We are Kao, listed as one of the world’s most ethical companies for the last 19 years.
Our Americas brand portfolio spans across three sectors; Consumer Care (John Frieda, Bondi Sands, Bioré, Jergens, Curél), Professional Hair (Goldwell, Oribe, KMS Hair, Kerasilk), and Molton Brown.
Our corporate philosophy, the Kao Way, guides us in everything we do – acting with integrity, courageously driving innovation, and treating each other with trust and respect.
About our role:
Reporting to the Head of Strategic Partnerships & Investment Optimization, AEMEA, this role leads the platform partnerships mini squad to build stronger, more valuable relationships with global platform owners (including Meta, Google, ByteDance, and Amazon). The role defines the AEMEA partnership strategy, negotiates priorities and support, ensures programs scale across markets, and demonstrates measurable impact for Kao brands through disciplined planning, execution, and evaluation.
At Kao, we offer amazing benefits that are available to you on your first day of employment (healthcare, 401(k) plus company match), 37 total days off (vacation + holidays + sick) and a competitive salary range of $110,000 - $125,000. We also offer a hybrid work environment.
What you will do:
- Define AEMEA platform partnership strategy, priorities, and governance; align to brand missions and market needs.
- Lead senior partner engagement: negotiate joint plans, support models, innovation access, and success measures.
- Ensure scalable enablement across markets: capability programs, playbooks, and adoption tracking.
- Drive innovation portfolio: select high-value pilots, ensure disciplined evaluation, and scale what works.
- Stakeholder alignment across legal, procurement, data, and brand teams; remove blockers and accelerate delivery.
- Executive reporting: communicate outcomes, risks, and next-step investments with clear business rationale.
What you will need:
- University level education
- Advanced experience in partner strategy, media leadership, commerce, or consulting preferred
- Minimum 10 years of experience in platform partnerships, digital media leadership, electronic commerce, or agency leadership
- 5+ years influencing regional stakeholders and shaping multi-market programmes
- Experience negotiating support, resources, and strategic value with senior partner teams
- Demonstrates strong strategic partner leadership, negotiation, and cross-company collaboration skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships across internal and external stakeholders, including close collaboration with regional/global headquarters and teams in Japan.
- Deep understanding of digital media and commerce ecosystems, with the ability to identify partnership opportunities, create clear value cases, and align partners and stakeholders to measurable business outcomes.
- Strong innovation mindset balanced with disciplined measurement, governance, and commercial thinking to ensure initiatives deliver sustainable business value and operational excellence.
- Excellent executive communication and influencing skills, with the confidence and professionalism to represent Kao effectively with senior internal and external stakeholders.
- Proven capability in governance design, programme management, prioritisation, and operating rhythm leadership, with the ability to drive alignment, decision-making, and execution in complex and fast-paced environments.
- Calm, resilient, and adaptable under pressure, with a structured and solutions-oriented approach to navigating ambiguity and competing priorities.
- Strong people leadership and coaching mindset, fostering collaboration, capability development, accountability, and continuous improvement across teams and partners.
At Kao, we believe the diversity of our teams strengthens our global mission. Here we trust and respect each other, collaborating in a friendly and inclusive work environment to achieve great results.
What you can expect from us:
- An entrepreneurial environment where passionate and innovative teams come together.
- Respect, teamwork and collaboration are at the heart of how we work.
- A workplace culture that prioritizes employee wellbeing
- A broad range of benefits, including flexible working, competitive salaries, health and wellbeing offers, retirement, insurance options, and more…
- Learning and development opportunities
Your voice matters here — we value entrepreneurial thinking and innovation from our teams.
To find out why 33,000 people across the Globe work at Kao please visit: https://www.kao.com/americas/en/careers/
Discover careers at Kao and how we live our purpose, Kirei – Making Life Beautiful.https://kao.voyse.io/
Kao is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disabled and veterans.
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Skills Required
- University level education
- Advanced experience in partner strategy, media leadership, commerce, or consulting
- Minimum 10 years of experience in platform partnerships, digital media leadership, electronic commerce, or agency leadership
- 5+ years influencing regional stakeholders and shaping multi-market programmes
- Experience negotiating support, resources, and strategic value with senior partner teams
- Deep understanding of digital media and commerce ecosystems and ability to create clear value cases tied to business outcomes
- Proven capability in governance design, programme management, prioritisation, and operating rhythm leadership
- Strong executive communication and influencing skills
- Strong innovation mindset balanced with disciplined measurement, governance, and commercial thinking
- Strong people leadership and coaching mindset fostering collaboration, capability development, and accountability
- Ability to collaborate closely with regional/global headquarters, legal, procurement, data, and brand teams (including teams in Japan)
What We Do
Ever since the company's founding in 1887, Kao has strived to deliver value to the life of people everywhere in the world. Today, we are a leading manufacturer in the fields of hygiene, beauty and health, while our chemical business contributes to the development of diverse industries. With more than 33,000 employees, our mission is to enrich the lives of people globally and contribute to the sustainability of the world. In the regions of Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), we focus on our Beauty Care business with premium brands in three business sectors: Consumer, Salon and Cosmetics. Our Business Sector represents skin and hair care brands that are recognized worldwide for their innovation and quality, such as Jergens, Curél, Bioré, Guhl, and John Frieda. Our Salon Business Sector is committed to unleashing the creativity of stylists around the globe. With our industry leading brands Goldwell, KMS and Oribe, stylists have everything in their hands to create beautiful show-stopping hair representative of the individuality of their clients. Our London-based boutique brand, Molton Brown, offers luxury beauty products found only in our exclusive Molton Brown stores, high-end department stores and travel retail, as well as five-star hotels around the world. All three business sectors are driven by the same values and beliefs: Creating high-quality products and constantly striving for the best is what is at the heart of everything we do. This is why we understand that our people are one of our core assets, and we strive for a working environment that allows team members to flourish and grow. Join us, and you will have opportunity to help us make life beautiful
