Senior Brand Design Manager

Location:

Amsterdam, Netherlands (local contract)

Closing date:
August 28 th 2026

At HEINEKEN, design is a powerful driver of brand growth, innovation, and consumer connection. As Senior Brand Design Manager, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of one of our iconic Global Brands, ensuring its identity remains distinctive, relevant, and inspiring across every touchpoint and market around the world.

This is a unique opportunity for a visionary design leader who thrives at the intersection of creativity, strategy, and business impact. You will partner with global brand teams, leading design agencies, and cross-functional stakeholders to create world-class brand experiences that influence millions of consumers. From defining future-facing design strategies and innovation platforms to safeguarding brand consistency and elevating creative excellence, you will help shape how our brands are experienced today and how they evolve for tomorrow.

If you are passionate about building iconic brands, championing exceptional design, and turning bold ideas into tangible business results, we'd love to hear from you.

• Shape and drive the long‑term design vision and strategy for your assigned Global Brand, ensuring it remains distinctive, relevant, and future‑fit across markets and consumer touchpoints.
• Lead the development of world‑class brand identity systems, packaging design, and brand experiences that strengthen brand equity and support commercial growth.
• Act as the global custodian of the brand's visual identity and architecture, ensuring consistency, quality, and creative excellence across primary packaging, secondary packaging, and key on‑ and off‑trade touchpoints.
• Partner with Global Brand Teams, Innovation, and Design specialists to translate business and consumer insights into compelling creative opportunities and breakthrough design solutions.
• Inspire and champion outstanding creativity, fostering productive collaboration between internal teams and agency partners to deliver best‑in‑class work.
• Advocate for the strategic value of design across the organization, demonstrating how design strengthens brands, accelerates innovation, and creates meaningful consumer and customer experiences.
• Continuously evolve brand governance and stewardship practices, ensuring global consistency while enabling local relevance and executional excellence.
• Build strong relationships across Regions, Operating Companies, breweries, suppliers, and external partners to drive adoption and successful implementation of brand design initiatives.
• Collaborate closely with the Design Implementation Team to ensure seamless execution of creative developments across markets, safeguarding creative intent while enabling efficient deployment and governance.
• Lead complex, cross‑functional design programs involving stakeholders across Brand, Innovation, R&D, Sustainability, Legal, Finance, Procurement, Supply Chain, and external partners.
• Manage external design agencies and creative partners, ensuring high‑quality outputs, effective ways of working, and optimal use of design budgets.
• Stay ahead of emerging design, cultural, consumer, and technology trends, translating insights into opportunities that keep our brands culturally relevant and future‑facing.

• University degree or Master's qualification in Design, Branding, Marketing, Innovation, or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in brand design, design management, or creative leadership roles within FMCG, consumer brands, or leading design consultancies.
• Proven expertise in strategic brand design, visual identity systems, and packaging design, with a portfolio demonstrating impactful and commercially successful work.
• Ability to balance visionary thinking with practical execution, transforming bold ideas into scalable, market‑ready solutions.
• Strong understanding of brand strategy, innovation processes, consumer behaviour, and the role of design in driving business performance.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, multi‑stakeholder projects from concept through…