fluent in Japanese and business-level English (written and verbal).
• Willingness to travel up to 50%.

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Our Purpose and Growth Culture:

We are taking deliberate action to nurture an inclusive culture that is grounded in our company purpose, to refresh the world and make a difference. We act with a growth mindset, take an expansive approach to what’s possible and believe in continuous learning to improve our business and ourselves. We focus on four key behaviors – curious, empowered, inclusive and agile – and value how we work as much as what we achieve. We believe that our culture is one of the reasons our company continues to thrive after 130+ years. Visit Our Purpose and Vision to learn more about these behaviors and how you can bring them to life in your next role at Coca-Cola.