Director, Consumer Connections

Director, Consumer Connections

At Suntory Global Spirits, we craft spirits of the highest quality and deliver brilliant experiences to people around the world. Suntory Global Spirits has evolved into the world's third largest leading premium spirits company... where each employee is treated like family and trusted with legacy. With our greatest assets - our premium spirits and our people - we're driving growth through impactful marketing, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Suntory Global Spirits is a place where you can come Unleash your Spirit by making an impact each and every day. What makes this a great opportunity? Suntory Global Spirits is a world leader in premium spirits with $5.5 billion in annual revenues and an ambition to become the World's Most Admired Premium Spirits Company. We have a strong vision and strategy, an incredible brand portfolio grounded in quality and craftsmanship, an unwavering commitment to sustainability and top talent across the organization.

We are focused on driving value across key priorities including American whiskey, Japanese Spirits, Scotch, Tequila, and Ready-to-Drink. Headquartered in New York City, Suntory Global Spirits is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings, which is world renowned for delivering quality and excellence across a range of products and categories.

Mission of the Role

The Director, Consumer Connections is responsible for developing and leading integrated marketing and consumer connection strategies that drive brand growth through culture, creativity, media, and consumer engagement. As a member of the Consumer Connections leadership team, this role partners closely with Brand, Insights, Commercial, and Agency teams to connect paid, owned, earned, and shared channels into cohesive consumer experiences that drive both business results and long-term brand equity.

This role serves as both a strategic business partner and capability leader. They help shape brand growth strategies, establish best practices across the Consumer Connections organization, and help build the capabilities, processes, and ways of working needed to deliver modern, consumer-first marketing. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable shaping longterm strategy, leading change, and translating vision into actionable plans that teams can execute with excellence.

• Strategic Leadership
• Serve as the Consumer Connections lead for a portfolio of brands, partnering with Brand, Insights, Commercial, and Agency teams to drive business growth and brand equity.
• Develop integrated consumer connection strategies that connect paid, owned, earned, and shared channels into cohesive consumer experiences.
• Translate business objectives, consumer insights, audience intelligence, and cultural trends into actionable growth plans and marketing strategies.
• Act as a strategic thought partner to brand leadership, helping shape priorities, investment decisions, and consumer engagement opportunities.
• Consumer & Cultural Strategy
• Champion audience-first planning and ensure marketing programs are rooted in consumer needs, behaviors, and motivations.
• Identify cultural trends, communities, and emerging opportunities that strengthen brand relevance and consumer connection.
• Guide the development of creator marketing programs, partnerships, brand experiences, and cultural activations that earn attention and drive impact.
• Foster a test-and-learn culture that encourages innovation, experimentation, and continuous improvement.
• Integrated Planning & Execution
• Lead integrated planning across paid media, social media, creators and influencers, partnerships, content, commerce, CRM, and digital experiences, ensuring every channel plays a clear role within the broader consumer journey.
• Provide strategic leadership and guidance on paid media investment, audience strategy, channel mix, and performance optimization, ensuring plans balance brand building, cultural relevance, and measurable business outcomes.
• Ensure programs are connected across channels, supported by strong briefs, and designed to deliver clear consumer and business objectives.
• Lead cross-functional orchestration across internal teams and agency partners, ensuring strategies are translated into clear plans, aligned execution, and measurable outcomes.
• Drive simplification and improved ways of working that enable greater speed, agility, and effectiveness.
• Measurement & Performance
• Establish a culture of performance management and continuous improvement, leveraging learning agendas, testing frameworks, and measurement plans to drive smarter decisions, faster optimization, and stronger business results.
• Champion modern measurement approaches, including marketing mix modeling, brand lift, testing and experimentation, and performance analytics.
• Translate data and insights into actionable recommendations that improve marketing effectiveness and business results.
• Stay current on evolving consumer behaviors, media trends, technology, AI, and emerging marketing…