Sr. Brand Manager, OPI

Wella Professionals•Calabasas, CA

20h•Onsite

About The Position

The Wella Company is seeking a Sr. Brand Manager, OPI - Innovation to lead the US innovation and portfolio strategy. This role is responsible for ensuring OPI has the right pipeline, support, and readiness to achieve sustainable growth. The Sr. Brand Manager will own the US innovation and portfolio agenda for collections, artificial nails, treatments, and other new product categories. This position serves as the primary US market liaison to Global Product Marketing and the category Trade Marketing team, translating consumer, category, retailer, and financial requirements into a prioritized multi-year pipeline. Key responsibilities include initiative sufficiency, business case development, launch readiness, asset creation, stage-gate approvals, and managing US market requests for new items. The role collaborates closely with the Sr. Brand Manager, OPI - Activation, to ensure each innovation has a clear strategic role, compelling proposition, and support level aligned with its revenue goals. This is a full-time role reporting to the Senior Director of Wella Retail Brands.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or a relevant field.
8+ years of relevant marketing experience; CPG, beauty, or omnichannel brand experience preferred.
Demonstrated ability to turn consumer, category, financial, and performance data into clear business recommendations.
Strong commercial acumen, including experience with budgets, P&L drivers, investment choices, and senior-leadership communication.
Proven cross-functional leadership and ability to influence global, local, commercial, and agency partners without direct authority.
Strong ownership, accountability, and bias to action; able to simplify complexity, make decisions, and deliver through others.
Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to tailor concise, compelling messages for different audiences.
Digitally savvy and passionate about beauty, culture, consumers, and retail.
Highly proficient in Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and related tools.

Nice To Haves

CPG, beauty, or omnichannel brand experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Own the US innovation and portfolio strategy, defining the role of collections, artificial nails, treatments, core franchises, and whitespace opportunities in delivering brand and business growth.
Translate US consumer, category, competitive, retailer, and channel insights into a prioritized multi-year innovation pipeline and clear requests to Global Product Marketing.
Assess portfolio mix, productivity, cannibalization, incrementality, price-pack architecture, and sources of volume to recommend where OPI should expand, renovate, simplify, or exit.
Identify and develop whitespace opportunities and new revenue pools, building evidence-based business cases and aligning cross-functional partners around the recommendation.
Ensure the innovation pipeline is consistent with OPI brand strategy, professional authority, color leadership, and long-term growth platforms.
Own initiative launches into the US market including collections and newness, including artificial nails, from early concept through market launch and post-launch learning.
Lead initiative sufficiency: confirm the pipeline, claims, assets, assortment, pricing, distribution, support, and timing are strong enough to deliver the net revenue ambition.
Own US launch readiness, including market requirements, asset creation, global IMP alignment, timeline management, and resolution of risks or gaps.
Gather input from Sales, Trade Marketing, Finance, Education, Supply, Commerce, and Activation, then communicate one clear US point of view to Global Product Marketing.
Lead USLT and Finance alignment and approval for IMP and stage-gate decisions, with transparent assumptions, risks, investment needs, and expected returns.
Project-manage gap-closing work when the global pipeline is insufficient, including base-business programs, gifting, retailer-custom initiatives, and requests for additional newness.
Serve as the primary US contact for Global Product Marketing and category Trade Marketing on innovation strategy, initiative development, and commercialization.
Partner with the Sr. Brand Manager - Activation to define the strategic role, target, proposition, proof points, and recommended support level for every priority launch.
Evaluate distribution whitespace and retailer-specific opportunities, balancing scale, complexity, margin, and brand equity.
Build concise launch narratives and senior-leadership recommendations that connect consumer need, category opportunity, financial value, and execution requirements.
Establish disciplined post-launch reviews and feed performance learning back into future pipeline, support, and portfolio choices.