Senior Brand Manager - Zambia

At KFC, we pride ourselves on being original. We even named our recipe after it. But for us, the answer to the question is simple. Be You. Everyone at KFC is different. Unique. It’s what makes us special - Our people, The Originals. And we welcome you to join us. Bring your individuality to the table. Bring your grit and energy. Bring your spirit. Your story. Your drive and your passion. Bring it. Every piece of you. Even the parts you don’t like. Because we value our people no matter what. We’ll feed your potential and we’ll support you; to be your best self, to make a difference, and have fun. Together, we can be part of something truly extraordinary. All you have to do, is Bring it.

The Senior Brand Manager Zambia is the in-market marketing lead accountable for translating regional brand strategy into a distinctive, locally relevant market plan that strengthens brand and business performance. The role leads the market's end-to-end marketing strategy, execution, optimization and Local Store Marketing (LSM) agenda.

The role operates as a senior system influencer across RSC and local market leadership, Operations, Area Coaches, RGMs and cross-functional teams, using consumer, commercial, cultural and competitive insight to align priorities, accelerate decisions and deliver high-quality marketing execution across the market.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the Zambia annual market and brand plan, translating regional strategy into locally relevant priorities across the marketing mix. Own the market marketing agenda and establish clear brand and business performance measures.
• Lead end-to-end delivery and continuous optimisation of national campaigns and brand programmes across media, social/digital, OOH and restaurant touchpoints; ensure restaurant readiness, execution quality and measurable effectiveness.
• Lead the Zambia LSM agenda with Operations, Area Coaches and RGMs, using local market and trade-area insight to develop relevant plans, deliver high-quality execution and continuously improve effectiveness across the restaurant portfolio.
• Establish robust performance management and optimisation disciplines, using market and restaurant-level insights to assess marketing effectiveness, identify opportunities and embed continuous learning and improvement.
• Identify and execute strategic partnerships that strengthen brand relevance, extend consumer reach and deliver measurable business impact.
• Influence and align the Zambia system and regional cross-functional teams; lead agencies, budgets, timelines and post-implementation reviews, and translate market learning into future plans and investment recommendations.

Communication Required: Marketing Director, RoSSA Marketing Team, Marketing Excellence, Digital, Insights, NPD/Innovation, Operations, Commercial Finance, Supply Chain, Development and other regional functional partners.
Zambia leadership, Area Coaches, RGMs and restaurant teams; creative and media agencies; research, production and activation partners; and commercial partners.
The role is expected to influence without relying on formal authority: creating alignment around the market growth agenda, challenging constructively, establishing clear owners and actions, and maintaining a disciplined weekly commercial rhythm across the system.

Problem Solving & Analysis: Own and drive the Zambia marketing and commercial agenda, balancing near-term business priorities with sustainable brand building and longer-term market development.
Use consumer, brand, commercial, competitive and restaurant-level insights to diagnose performance, identify opportunities and recommend actions that improve marketing effectiveness.
Translate national strategy into locally relevant action, taking account of market, trade-area and consumer dynamics while maintaining brand consistency.
Embed a disciplined approach to testing, learning and continuous optimization, with clear objectives and success measures.
Navigate ambiguity and competing stakeholder priorities, proactively resolving barriers across Marketing, Operations, Finance, Supply Chain and franchisee teams while protecting brand standards, commercial discipline, execution quality and pace.

Judgement & Decision Making: Recommends the Zambia annual brand and marketing plan, campaign strategy, media allocation, pricing/promotion, partnerships, menu/innovation priorities and investment choices to the Marketing Director and relevant franchisee leadership, supported by consumer and commercial insight.
Has decision authority for day-to-day execution and optimization of approved plans, agency leadership, LSM prioritization, project sequencing and deployment within agreed budgets and strategic guardrails.
Makes implementation decisions with Operations, Area Coaches and RGMs to strengthen local execution and marketing effectiveness based on agreed objectives and performance criteria.
Constructively challenges stakeholders where required to protect brand and business outcomes and escalates material strategy, investment, pricing or brand-risk decisions through the agreed governance process.
Innovation: Lead Zambia brand, product, partnership and innovation workstreams from opportunity identification through development, launch and evaluation.
Use local consumer, cultural, competitive and market insight to identify Zambia-relevant opportunities across the marketing mix while remaining aligned with regional brand strategy.
Champion a culture of experimentation, learning and continuous improvement, applying insights to strengthen future activity.
Identify and apply relevant regional and international best practice.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, Business Management or a related discipline.
• Strong brand strategy, consumer insight and commercial analysis capability, with the ability to connect marketing activity to broader business performance.
• Proven integrated campaign development, media, agency management and go-to-market execution skills.
• Strong LSM / retail marketing capability and ability to translate local market insight into relevant, actionable plans.
• Strong influencing, stakeholder-management and facilitation capability; able to align franchisee, Operations and regional teams without relying on formal authority.
• Strong performance-management discipline, including KPI definition, measurement, optimization and continuous learning.
• Sound financial discipline and experience managing campaign, media, activation and project budgets.

• High ownership, pace, resilience and comfort operating in an ambiguous environment.