Digital Market Lead (Contract)
Our client is looking for an exceptionally proactive, operationally strong and strategically minded Senior Digital Market Lead to support and lead digital delivery for us across Southern Africa and East/Central Africa (SAF/ECAF). This role has evolved beyond a social-media-first remit into a broader digital leadership position, bringing together Social Media, Influencer, CRM and Owned Digital Platforms into one connected market view. Reporting directly to the Head of Digital & Social / Client Partner, the Senior Digital Market Lead will act as the day-to-day second-in-command for SAF and ECAF, helping translate regional priorities into effective digital operations, connected planning and consistent execution across priority markets including South Africa, Kenya and wider market clusters. The successful candidate will be a connector, organiser, problem-solver and digital leader who can move fluidly between strategic thinking and hands-on coordination. They will be responsible for aligning Community Managers, Strategists, Digital Project Managers, specialist teams and partner agencies, while ensuring that every workstream ladders up to a clear market-level digital agenda. This role requires someone who can see the bigger picture, understand how social, influencer, CRM and owned platforms work together, and ensure the right people, processes and outputs are in place to deliver high-quality work at pace.
About this position
Key Duties & Responsibilities:
Digital Leadership & Market Planning
- Lead the integrated digital market agenda across SAF and ECAF, ensuring Social Media, Influencer, CRM and Owned Digital Platforms are planned and managed as a connected ecosystem.
- Partner with the Head of Digital & Social / Client Partner to translate regional business priorities, brand objectives and cultural opportunities into clear digital workstreams and market action plans.
- Collaborate with strategists, creatives, data leads and client teams to ensure digital thinking is embedded upstream in campaign planning, not only activated at execution stage.
- Maintain a clear view of market priorities, dependencies, risks and opportunities.
- Ensure digital activity is aligned to broader marketing campaigns and business objectives.
Operational Leadership & Delivery Management
- Coordinate and manage the day-to-day delivery of digital workstreams across community management, content operations, influencer activation, CRM activity and owned platform updates.
- Lead the operating rhythm across internal teams, digital project managers and partner agencies.
- Ensure briefs, timelines, approvals, responsibilities and outputs are clear and well managed.
- Identify delivery risks early, unblock issues quickly and escalate where needed.
- Support the implementation of governance, ways of working, reporting cadences and quality control processes across digital channels.
- Maintain strong operational discipline while ensuring work remains creative, responsive and culturally relevant.
Team Management & Cross-Functional Coordination
- Manage and coordinate teams of Community Managers, Strategists and Digital Project Managers.
- Ensure each function understands priorities, deliverables, responsibilities and standards.
- Create a collaborative and accountable team environment.
- Mentor team members and support capability-building across digital disciplines.
- Improve collective delivery standards, processes and ways of working.
- Act as a bridge between client, agency, specialist and market teams.
- Ensure alignment across strategic, creative, operational and performance workstreams.
Client Partnership & Stakeholder Management
- Serve as a senior day-to-day digital partner to us across SAF and ECAF.
- Support the Head of Digital & Social / Client Partner in managing client relationships and market expectations.
- Present digital plans, workstream updates, performance learnings and recommendations with clarity and confidence.
- Proactively manage stakeholder alignment across Brand, Digital, IMX, Media, CRM, Influencer and platform-related conversations.
- Build trusted relationships through ownership, responsiveness, commercial awareness and a solutions-focused approach.
- Manage expectations, priorities and deliverables across multiple markets and stakeholder groups.
Digital Innovation, Culture & Performance
- Stay close to digital culture, consumer behaviour, platform trends, creator ecosystems, CRM opportunities and owned-platform best practice across African markets.
- Identify emerging opportunities and trends that can improve Coca-Cola's digital presence and consumer impact.
- Work with data and strategy teams to define relevant KPIs and interpret performance.
- Translate insights into practical optimisation recommendations.
- Champion a performance-driven culture across digital activity.
- Ensure learnings are captured, shared and applied across future campaigns and always-on workstreams.
- Identify opportunities to improve quality, efficiency, integration and consumer impact across Social, Influencer, CRM and Owned Digital Platforms.
Technical Requirements
Qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Communications, or a related field preferred.
- Minimum 6–8 years of progressive experience across digital marketing, social media, influencer, CRM, owned platforms or integrated digital delivery.
- Minimum 2–3 years' experience in a senior or leadership capacity.
- Demonstrable experience managing multi-disciplinary digital teams or workstreams.
- Experience managing teams including Community Managers, Strategists, Digital Project Managers, creators, platform partners and/or agency specialists.
- Experience working with major consumer brands, ideally within FMCG, beverage, lifestyle or other fast-moving categories.
- Strong preference for experience working on global or multi-market accounts.
- Proven ability to manage digital planning and execution across diverse markets.
- Strong understanding of Southern African and East/Central African digital ecosystems.
- Strong understanding of Social Media, Influencer ecosystems, CRM principles, Owned Digital Channels, digital governance, content operations and performance optimisation.
- Experience setting and enforcing brand safety standards, governance protocols, approval processes and escalation plans across digital channels.
Technical Skills / Software Proficiency
- Sprinklr
- Brandwatch
- Social media analytics and reporting tools
- Community management platforms
- AI-powered community management tools and AI agents
- Social listening platforms
- Reporting and dashboard tools