Job Description :
Name of the role: Head of Corporate Security and Brand Protection, CCA
Location: Panamá City, Panama
Type of contract: Permanent
Context / Scope:
Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol, with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits and beer—a business built on the principles and foundations laid by the industry giants. Diageo’s Purpose is Celebrating Life, every day and Everywhere. The Global Brand Protection team enables that Purpose by helping consumers celebrate safely and protecting our product from criminal groups and illegality in general.
Overview of the Global Brand Protection team
The Global Brand Protection team is responsible for providing specialist support to the market Brand Protection teams by setting and ensuring the application of policies, providing guidance and tools to enable more effective local actions, and developing projects with global application. BP works closely with many teams, including IP, CR, International Trade, Corporate Security, and Industry. BP also collaborates with Technical and Brand Change and Innovation to ensure our brands have the most robust security features available to deter person convicted of a crimes and protect our reputation.
Counterfeit and illicit trade are global risk issues which damage intellectual property rights and brand equity, are potentially injurious to consumer health and adversely impact Diageo’s reputation. It also denies Diageo sales income and reduces tax/duty revenue to governments.
As our footprint in emerging markets has grown and as the sophistication of operators who counterfeit and trade illegally our brands increases (frequently operating at a large scale across borders) our exposure increases. In addition, austerity, and economic challenges in more mature markets, have driven an environment of increased taxation and served to put pressure on consumer disposable income. This builds an opportunity for illegal activities to grow.
Scope of role, reporting line
Central America & Caribbean market (CCA) is a major contributor of LAC region and delivered +£200 million pounds of NSV on FY22. The A&P/NSV ratio is ~15% and the overheads expenses are being set to improve further the commercial and administrative platforms for current and future growth in line with the ambition.
CCA is one of the fastest growing markets in LAC and is considered a strategic Brand Protection region, due to the size of the market, the growth of Diageo’s brands, and the fact that it is a key region for production and commercialization of products as well as dry goods. The Senior Global Brand Protection Manager will be key to establishing and maintaining communications among the Legal International Trade team, the Global Brand Protection team and the market teams within CCA, and developing and leading region-wide strategies to identify and address existing and emerging Brand Protection risks.
The Senior Brand Protection Manager is part of the broader Latin America & Caribbean Brand Protection team, which consists of Approx. 7 members.
The role reports directly to the CCA Legal Director and although there are no direct reports into this role the Senior Brand Protection Manager will be expected to provide support to and share know-how with more junior roles within the Global BP team and market Brand Protection Managers (BPMs) as well as to the Corporate Security Manager in the market.
Accountabilities include:
(i) building capability and establishing strong internal and external relationships in the region. (Including online marketplaces in the region)
(ii) supervising the illegality landscape within CCA;
(iii) taking a direct lead in handling cross-market and cross-regional matters and markets within CCA with no Brand Protection resource.
(iv) embedding great governance, effective compliance and risk mitigation plans across the region
Dotted-line report
The CCA Senior Global Brand Protection Manager will dotted-line report to the LAC Brand Protection leader and to the Global Brand Protection Manager.
Business impact
The role will directly chip in to driving Diageo towards achieving its Performance Ambition of crafting the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products company in the world, by delivering Brand Protection in CCA and driving more success in preventing illegal commercialization of our products/brands.
Also, this role has primary responsibility for completing and handling all Brand protection activities in the market. The key function of the role in CCA is proactively protecting our brands and products by doing the vital actions and activities in a compliant and regulated environment.
Purpose
Chip in to ensuring the legal function can fulfil its goal of driving achievement of strategic goals and Performance Ambition and making a valuable contribution to Diageo’s long-term, balanced success, with responsibility for delivering BP in CCA and driving more success in efficiently preventing illegality of our products.

Specifically:

• Design, lead and complete the strategic brand protection plan to combat illegality (illicit trade/counterfeit/others) of our products; through actions that reduce and mitigate the negative impact of illegality (illicit trade/adulteration/others) on the business and seeking to protect our consumers, our brands, and our reputation.
• Likewise, lead the technical support to official authorities, other markets, and the supply area concerning identifying original and legal products and quality analysis of our products, respectively.

Leadership Responsibilities

• High level of independent work and initiative required for performance of role.
• Role model Diageo leadership capabilities, mentor and empower the team, and build interdependency with the rest of the organization.
• Leadership capabilities in specific Brand Protection projects.
• Ensure good corporate governance and compliance matters, including training and mentor.
• Proactively take actions using the appropriate resources and strategies.
• Build strong working relationships with key collaborators across CCA
• Curious and resourceful ensuring sharing standard processes, training and communication of trends and analysis of activities with input from the Global Brand Protection team as required.
• Support the market teams to develop relationships with government and law enforcement officials and key collaborators, at several levels, where applicable.
• Develop relationships with Transnational enforcement agencies and regulators (e.g. Interpol) for CCA.

Accountabilities:

• Design and implement a strategic plan to fight the illegality of our products effectively and acquire the vital tools to mitigate the loss of business due to the problem.
• Embedding global standards and ways of working, delivering capability training (internal and external); and supervising the illicit landscape within CCA.
• Fight and mitigate the effects of illegality in CCA and identify criminal networks by carrying out operations and identifying illicit trade, fake products production and marketing sites, among others.
• Identifying the illegality trends of our products to establish actions to mitigate the impact on the business and effectively fight the problem.
• Change industry and the problem through cross-cutting programs, alliances with different sectors, and crafting a culture of legality and sustainability.
• To lead AACS and the relationship with third parties to search for better results in the fight against illegality.
• Establishing strong working collaborations with Diageo functions relevant to ensuring effective support for the brand protection agenda.
• Embedding great governance, effective compliance, and risk mitigation plans across the region; and developing relationships with online marketplaces in the region.
• Support and carry out extensive recycling projects that chip in to the society 2030 sustainability agenda and mitigate adulteration by considering the bottle as its main raw material.
• Develop in implementing education and awareness programs towards authorities, consumers, and merchants.
• Position the Brand Protection Laboratory in Panama as the best source of quality information, adulteration trends and security measures against illegality.
• Permanent monitoring of the new security elements in our products to anticipate possible risks of illegality.

About you:

Crucial Qualifications & Experience:

• Demonstrated ability in Brand Protection, ideally with a legal qualification and with in-depth brand protection experience in the CCA / Americas region.
• Experience in public policy, relationships with police and government authorities.
• Exceptional leadership skills, with experience of effectively leading, handling and influencing collaborators across multiple countries and confirmed ability to deal with government officials, agencies, and other key collaborators.
• Fluency in English but other language skills an advantage
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team, prioritize, meet deadlines and budget plans.

1. Key Functional Capabilities:

• Confirmed ability to work in the commercial environment, and prioritize workload to align with business needs, juggle simultaneous projects, and maintain ruthless focus on business priorities.
• Excellent interpersonal and influencing skills, including working with internal customers and direct engagement with external team members.
• Ability to lead workgroups and direct strategy, skills to handle confidential information and intelligence, and willingness to assume and do things differently.
• Advising and implementing effective measures to fight counterfeiting (including preventative actions and pro-active remedial measures against counterfeits that have already been produced).

1. Key leadership capabilities:

• Creating Possibilities
• Ability to stand in the future, anticipate and help shape the strategic BP agenda.
• Consistently deliver on commitments, improving value for Diageo through internal and external collaboration.
• Creating the Conditions for Success
• Building phenomenal relationships both internally and externally; delivering the BP agenda across the market.
• Building alignment across the market.
• Consistently Delivering Great Performance
• Demonstrating deep personal accountability for great performance, staying focused on commercial priorities and critical business agenda.
• Demonstrating brilliant execution; is very thorough, principled, and pro-active, highly motivated and energetic.
• Critical and analytical thinking, relationship with official authorities, strict management of confidentiality, work under pressure.

Flexible Working Statement:
Flexibility is key to our success. Talk to us about what flexibility means to you so that you’re supported to handle your wellbeing and balance your priorities from day one.
Diversity statement:
Our purpose is to celebrate life, every day, everywhere. And crafting an inclusive culture, where everyone feels valued and that they can belong, is a crucial part of this.
We accept 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, approaches, 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 new heights 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 assemble this information when you submit your application
Worker Type :
Regular
Primary Location:
Panama City
Additional Locations :
Job Posting Start Date :
2025-05-0

• High level of independent work and initiative required for performance of role.
• Role model Diageo leadership capabilities, mentor and empower the team, and build interdependency with the rest of the organization.
• Leadership capabilities in specific Brand Protection projects.
• Ensure good corporate governance and compliance matters, including training and mentor.
• Proactively take actions using the appropriate resources and strategies.
• Build strong working relationships with key collaborators across CCA
• Curious and resourceful ensuring sharing standard processes, training and communication of trends and analysis of activities with input from the Global Brand Protection team as required.
• Support the market teams to develop relationships with government and law enforcement officials and key collaborators, at several levels, where applicable.
• Develop relationships with Transnational enforcement agencies and regulators (e.g. Interpol) for CCA