Senior Director

Description:

Senior Director

Together, WE enable individuals to look, feel, and be their true selves.

Wella Company is one of the world’s leading beauty companies, comprised of a family of iconic brands such as Wella, Clairol, OPI, Nioxin and ghd. With 6,000 employees globally, presence in over 100 countries, Wella Company and its brands enable consumers to look, feel, and be their true selves. As innovators in the hair and nail industry, Wella Company empowers its people to delight consumers, inspire beauty professionals, engage communities, and deliver sustainable growth to its stakeholders.

For additional information about the Wella Company please visit www.wellacompany.com .

Role Overview

The Director of Brand Engagement & Activation leads OPI’s brand activation strategy and programming globally, driving cultural relevance and commercial impact across earned, paid, and owned channels. This role shapes the global activation framework and content strategy—spanning PR and brand communications, ambassadors/celebrity, events, influencers/creators, community, social, web, and e-retail—while enabling markets to tailor execution locally within a consistent masterbrand platform.

This leader owns end-to-end U.S. earned and owned activation—translating global strategy into market—while partnering closely with key markets (including the U.S. and UK) to ensure activation excellence is delivered consistently. The role is accountable for maintaining the brand’s #1 EMV ranking and driving strong performance across owned channels (e.g., social engagement, OPI.com traffic, and AEO rankings), using insights to optimize execution and scale best practices globally.

Key Responsibilities

Global Brand Strategy & Masterbrand Leadership

Lead OPI’s Masterbrand Campaign and Annual Activation Idea, defining the global strategic vision and activation framework
Own the annual global communications and activation calendar with the VP, ensuring the right sequencing of brand moments to build equity and drive performance
Own the Annual Global Activation Brief to markets, including brand theme, priorities, and budget allocation guidance
Develop and lead the Annual Global Paid Media Strategy and Brief, including A&CP investment guidance in partnership with media and finance teams (approx. $1.5M A&CP, excluding U.S.-specific budget)
Ensure alignment across brand, innovation, and base business storytelling within the global brand platform

Content, Engagement & Activation Strategy (Global)

Lead the Always-On Content and Activation Strategy for Brand, Innovation, and Base Business across Earned, Paid, and Owned channels
Define differentiated strategies for Professional and Consumer audiences, ensuring relevance across touchpoints
Set the global vision for social, influencer, ambassador, and event activation, with clear toolkits for markets

Owned Channel Strategy & Execution

Lead the team to define and activate Global Owned Channel Strategies, including social, web/OPI.com, CRM/email, and e-retail/eCommerce ecosystems (Brand.com, E-Retail, Pure Play partners)
Oversee digital content and activation strategy across social, web, and e-retail—ensuring strong performance in engagement, traffic, conversion-driving content, and AEO rankings
Oversee eCommerce content creation for both base business and innovation, ensuring commercial relevance and brand consistency
Establish content standards, toolkits, and governance to enable scalable global execution while allowing markets to locally tailor activation

Earned, Influencer & Paid Activation

Lead global brand communications (PR) strategy and storytelling, including ambassador, celebrity, and event programming
Set the owned, earned, and paid content & activation strategy, including influencers, creators, and community building
Define and oversee paid content strategy (brand and creator-led) to amplify key brand moments
Ensure influencer, ambassador, and celebrity strategies reflect OPI’s authority, creativity, and inclusive brand values

U.S. Earned & Owned Execution

Own and lead U.S. execution of earned and owned brand activation—taking global strategy and executing it in-market—serving as a model market for global best practices
Own the relationship with the local U.S. PR agency and deliver all PR-earned-owned (P-E-O) programming, including ambassador, influencer/creator, celebrity, and event moments
Manage the brand across multiple engagement channels and agency partners to develop campaign ideas and capture elevated content that expresses each GTM execution
Partner closely with U.S. commercial teams to deliver high-impact brand moments
Test, learn, and scale new content and activation approaches for global reapplication

Measurement, Reporting & Optimization

Own performance measurement and reporting across owned and earned activation, including Brand NPS, EMV, AEO rankings, social engagement, PR impact, and OPI.com/e-retail traffic and content performance
Use insights and analytics to optimize content, media, PR, and engagement strategies
Share learnings and best practices across regions and markets

Collaboration, Agency & Team Leadership

Lead and develop internal social/owned channel teams, and manage external agency partners—including the U.S. PR agency—to deliver best-in-class earned and owned activation
Manage and lead third-party agency relationships across PR, social, content, influencer/creator, community, and paid amplification
Collaborate closely with internal creative teams to develop campaign ideas and capture elevated content that expresses each GTM execution
Partner closely with cross-functional teams (including Product Marketing) and regions/markets (including the U.S. and UK) to ensure activation is successful and locally tailored within the global framework
Build, mentor, and inspire a high-performing global engagement and activation team

Qualifications & Experience

8–10+ years of experience in integrated marketing, brand communications, and activation (beauty, fashion, or lifestyle preferred)
Proven experience developing and executing content and activation strategy across a multitude of owned and earned platforms, including social, web, PR, influencers/creators, community, and events
Ability to articulate a clear strategic framework and enable markets outside the U.S. to locally tailor the brand strategy while protecting global consistency
Experience owning U.S. execution within a global matrixed organization; strong capability to translate global strategy into market plans
Deep expertise across social, content, influencer/creator, earned media, paid amplification, and eCommerce content
Strong agency leadership and cross-functional collaboration skills; experience partnering closely with internal creative teams
Strategic thinker with a hands-on, execution-driven mindset