Director channel, Traditional trade and Away From Home, Romania

Job Description Summary:

The Channel Director is the enterprise leader responsible for transforming and accelerating the Company’s Traditional Trade and Away From Home channels in the market through a unified, insight-driven, and execution-focused approach. This role owns the strategic agenda across the business and ensures the Company and the bottler operate against a single, fully aligned commercial plan that drives outlet penetration, availability, incidence, equipment and execution productivity, and profitable growth.

A core part is leading the end-to-end commercialization of key brand bets and NPDs, synchronizing brand plans, innovation and activation calendar, setting PICOS standards, and governing execution, alongside commercial execution excellence, accelerating system capabilities to predictive, insight-led, and value-driven models that materially improve outlet coverage, transaction quality, and channel profitability. For Away From Home, this includes leading the 360 Integrated Activation (360IA) plan, Joint Business Plans with top Key Account customers in Romania, and direct account management of McDonald’s.

The Channel Director is fully accountable for owning channel performance, jointly setting and governing system KBIs across channels, and leading mitigation and acceleration actions to meet BP volume, revenue, and share targets. As the senior orchestrator of the Company’s channel system, the Channel Director integrates data, analytics, and AI across planning, execution, and performance routines, driving a modern, consistent, and future-ready operating model.

The Channel Director partners with bottlers to ensure disciplined systemwide implementation across the business. All responsibilities are led jointly.

What You’ll Do for Us 

Lead Channel Strategy & System Alignment

• Lead the creation of BP and long-range strategies across Traditional Trade, Away From Home, and Food Service Aggregators, translating them into integrated omnichannel roadmaps that connect portfolio, RGM, media, equipment, RTM, and in-outlet/digital activation across all channels.

• Lead high-impact strategic initiatives, wholesaler-led, foodservice-led, and aggregator-led models, recruitment channel expansion, category development, omnichannel execution, and data-driven customer planning tailored to each channel’s structure.

• Act as the senior system integrator and influencer, aligning GM, C&C, Marketing, RGM, Finance, Digital, bottler, and key customers behind one unified channel growth agenda.

• Lead the Away from Home business against the 360 Integrated Activation (360IA) plan, ensuring the Company and bottler execute a single, fully aligned AFH activation agenda

Commercialize Key Brand Bets & NPDs

• Lead the end-to-end commercialization of key brand bets and NPD launches across Traditional Trade and Away From Home, synchronizing the innovation, brands and activation calendar across marketing, RGM, RTM, and the bottler to ensure system-wide launch readiness.
• Own PICOS (Picture of Success) definition and governance by channel and outlet segment, translating each brand bet and NPD into clear merchandising, availability, equipment, and activation standards executed jointly with the bottler.
• Set and govern execution standards for launch sell-in, in-outlet activation, and post-launch performance tracking, driving speed to shelf and consistency of execution across the system.

Drive Commercial Execution Excellence

• Lead commercial execution excellence, accelerating system capabilities to predictive, insight-led, and value-driven models to grow outlet penetration, ND%, and ROS Coolers/10k and conversion on Food Service Aggregator platforms.
• Lead the development of a segmented equipment (coolers, vending, fountain, and others) strategy for Away From Home, ensuring systemwide implementation with bottlers to maximize coverage, productivity, and outlet penetration in all channels.
• Lead Joint Business Plans with top AFH Key Account customers in Romania, including direct account management of McDonald’s, to secure long-term, mutually profitable Away From Home partnerships.

Own Channel Performance & System KPIs

• Own system performance across all channels, jointly setting and monitoring system KBIs and leading mitigation and acceleration actions to deliver BP volume, revenue, and share targets in each.
• Govern performance routines across channels, ensuring they are insight-driven, action-oriented, and forward-looking rather than reporting-led.
• Maintain a predictive view of the competitive, channel, and regulatory environment using data and insights to proactively shape system responses.

Experience & Capabilities

• Strong understanding on Traditional Trade, Away From Home, and Food Service Aggregator landscape, customer needs, RTM models (wholesaler/sub-distributor, foodservice, and digital aggregator), and execution levers across all channels.
• Robust commercial with experience using modelling and scenario planning to drive profitable, insight-led decisions across the business.
• Proven track record commercializing brand bets and NPDs end-to-end, aligning innovation calendars, setting PICOS standards, and driving execution consistency from launch through in-market delivery.
• Demonstrated system leadership, influencing senior stakeholders across Company, bottler, wholesaler, aggregator platforms, and customer organizations to drive integrated end-to-end execution.
• Experienced in Joint Business Planning and senior-level account management, balancing customer partnership with system profitability.
• Strategic and execution-focused leader, able to translate strategy into predictable, high-quality in-market delivery across an omnichannel portfolio.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management, with strong executive presence.

Travel
Up to 25%.

Skills:

Location(s):

Romania

City/Cities:

Bucharest

Travel Required:

00% - 25%

Relocation Provided:

No

Job Posting End Date:

October 1, 2026

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.