Senior Director, Brand Activation, OPI

Position Title: Senior Director, Brand Activation, OPI

Department: Marketing

Location: Calabasas, CA (Hybrid – 3 Days Onsite)

Reports to: VP Global Brand/SVP Marketing

Scope/Brand: OPI

ABOUT THE WELLA COMPANY

Together, WE enable individuals to look, feel, and be their true selves.

Wella Company is one of the world’s leading beauty companies, comprised of a family of iconic brands such as Wella, Clairol, OPI, Nioxin and ghd. With 6,000 employees globally, presence in over 100 countries, Wella Company and its brands enable consumers to look, feel, and be their true selves. As innovators in the hair and nail industry, Wella Company empowers its people to delight consumers, inspire beauty professionals, engage communities, and deliver sustainable growth to its stakeholders.

For additional information about the Wella Company please visit www.wellacompany.com.

Role Overview

The Director of Brand Engagement & Activation leads OPI’s brand activation strategy and programming globally, driving cultural relevance and commercial impact across earned, paid, and owned channels. This role shapes the global activation framework and content strategy—spanning PR and brand communications, ambassadors/celebrity, events, influencers/creators, community, social, web, and e-retail—while enabling markets to tailor execution locally within a consistent masterbrand platform.

This leader owns end-to-end U.S. earned and owned activation—translating global strategy into market—while partnering closely with key markets (including the U.S. and UK) to ensure activation excellence is delivered consistently. The role is accountable for maintaining the brand’s #1 EMV ranking and driving strong performance across owned channels (e.g., social engagement, OPI.com traffic, and AEO rankings), using insights to optimize execution and scale best practices globally.

Key Responsibilities

Global Brand Strategy & Masterbrand Leadership

• Lead OPI’s Masterbrand Campaign and Annual Activation Idea, defining the global strategic vision and activation framework


• Own the annual global communications and activation calendar with the VP, ensuring the right sequencing of brand moments to build equity and drive performance


• Own the Annual Global Activation Brief to markets, including brand theme, priorities, and budget allocation guidance


• Develop and lead the Annual Global Paid Media Strategy and Brief, including A&CP investment guidance in partnership with media and finance teams (approx. $1.5M A&CP, excluding U.S.-specific budget)


• Ensure alignment across brand, innovation, and base business storytelling within the global brand platform

Content, Engagement & Activation Strategy (Global)

• Lead the Always-On Content and Activation Strategy for Brand, Innovation, and Base Business across Earned, Paid, and Owned channels


• Define differentiated strategies for Professional and Consumer audiences, ensuring relevance across touchpoints


• Set the global vision for social, influencer, ambassador, and event activation, with clear toolkits for markets

Owned Channel Strategy & Execution

• Lead the team to define and activate Global Owned Channel Strategies, including social, web/OPI.com, CRM/email, and e-retail/eCommerce ecosystems (Brand.com, E-Retail, Pure Play partners)


• Oversee digital content and activation strategy across social, web, and e-retail—ensuring strong performance in engagement, traffic, conversion-driving content, and AEO rankings


• Oversee eCommerce content creation for both base business and innovation, ensuring commercial relevance and brand consistency


• Establish content standards, toolkits, and governance to enable scalable global execution while allowing markets to locally tailor activation

Earned, Influencer & Paid Activation

• Lead global brand communications (PR) strategy and storytelling, including ambassador, celebrity, and event programming


• Set the owned, earned, and paid content & activation strategy, including influencers, creators, and community building


• Define and oversee paid content strategy (brand and creator-led) to amplify key brand moments


• Ensure influencer, ambassador, and celebrity strategies reflect OPI’s authority, creativity, and inclusive brand values

U.S. Earned & Owned Execution

• Own and lead U.S. execution of earned and owned brand activation—taking global strategy and executing it in-market—serving as a model market for global best practices


• Own the relationship with the local U.S. PR agency and deliver all PR-earned-owned (P-E-O) programming, including ambassador, influencer/creator, celebrity, and event moments


• Manage the brand across multiple engagement channels and agency partners to develop campaign ideas and capture elevated content that expresses each GTM execution


• Partner closely with U.S. commercial teams to deliver high-impact brand moments


• Test, learn, and scale new content and activation approaches for global reapplication

Measurement, Reporting & Optimization

• Own performance measurement and reporting across owned and earned activation, including Brand NPS, EMV, AEO rankings, social engagement, PR impact, and OPI.com/e-retail traffic and content performance


• Use insights and analytics to optimize content, media, PR, and engagement strategies


• Share learnings and best practices across regions and markets

Collaboration, Agency & Team Leadership

• Lead and develop internal social/owned channel teams, and manage external agency partners—including the U.S. PR agency—to deliver best-in-class earned and owned activation


• Manage and lead third-party agency relationships across PR, social, content, influencer/creator, community, and paid amplification


• Collaborate closely with internal creative teams to develop campaign ideas and capture elevated content that expresses each GTM execution


• Partner closely with cross-functional teams (including Product Marketing) and regions/markets (including the U.S. and UK) to ensure activation is successful and locally tailored within the global framework


• Build, mentor, and inspire a high-performing global engagement and activation team

Qualifications & Experience

• 8–10+ years of experience in integrated marketing, brand communications, and activation (beauty, fashion, or lifestyle preferred)


• Proven experience developing and executing content and activation strategy across a multitude of owned and earned platforms, including social, web, PR, influencers/creators, community, and events


• Ability to articulate a clear strategic framework and enable markets outside the U.S. to locally tailor the brand strategy while protecting global consistency


• Experience owning U.S. execution within a global matrixed organization; strong capability to translate global strategy into market plans


• Deep expertise across social, content, influencer/creator, earned media, paid amplification, and eCommerce content


• Strong agency leadership and cross-functional collaboration skills; experience partnering closely with internal creative teams


• Strategic thinker with a hands-on, execution-driven mindset

What Success Looks Like

• A clearly articulated and consistently activated global OPI masterbrand platform with toolkits that enable local market tailoring


• High-impact, culturally relevant brand campaigns with strong market adoption and elevated content across channels


• Best-in-class U.S. earned and owned activation (PR-earned-owned programming) that sets the standard globally


• Sustained leadership in key success metrics, including Brand NPS, #1 EMV ranking, AEO rankings, social engagement, and OPI.com traffic growth

• Engaged teams, aligned partners, and scalable best practices across markets (including strong partnership with the U.S

We disclose the compensation range for positions in compliance with local law. Actual salaries will vary and may be above or below the range based on various factors including but not limited to location, experience, skills and in comparison to internal incumbents currently in similar roles. Pay Range: $180,000 - $235,000 salary per year. The range listed is just one component of Wella Company's total rewards package for employees. Other rewards may include annual bonus plan or variable pay, depending on the role. In addition, Wella Company provides a rich variety of benefits to employees, including health insurance, life and disability insurance, 401(k) retirement plan, paid holidays and paid time off (PTO).

NOTICES 

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected status.

If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, please email [email protected]. This email account will not respond to inquiries regarding the status of a candidate’s application.

Qualified Applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

Wella participates in the E-Verify Program to confirm eligibility to work in the United States. Information regarding your rights: Know Your Rights and Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision.