Distributor Manager

About us

Diageo is the world’s leading premium drinks company with an outstanding collection of brands such as Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Don Julio, Guinness, Smirnoff and Baileys.  Our purpose — Celebrating life, every day, everywhere — is at the heart of everything we do: our people, our culture, our brands and the way we create value for our customers and communities.

Our ambition is to be the best performing, most trusted and respected Consumer Products company in the world.

To deliver this, we need people with passion, curiosity, resilience and a drive to challenge the status quo.

More about Diageo is available at its web site: https://www.diageo.com/

Market Context

Italy has been identified as one of Diageo’s most exciting growth markets. With the creation of a fully integrated Italy Business Unit and the relocation of key functions to Milan, we are entering a new era of acceleration. Whisky — and specifically Johnnie Walker and Bulleit — is a fundamental driver of our 3‑year strategy.

To unlock their full potential, Diageo Italia S.p.A. has signed a multi‑year national distribution agreement with Gruppo Montenegro, starting 1 April 2026, with the goal of expanding availability, penetration and execution excellence across all On Trade and Off Trade sub‑channels.

This new partnership is a strategic milestone — and the Distributor Manager will be essential to make it succeed.

About the role

Are you our Distributor manager for Italy?

Do you have the drive, commercial acumen and influencing skills to shape the future of two of the most iconic whisky brands in the world?

Are you ready to play a pivotal role in Italy’s new distribution model and accelerate our success in the premium whisky category?

We have bold ambitions for the next years – and we need you to make them real.

Reporting directly to the Beer and Distributor Country Manager, the Distributor Manager is the primary commercial interface between Diageo Italia S.p.A. and Gruppo Montenegro for Johnnie Walker and Bulleit.

You will be responsible for leading the Joint Business Plan, driving execution capabilities, ensuring flawless governance, managing performance across channels, and translating brand and commercial strategy into best‑in‑class market execution.

This role requires deep commercial expertise, strong analytical skills, excellent collaboration.

Main responsibilities:

1. Leading the annual Joint Business Plan (JBP)

• Build and execute the JBP with Gruppo Montenegro across NSV, depletions, share, , activations and innovation.
• Define bold commercial KPIs and ensure continuous course‑correction.

2. Driving execution excellence across all channels

• Ensure perfect, visibility for JW & Bulleit.
• Partner with Montenegro to deliver strong execution in On Trade, Off Trade and E‑commerce.
• Bring brand strategies to life via channel‑specific execution plans.

3. Managing forecasting, stock and S&OP performance

• Co‑lead the demand forecasting and supply cycles with distributor and internal teams.
• Improve forecast accuracy (Bias/MAE) and ensure healthy inventory (DOS, OTIF, OOS).

4. Supporting brand equity, activation and innovation delivery

• Ensure all trade activities comply with brand guidelines, Diageo Marketing Code and Federvini standards.
• Work closely with Customer Marketing and Trade Marketing to deliver impactful activations.
• Guide sell‑in, innovation launches and limited editions ensuring speed and visibility.

5. Tracking commercial performance & insight generation

• Analyse depletions, SOM, distribution, promo ROI and customer performance.
• Lead performance reviews and market reporting.

6. Strengthening distributor capabilities and partnership ways of working

• Enhance execution capabilities on RTM, forecasting, segmentation, value chain and M&E.
• Build strong, trusting, transparent relationships with all levels of Montenegro’s organization.
• Act as category and execution ambassador for whisky in the relation with the distributor.

7. Ensuring governance, compliance and operational excellence

• Own governance routines (MBR/QBR, performance cycles, escalation).
• Ensure compliance to commercial policies, contracts and DRINKiQ principles.
• Guarantee flawless coordination between Diageo Italia S.p.A. and Montenegro teams.

About you

• 8+ years of commercial experience (Distributor Management, KAM, Trade/Commercial roles in FMCG or Spirits).
• Strong knowledge of Italian On Trade and Off Trade customers.
• Proven experience in managing distributors, building JBPs and driving execution.
• Excellent stakeholder management and ability to influence without authority.
• Strong analytical skills; mastery of IRI/Nielsen/GfK, Power BI, Excel.
• Strong forecasting, S&OP and value‑chain understanding.
• Ability to thrive in fast‑paced, entrepreneurial and matrix environments.
• High standards of execution and strong personal accountability.
• Fluent in Italian and professional English.

Flexible Working Statement: 

Flexibility is key to our success. Talk to us about what flexibility means to you so that you’re supported to manage your wellbeing and balance your priorities from day one.  

Rewards & Benefits Statement:

We recognize and value performance, offering our people a highly competitive Rewards and Benefits package including the following among others:

• Attractive package that includes an incentive plan that rewards you for delivering great performance

• Tools: Company car and fuel card, mobile phone, etc

• Employee Assistance programme.

• Welfare plan.

• Industry leading sales capability training

• Working in the largest spirits' company in the world as part of our fantastic Sales Team!

Diversity statement:

Our purpose is to celebrate life, every day, everywhere. And creating an inclusive culture, where everyone feels valued and that they can belong, is a crucial part of this. We embrace diversity in the broadest possible sense. This means that you’ll be welcomed and celebrated for who you are just by being you. You’ll be part of and help build and champion an inclusive culture that celebrates people of different gender, ethnicity, ability, age, sexual orientation, social class, educational backgrounds, experiences, mindsets, and more.

Our ambition is to create the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products companies in the world. Join us and help transform our business as we take our brands to the next level and build new ones as part of shaping the next generation of celebrations for consumers around the world.

Feel inspired? Then this may be the opportunity for you.

If you require a reasonable adjustment, please ensure that you capture this information when you submit your application.

Please, submit the CV in english.