Group Marketing Director

Lapaire, See Beyond.

Group Marketing Director
Location: Remote / Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Contract type: Permanent contract
Start Date: July 2026
Direct reports: Retail Marketing Manager, Brand & Digital Manager
Hierarchy: Reports to the CEO
The Mission

We are a fast-growing optical retail scale-up looking for a Group Marketing Director who is a strategic architect and a hands-on builder. You will play a vital role in supporting Lapaire's development across Africa, defining and implementing our global brand strategy while making the strategic and budgetary trade-offs necessary to fuel our growth roadmap.
You own the overall marketing vision—Brand, Digital, and Retail—ensuring that every initiative across all countries is high-performing, coherent, and deeply connected to our customers' reality.
Daily "Hands-on" Reality & Expectations

Brand Guardianship & Governance: You will personally own and update the Brand Book, establishing the "one truth" for visual identity and tone of voice across all operational countries. This includes creating processes to ensure messaging remains consistent yet adapted to local market diversities.
Creative Project Direction: Rather than just approving, you will supervise large-scale creative projects. This involves validating major creative directions for brand films, TVCs, radio, and OOH campaigns, ensuring they align with Lapaire's mission to transform lives through better sight.
Budgetary & Strategic Trade-offs: You are responsible for translating high-level growth targets into data-driven marketing plans. This requires a "hands-on" approach to setting annual budgets and making daily trade-offs to ensure efficient allocation between brand, digital, and retail needs.
Performance & KPI Monitoring: You won't wait for reports; you will design the KPIs and lead quarterly business reviews with Country Managers. You will monitor the performance of marketing initiatives across all channels to ensure they meet ROI expectations.
Stakeholder & Partnership Negotiation: You will identify and independently negotiate strategic partnerships. This involves preparing collaboration briefs and representing Lapaire in high-level external conversations to secure the most favorable terms for brand visibility.
Market & Consumer Insights: You will coordinate directly with Digital, Retail, and Country teams to collect relevant insights. You'll use this data to track brand health indicators (awareness, perception) and guide decisions on new country openings.
Leadership & Capability Building: Beyond management, you will actively support training and leadership development within the marketing functions. You act as a mentor to the Digital and Retail Marketing Managers, ensuring the team remains a "high-performance engine" for the business.
Ideal Profile to Succeed in the Role

Experience: You have 10+ years of experience in marketing, with a proven track record in brand strategy and multi-country leadership.
Strategist: You are a business-driven thinker who can see the big picture while managing the complexity of diverse African markets.
Leader: You are a natural team leader and communicator, capable of building high-performing organizations across central and local teams.
Tech-Savvy & Organized: You are proficient in Google Suite and project management tools, with a highly organized approach to fast-changing environments.
Hands-on Builder: You have a creative mindset and strong judgment, but you aren't afraid to roll up your sleeves to get the job done.
Language: Fully bi-lingual (French and English), both written and spoken.
What Success Looks Like in 6 Months

Brand Clarity: A fully implemented Brand Book is the "one truth" for visual and verbal identity across all countries.
Budget Efficiency: A clear, data-driven framework for budget allocation is active, showing improved ROI on marketing spend.
KPI Alignment: A standardized marketing dashboard is live, providing real-time visibility into brand health and retail execution performance.
Team Integration: The Group Digital and Retail marketing functions are fully integrated with Country teams, operating with clear processes and shared goals.