What's in it for you?
1. A founder-like role within a solid corporate structure: You will operate with real entrepreneurial autonomy, leading a dedicated incubator team.
2. A competitive package with a performance-based incentive scheme
3. A high-visibility, high-impact mission: You will not just manage a brand in Belgium. You will help shape its expansion into France, the Netherlands, and potentially other European markets, with the possibility of leading additional brands under the same incubator model.
4. A genuine support ecosystem: You will be backed by a mini board, supported by founders from the Company’s Venture Capital, bringing real startup and founder expertise to support your decisions.
5. A long-term commitment: Our client is not looking for a short-term fix. This is a long-term investment in both the brand, the business model, and the person leading it, with a clear vision to scale and expand the incubator department.
About the role
Our client is a fast-growing beverage company, home to strong brands, with a well-established route-to-market and a highly effective matrix organization. To accelerate the development of a new brand and preparing further portfolio expansions, our client is creating a dedicated incubator team and is looking for a Incubator Director who will act as a true intrapreneur, owning the brand's strategy, team, and results end-to-end.
Strategic Leadership
This role is at the heart of a major organizational shift. The Business Leader will define and drive the overall vision and go-to-market strategy for the brand, moving away from traditional retail-heavy approaches toward a more targeted, out-of-home, and buzz-driven model.
6. Define the brand vision, strategy, and positioning for the brand across markets.
7. Reassess the current retail footprint and make decisive calls on where to grow, reduce, or stop.
8. Lead the brand's expansion into France and potentially other European markets
9. Explore and integrate additional brands into the incubator model as the department scales.
Team & Cross-functional Management
The Business Leader will lead a dedicated, agile team and act as the central point of coordination across all functions contributing to the brand.
10. Directly lead or work hand in hand with the salesperson, digital manager, and shopper marketing manager.
11. Feel free to leverage internal enablers such as the innovation team to deliver on product and commercial needs (but you have all the freedom to lead it yourself with the team)
12. Report directly to the General Manager Western-Europe.
13. Foster a team culture that is agile, decisive, and free from the pressure of the broader corporate matrix.
Brand Building & Commercial Execution
Our client’s new brand requires a fundamentally different commercial and marketing approach. The Business Leader will be expected to create buzz, drive trial, and build brand love in a way that traditional FMCG methods have not achieved.
14. Shift the brand's presence toward other distribution channels.
15. Lead disruptive marketing campaigns, influencer partnerships, and digital-first activations.
16. Drive can-by-can consumer trial and word-of-mouth to build brand coolness and awareness.
17. Work with external agencies while maintaining full strategic ownership of the brand narrative.
About the ideal candidate
18. You have a founder or co-founder background, having launched your own startup or been so deeply involved in one that you can genuinely claim the experience. FMCG experience is a plus but not a requirement.
19. You think and act like an entrepreneur, with a strong strategic mindset, the ability to think out of the box, and the drive to be hands-on across all dimensions of a business.
20. You are multidisciplinary by nature, comfortable navigating marketing, sales, digital, and commercial topics without needing to be a deep expert in each. You are a spider in the web.
21. You are energetic, visible, and convincing, someone who naturally takes up space, creates excitement, and can federate a team and external partners around a bold vision.
22. You hold a university degree, ideally with a background that includes strategic consultancy, a venture-backed startup, or a high-growth scale-up environment.
23. You are fluent in English and in Dutch or French (at least intermediate level in one of the other)
24. You are performance-driven and comfortable with full P&L responsibility, motivated by results-linked incentives and the opportunity to be directly rewarded for the brand's success.
25. You are open to working within a corporate environment, but with real entrepreneurial autonomy