Director (gn) Global Brand – ESN

Start: Immediately | Level: Director | Location: Hamburg, hybrid, Berlin, remote | Type: Full time (40h/week) As Director (gn) Global Brand , you will be the architect of how ESN shows up to the world. This is not a blank-sheet brief — ESN has a strong heritage, a fiercely loyal community, and real brand equity built over years. Your job is to take that foundation and elevate it: sharpening the strategy, building a visual identity and design system that sets a new standard for the category, and raising the creative bar across every touchpoint so that ESN's brand power matches its commercial ambition. But strategy and systems are only half the job. The bigger gap — and the bigger opportunity — is brand moments. ESN has the athletes, the community, and the products to create moments that define the brand culturally: flagship experiences that the sports world talks about, product launches that feel like cultural events, campaign concepts that earn attention rather than buy it. This role owns that creative vision end to end. You will work directly with the GM Brand and the leads of D2C, Portfolio & Commercial, and International to bring these moments to life at scale. We are looking for someone who is both deeply strategic and genuinely creative — someone with the experience to build a brand system and the vision and creative courage to produce ideas that make people stop and feel something. Your mission You drive the master brand strategy (positioning, architecture, tone of voice, and visual identity) — optimized for the German core market and scalable for international expansion You are responsible for bold brand experiences and athlete-led events that act as cultural statements to capture global attention and deepen long-term community loyalty You hold end-to-end responsibility (from concept to execution standards) for the creative presentation during major commercial moments, product launches, and relevant community experiences You establish a strategic architecture and set of principles that empower international teams to adapt the brand with local relevance while maintaining global consistency You implement a distinctive visual design language across packaging, digital, retail, and content through practical guidelines and templates You serve as the central brand authority for all internal stakeholders (D2C, Commercial, International) and lead as well as brief global creative and brand agencies Your experience & skills You bring 12+ years of leadership experience in brand management You have extensive senior-level experience at a culture and lifestyle brand (e.g., Nike, Adidas, Red Bull, Gymshark level) and ideally additional agency experience as a strategic advisor or Creative Director You can build brand positionings and architectures from scratch and think in years, not quarters You define excellence, brief agencies to that standard, and make bold creative calls without needing consensus You are deeply embedded in the sports and performance community, know exactly what feels authentic versus forced, and instinctively recognize moments with true brand-defining power You immediately think ideas through to execution and commercial impact — strategy and real-world results are inseparable to you You confidently handle lean resources, high ambitions, and ROI pressure You thrive in a dynamic, PE-backed environment and speak fluent English, German language skills are a strong advantage Why choose us? Being part of our team means joining a high-performing company with a diverse and inclusive culture. In our fast-growing team of over 1,200 employees, we combine our passion for sports nutrition, supplements, and healthy foods with cutting-edge technology, production, and logistics processes. All of this serves one goal: providing our customers with top-quality products to support their healthy and active lifestyle. You can look forward to a strong sense of team spirit, ongoing opportunities for professional growth and responsibility…