Senior Manager, Innovation & PMO, SAF

Job Description: Senior Manager – Innovations & PMO  

Function: SAF Marketing 
Reports to: SAF Marketing Lead 
Location: SAF, SA 

Role Overview 

The Senior Manager – Innovations & PMO is a senior strategic and operational leader within the Franchise Marketing organization. The role integrates Innovation Management, Marketing PMO, and Marketing Orchestration to ensure that the Franchise delivers a consistent pipeline of winning innovations, disciplined marketing planning, and coordinated execution across markets. 

This role serves as the operational backbone for the Franchise—leading innovation governance, enabling rigorous prioritization, orchestrating key marketing processes, and embedding tech- and data-enabled ways of working. Operating within a highly interconnected OU–Market model, the Senior Manager ensures that global and OU strategies are executed locally with excellence, speed, and clear accountability. 

Key Responsibilities 

1. Innovation Leadership & Governance 

• Lead the end-to-end innovation pipeline for the Franchise—concept development, validation, prioritization, launch planning, and post-launch tracking. 

• Manage alignment between OU innovation platforms and local market needs, ensuring both global scalability and local relevance. 

• Steward innovation governance rhythms (Pipeline Reviews, Gate Processes, Bottler Alignment). 

• Ensure strong cross-functional collaboration across R&D, Commercial, Insights, Finance, Supply Chain, and Bottler partners. 

• Identify whitespace opportunities, category trends, cultural shifts, and consumer needs to inform future innovation. 

2. PMO for Marketing Operations & Planning 

• Lead structured PMO governance across key marketing processes:  

• Annual Business Planning (ABP) 

• Marketing Calendar & Prioritization 

• Flywheel & Integrated Planning 

• Innovation milestones 

• Ensure clarity, discipline, and consistency in planning rhythms and decision-making processes. 

• Map dependencies, manage risks, and escalate bottlenecks to ensure on-time delivery. 

• Track impact, KPIs, and performance outcomes to support data-driven adjustments. 

3. Marketing Orchestration & Cross-Functional Integration 

• Serve as the hub for orchestrating marketing workflows across Brand, IMX, Digital, Commercial, Finance, and Bottlers. 

• Ensure seamless integration of innovation, marketing campaigns, platforms, and in-market execution. 

• Facilitate cross-functional alignment and build “one-team” ways of working across the Franchise Marketing ecosystem. 

• Support Franchise and OU leadership with insights, structured updates, dashboards, and progress tracking. 

4. Capability Building & Data/Tech Enablement 

• Deploy OU and global capability programs related to innovation management, marketing excellence, and PMO methods. 

• Champion the adoption of digital and AI-enabled tools (e.g., demand forecasting, consumer intelligence, workflow tools). 

• Build capability across Franchise teams in project management, prioritization, and innovation excellence. 

• Strengthen data literacy within the marketing community to support precision decision-making. 

5. Operational Excellence & System Leadership 

• Drive harmonization of tools, templates, and processes across Franchise markets. 

• Ensure adoption of standardized marketing operating models and governance frameworks. 

• Foster a culture of disciplined execution, accountability, and continuous improvement. 

• Act as the Franchise’s integrator with OU Marketing, ensuring alignment and visibility on all innovation and PMO priorities. 

Success Measures 

• A robust, well-governed innovation pipeline with clear prioritization and strong execution. 

• Consistent and disciplined marketing rhythms (ABP, calendar, innovation gates, flywheel). 

• Faster, more precise, and more integrated marketing operations. 

• Strong alignment across cross-functional and bottler stakeholders. 

• High adoption of tools, systems, and ways of working across the Franchise. 

• Capability uplift across innovation, PMO, and data/tech literacy. 

Experience & Qualifications 

• 7+ years of experience in marketing, innovation, project management, or portfolio management. 

• Strong expertise in innovation processes, cross-functional orchestration, and commercial planning. 

• Experience managing complex, multi-market or multi-stakeholder projects. 

• Strong understanding of brand-building, consumer insights, category strategy, and innovation principles. 

• Proven ability to embed processes, tools, and governance frameworks. 

• Experience working with or leveraging digital, data, or AI-enabled solutions is an advantage. 

Leadership & Behavioural Expectations 

• Growth Mindset: curious, adaptive, and able to lead through ambiguity. 

• Enterprise-first thinking: acts in the interest of system-wide priorities, not silos. 

• Operational Discipline: structured, detail-oriented, and strong in stakeholder management. 

• Influential Communicator: able to align diverse stakeholders, including bottlers and senior leaders. 

• Collaboration & Orchestration: thrives in networked teams and cross-functional environments. 

• Strategic Agility: able to balance long-term innovation with short-term execution needs. 

Other Considerations 

• May require travel for key innovation reviews, market visits, and bottler meetings. 

• Operates within a highly integrated OU–Market model, requiring strong alignment with OU Marketing teams.