Head of Marketing

Our Client

An established food business with growth ambitions across the GCC, Levant and international markets. Product innovation, category development and a deeper understanding of regional food preferences will be central to its next phase of growth.

Your Role

Food is a wonderfully unforgiving category. Consumers may try something once out of curiosity. Getting them to buy it again is where marketing earns its keep.

We are looking for a Head of Marketing who understands the culinary world, regional palates and the commercial realities of building food categories. Someone who can spot an opportunity in changing consumption habits, translate it into a product consumers want and ensure the economics make sense.

You will lead the marketing and new product development (NPD) agenda across condiments, sauces, seasonings and related culinary categories, working closely with R&D, manufacturing, sales and commercial teams.

The remit extends from consumer research and category strategy to product formulation briefs, positioning, pricing, launch execution and post-launch performance. You will also shape brand development, portfolio priorities and market expansion across the GCC, Levant and beyond.

The measure of success is what the innovation pipeline contributes to the business, particularly incremental revenue, repeat purchase, profitable growth and a stronger category position.

Key Responsibilities

• NPD and innovation: Build and manage a commercially relevant innovation pipeline, identifying opportunities through consumer insights, culinary trends, regional taste preferences and gaps in the existing portfolio.

• Product commercialisation: Work with culinary, R&D and manufacturing teams to take products from concept and formulation through consumer testing, pricing, launch and scale-up.

• Category and portfolio management: Evaluate SKU productivity, product mix, category profitability and portfolio gaps. Know when to invest behind a product, reformulate it or discontinue it.

• Consumer and market understanding: Translate differences in eating habits, flavour preferences, consumption occasions and purchasing behaviour across GCC and Levant markets into relevant product and marketing decisions.

• Growth and profitability: Track NPD contribution to incremental revenue and gross profit, launch success rates, repeat purchase, cannibalisation, product margins and return on marketing investment.

• Brand and go-to-market: Develop brand positioning, product propositions, pricing architecture and launch plans suited to different markets, channels and consumer segments.

• Commercial collaboration: Work closely with sales and distribution teams to improve product availability, retail execution, trial, repeat purchase and sustained sales velocity.

• Marketing leadership: Lead the marketing team, establish clear priorities and ensure investment decisions are supported by consumer evidence and commercial results.

Must-Have

• Substantial marketing leadership experience within the food industry, preferably across condiments, sauces, seasonings, cooking ingredients or related culinary categories.

• Demonstrated ownership of NPD strategy and commercialisation, with products successfully taken from consumer insight through launch to sustained market performance.

• Strong understanding of culinary applications, flavour preferences, food consumption occasions and the factors influencing purchase and repeat purchase.

• Meaningful experience across GCC and Levant markets, including the differences in consumer behaviour, category maturity and route-to-market dynamics.

• Commercial understanding of product pricing, portfolio profitability, SKU productivity, cannibalization, incremental sales and contribution margins.

• Experience working directly with R&D, culinary, manufacturing and sales teams on product development and commercial execution.

• Ability to distinguish genuine category growth from sales generated by shifting volume between existing and newly launched products.

• Strong brand management, consumer research and category development experience.

• Fluency in Arabic and English is essential.

• Female candidates are particularly encouraged to apply.

We are especially interested in candidates who can discuss the products they have launched, the consumer needs they addressed, their performance after 12 months and the incremental profit they contributed.

A successful launch is encouraging. A product that consumers continue buying, at a margin the business can sustain, is considerably more interesting.

Next Steps

Upload your resume via our ATS platform and ensure all form details are complete. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted within 5–7 working days for a detailed discussion about the role. Due to high application volumes, we can only respond to shortlisted profiles.