POSITION SUMMARY
The International Marketing Manager, India & MEA is the franchisor's primary marketing partner for India franchisees, with additional responsibility for supporting marketing governance across other MEA markets. This role works hand-in-hand with franchisees on brand strategy, marketing calendars, and campaign activations, while owning final approval of all creative against brand standards and guidelines. The role requires strong on-the-ground field presence — through regular store visits, business reviews, and daily franchisee support — to understand performance, market challenges, and ongoing activations in real time. This role provides strategic direction, brand governance, and in-market support.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
May perform any or all of the following duties:
- Brand Strategy & Franchisee Governance
- Partners with India (and supporting MEA) franchisees on brand strategy and marketing calendar planning, ensuring plans align with brand direction and business priorities.
- Reviews and approves franchisee-created marketing calendars and campaign plans, tracking adherence to approved plans and escalating gaps or non-compliance to the Country Director or General Manager.
- Leads regular business reviews with franchisees to assess performance, marketing ROI, and alignment with brand strategy.
- Helps ensure adequate marketing investment across franchisees, recommending and influencing marketing budget allocation and media investment split to maximise impact and ROI.
- Produces franchisee marketing compliance and performance reporting for the Country Director, summarising calendar adherence, campaign activation, and outstanding gaps.
- Creative & Brand Standards Approval
- Acts as the brand's primary point of contact for India (and supporting MEA) franchisees and their creative and social media agencies, reviewing and approving all creative output for compliance with brand standards and guidelines.
- Guides merchandising direction through competitive benchmarking and best-practice sharing, and briefs/approves new product photography needed for the region in partnership with Culinary Innovation and Brand teams.
- Supports the localisation and rollout of global brand assets and campaign toolkits for the India and MEA markets, ensuring fidelity to global brand standards while remaining culturally relevant.
- Performance, Innovation & Global Brand Support
- Monitors and reports on campaign performance, drawing out insights and recommending optimisations to franchisees and internal stakeholders.
- Leads the marketing calendar and contributes to the product innovation pipeline, partnering with Culinary Innovation and Brand teams to bring locally relevant product ideas forward and support testing and launch.
- Develops and presents marketing and performance updates for internal leadership and franchise partners, covering brand strategy, innovation, and campaign results.
- Partners with Operations, Supply Chain, QA, and Training teams to ensure marketing initiatives are executed consistently across restaurants.
- Field Presence & Franchisee Partnership
- Provides daily, hands-on support to franchisees — understanding ongoing activations, surfacing challenges early, and acting as a trusted day-to-day marketing advisor.
- Regularly visits restaurants across India (and MEA markets as required) to maintain strong field/on-ground experience, evaluate in-restaurant marketing execution against approved plans, and strengthen franchisee relationships.
- Supports franchisees in developing and executing Local Store Marketing (LSM) plans, and monitors LSM activity against committed plans.
- Supports the scheduling, logistics, and content for India (and MEA) franchisee marketing meetings and business reviews.
- Tracks forecasting, billing, and reconciliation for the India Ad Fund, ensuring accuracy and transparency across CKE and the India Marketing Committee.
- Supports the adaptation of brand marketing for the India market, including culturally relevant campaign localisation, vegetarian menu promotions, festival and seasonal marketing moments (e.g. Diwali, Holi, IPL season), and compliance with FSSAI and ASCI advertising standards.
- Performs other duties and/or special projects as assigned in response to changing business conditions and/or requirements.
POSITION QUALIFICATIONS/CORE COMPETENCIES
- 6-8 years of progressive experience in brand, product, or franchise marketing, with exposure to multi-market or international environments.
- Experience in F&B is strongly preferred; QSR or franchise-system experience is a strong plus.
- Bachelor's degree required.
- Exceptional communicator and project manager with the ability to influence and hold accountable franchise partners, agencies, and internal stakeholders across cultures and geographies; comfortable escalating issues through appropriate channels when needed.
- Proven ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously, balancing speed, quality, and stakeholder expectations in a fast-paced environment.
- Highly organized, strategic marketer capable of building repeatable systems, improving workflows, and driving measurable impact across markets.
- Commercially minded, with the ability to assess marketing/media spend effectiveness and make informed recommendations on budget allocation.
- Demonstrated professionalism, integrity, and discretion when working with franchise partners, agencies, and sensitive brand information.
- Strong on-ground field experience, with comfort spending significant time in-market and in-restaurant rather than purely office-based.
- Experience working in or with the Indian market, including familiarity with local consumer behavior, digital platforms (e.g., Instagram, YouTube, Zomato/Swiggy), and culturally relevant marketing moments.
- Proficiency in Hindi is strongly preferred; additional regional language skills are a plus depending on the assigned territory.
WORK ENVIRONMENT
- Role based in India, preferably in a major metropolitan hub (e.g., Delhi, Bangalore, or Gurgaon) to ensure proximity to franchisee partners and key markets, with frequent domestic travel across India and periodic international travel to support MEA markets, CKE leadership, agencies, and key initiatives.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS
- Must be able to travel frequently across domestic and international markets (up to 40%).
- Sitting for extended periods of time, using the telephone, typing, and/or operating a computer and/or mouse.
THE COMPANY RETAINS THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR ASSIGN OTHER DUTIES TO THIS POSITION AS DEEMED APPROPRIATE WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE.
Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws.
For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.
