Senior Director, Brand Activation, OPI

Job description

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.

WellaCompany 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, WellaCompany and its brands enable consumers to look, feel, and be their true selves. As innovators in the hair and nail industry, WellaCompany 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

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

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

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

Pay Range: $180,000 - $235,000 salary per year.

Other rewards may include annual bonus plan or variable pay, depending on the role.

Health insurance, life and disability insurance, 401(k) retirement plan, paid holidays and paid time off (PTO).

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. The range listed is just one component of Wella Company's total rewards package for employees.

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 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.

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Worksite address

calabasas, CA, 91302, US

Who can apply

Review the original listing for work authorization, qualifications and employer requirements.