USA Country Platform Lead (CMO) — Consumer & Retail

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Consumer, Retail & FMCG on a senior CMO leadership mandate anchored in USA. The remit explicitly spans Continental Europe, Australia, Canada.

This is a P&L-owning regional leadership mandate with full accountability for revenue, margin, talent, and governance across the defined geography.

Success here is less about charisma in town halls and more about judgment in investment committees and talent decisions.

Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Data and analytics leadership — embedding consumer insights, basket analytics, and digital attribution into commercial decision-making processes
• Geographic spine: Primary hub USA with explicit corridor responsibility across Continental Europe, Australia, Canada.
• Organisation stage: Working capital, liquidity, and funding mix are under scrutiny alongside headline revenue growth.
• Stakeholders: Stakeholders span board or regional executive committee, global functional heads, JV partners, and strategic account buyers.
• Secondary lens: Finding leaders who can balance brand equity building (long-term) with performance marketing ROI (short-term) — the most common tension in modern FMCG leadership

The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Category narrative: Reframe how the firm is discussed in the market — move from vendor to partner / platform where credible.
2. Account-based motion: Align marketing and key account teams on bespoke programmes for strategic buyers.
3. Lifecycle marketing: Reduce leakage post-pilot or post-sale — onboarding, adoption, and expansion storytelling.
4. Creative & brand governance: One source of truth for visual and verbal identity; cut off-brand exceptions.
5. Events & field: Rebalance physical and digital presence for ROI, not habit.
6. Privacy-first personalisation: Improve relevance within consent and regulatory constraints.

Responsibilities (representative)

• Own brand architecture, positioning, and major campaign investment decisions.
• Align marketing and sales on pipeline definitions, targets, and hand-offs.
• Sponsor customer research and segmentation used in S&OP and strategy conversations.
• Rationalise MarTech spend; enforce governance on data and consent.
• Lead executive communications and high-stakes external messaging as needed.

Leadership profile

• Growth leadership: Demonstrated impact on pipeline, win rate, or brand strength in Consumer, Retail & FMCG.
• Communication: Executive presence in English; additional languages valued where market-relevant.
• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Education: Strong undergraduate grounding; MBA / advanced degree / professional qualification common at this level.
• Geographic muscle: Comfort operating from USA with regular engagement across Continental Europe, Australia.

Team & culture

Silos are real. Your job is to design forums and incentives so product, technology, risk, and commercial leaders solve problems together instead of optimising local KPIs.

Success measures (examples)

• Growth quality: Mix of recurring revenue, new logos, and cross-sell — not volume for its own sake.
• Productivity: Unit cost, automation savings, or throughput improvements with audited baselines.
• Customer: NPS / CSAT where tracked; contract renewals; reference-ability in strategic accounts.
• Franchise: Clean compliance record; reputation stability in industry and government forums.

First 90 days (orientation arc)

• Days 1–30: Listening tour — customers, regulators (as appropriate), top team 1:1s, and unfiltered view of numbers; pause major reorganisation.
• Days 30–60: Publish a short memo on priorities, non-goals, and decision rights; align executive committee on three enterprise bets.
• Days 60–90: Lock operating cadence; fill or upgrade one to two critical seats; deliver one visible win (customer, cost, or culture).
• Commission a pragmatic view of data, cyber, and automation posture; sponsor one bounded pilot with ROI hypothesis.
• Establish escalation discipline with matrix partners — fewer meetings, clearer decision logs.

Stakeholder map (illustrative)

• Internal: CEO or regional president, CFO, risk / legal, CHRO, CIO or CDO, business GMs, internal audit.
• External: Strategic accounts, channel partners, industry associations, regulators (where material).
• Owners: PE operating partners, promoter office, or public investors — pace and clarity matter as much as vision.

Travel & mobility

Role requires face-to-face presence in the primary hub with regular regional travel; remote-only not viable.

Compensation

Market-aligned CMO remuneration in Consumer, Retail & FMCG with performance linkage; sign-on and relocation considered for exceptional fits.

Application status

This mandate is no longer accepting new applications. The search progressed through Q4 2025 and closed for submissions in February 2026. We retain this posting for transparency on the type of leadership work we carry in Consumer, Retail & FMCG and USA. For similar active mandates, browse open roles or submit a general profile through executive search inquiry.

Reference: consumer-retail-fmcg · CMO · USA · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors