Vice President, Global Innovation - North American Whiskey

Diageo•3WTC, NY

12d•Onsite

About The Position

The Vice President, Global Innovation – North American Whisky is accountable for shaping the future growth of North American Whisky, one of Diageo's largest and most strategically important future growth opportunities. This role defines where the category will grow over the next decade and builds the innovation platforms to deliver it. The position integrates innovation into trademark strategy, commercial priorities, and long-term portfolio development. It combines strategic category leadership with world-class innovation execution to create scalable growth platforms that strengthen trademark equity, recruit new consumers, unlock new occasions, expand the value ladder, and maximize the value of Diageo's North American Whisky assets. The role ensures innovation becomes a strategic competitive advantage that accelerates trademark growth, category leadership, and long-term shareholder value.

Requirements

Executive leadership experience in innovation, marketing, strategy or category leadership within global FMCG.
Track record defining long-term growth strategies and scalable innovation platforms.
Strong commercial, financial and consumer insight capability.
Experience leading cross-functional global organizations and influencing executive stakeholders.
Demonstrated success developing high-performing teams and organizational capability.

Responsibilities

Shape the future growth agenda for North American Whisky by identifying where Diageo should compete and where innovation will create sustainable competitive advantage.
Champion trademark-first innovation, ensuring innovation strengthens the total brand rather than creating fragmented product activity.
Make disciplined portfolio choices, concentrating investment behind fewer, bigger, scalable growth platforms with the greatest long-term value creation potential.
Align Brand, Commercial, Supply, R&D and Markets behind a single future growth agenda and integrated innovation roadmap.
Represent North American Whisky innovation in executive governance forums and build world-class innovation capability across the organization.
Define the long-term NAW category innovation strategy, identifying future growth platforms rooted in consumer, cultural, customer and commercial insight.
Lead the long-term transformation of Diageo's North American Whisky trademarks by ensuring innovation is fully integrated into brand strategy, commercial execution and portfolio architecture, building unified, trademark-led growth platforms that strengthen core equity, restore consumer recruitment and drive sustainable trademark growth while defining the strategic role of core, flavours, RTDs, premiumization and luxury across the portfolio.
Own the multi-year future growth innovation portfolio across Crown Royal, Bulleit and the wider North American Whisky portfolio. Build a balanced innovation pipeline spanning recruitment, flavours, RTDs, formats, premiumization, luxury collections and breakthrough innovation while making disciplined investment decisions that prioritise fewer, bigger, trademark-building platforms over fragmented innovation activity.
Shape the business's long-term NAW category innovation priorities, multi-year portfolio investment, innovation governance, and business capability development needed to deliver the strategy.
Provide end-to-end leadership from strategy through consumer validation, development, commercialization and launch, ensuring every innovation programme delivers both trademark growth and commercial performance.