Vice President of Brand

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Counter Culture Coffee, a B Corporation, was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Durham, NC, with regional offices in 12 major cities across the country. Counter Culture Coffee has been continuously innovating in the coffee industry and we’re looking for passionate, dynamic, diverse team members to help us pursue our mission.

Counter Culture Coffee is:

A relentless pursuit of coffee perfection
A dedication to real environmental, social, and fiscal sustainability
A commitment to creating cutting edge coffee people

Our Core Values are:

Quality Coffee | We continue to cultivate relationships with growers and organizations around the world in order to build trust, improve quality, and foster transparency.
Sustainability | Our commitment to affecting positive change in every community to which we are connected is driven by our belief that we can–and should–always strive to improve upon the present.
Education | We believe the pursuit of coffee perfection includes educating ourselves, our partners, and our customers about the coffee supply chain and the best methods of preparation.
Transparency | We are committed to sustainability and holding ourselves and our peers accountable for creating a more sustainable future of coffee.

Position: Vice President of Brand

Department: Marketing

Location: Hybrid in Durham (1 week/month in office in Durham)

Reports To: CEO

FLSA Status: EXEMPT, 8810

Job Overview

The VP, Brand will lead Counter Culture’s effort to create more cutting-edge coffee people.

Role Summary

The Vice President of Brand will be a key member of the executive leadership team, responsible for defining and executing Counter Culture Coffee's brand and demand creation strategy across all channels. The core responsibility is to clarify our proposition and then plan and execute the plan that upholds/strengthens our business model of supporting outstanding coffee programs through wholesale partners, driving growth through our grocery partners, and building a connected DTC community. This leadership role partners closely with Sales and Operations to design and deliver the operating plan.

Primary Responsibilities

Brand Strategy & Cohesion: Develop and implement a unified brand strategy that resonates across all channels (DTC, Grocery, Wholesale), ensuring a consistent and powerful brand message that reflects our purpose while cutting through the clutter.

Leadership & Management: Lead and inspire Marketing Communications, eCommerce and Innovation, fostering a culture of creativity, collaboration, and business plan integration. Focus on “Team One” (Senior Leadership Team) while simultaneously creating clear direction and providing support to the Marketing function.

Growth Planning and Delivery: Partner with the CEO, Head of Finance and Head of Sales to plan next year’s budget, inclusive of marketing budget and also drivers of gross margin (strategic price and trade).

Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate closely with Sales to align brand initiatives with commercial goals, providing support and tools necessary to engage and grow our distribution.

DTC Growth: Drive strategic growth in the DTC channel that elevates the brand and creates a connected community of super premium coffee enthusiasts.

Innovation: Oversee the product innovation pipeline, ensuring new offerings align with brand identity, market trends, and our commitment to quality and sustainability; and that they are inspired ideas that excite the coffee community and align with the goals of our customers. Integrate this effort with Sales so that our launches are our best efforts.

Both B2C and B2B: Develop strategies to drive our CPG businesses, as well as our Wholesale business.

Sustainability & Purpose: Act as a steward of the company’s purpose, embedding our dedication to environmental, social, and fiscal sustainability into brand communications and initiatives.

Resource Allocation: Work to balance and prioritize resources to drive efficiency and ensure alignment with our business goals. Operate like a challenger, leveraging constraints as advantages.

Adapt: Put the marketing plan together to drive growth and retention, and then adapt when market conditions change or there is a shift in strategic direction.

Manage and do: Counter Culture operates with a LEAN mentality. Decisions are made by the employees closest to the action. Managers both support the work, and do the work too. There are minimal management layers. Everyone contributes.

Reporting and Analysis: Provide regular reports to the CEO, members of the Senior Leadership Team, and Board of Directors on marketing performance, identifying trends, areas for improvement, and opportunities for growth.

Experience & Qualifications

Proven Leadership: Extensive experience in a senior brand or marketing leadership role, preferably within a premium CPG, food & beverage, or related industry, with a track record of driving significant brand growth.
Channel Expertise: Demonstrated success in developing multi-channel brand strategies that effectively bridge DTC, wholesale, and grocery channels.
Strategic Vision: Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate consumer insights and market data into actionable brand strategies. Strategies must be written down, ideally in a framework, and shared for alignment.
Management Experience: Proven experience managing and mentoring cross-functional teams (Marketing, DTC, Innovation) and fostering a collaborative work environment.
Industry Passion: A genuine passion for coffee, sustainability, and quality, with an understanding of and appreciation for the super-premium market segment.
Communication: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate effectively at all levels, including C-suite executives and external partners.
Budget Setting and Attainment: Experience putting together marketing plans that adapt to the needs of the business and that consider key points of leverage. Marketing include all the Ps and Cs.
Agency Management: Experience determining what to do in house vs. outsource, carefully considering and balancing working dollars, non-working dollars, content quality needs, reach/frequency, etc.
Work Environment: Ability to work effectively in a remote setting while meeting the requirement of being on-site in Durham, NC, for 5 days per month.

Physical Aspects of this Job:

The physical activity of this position: [Refer to the physical tasks and demands that a job entails]

Talking: expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word, those activities in which they must convey detailed or important spoken instructions to other workers accurately, loudly, or quickly.
Hearing: perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels with or without correction, ability to receive detailed information through oral communication, and to make the discriminations in sound.

The physical requirements of this position:

Sedentary work. Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time.

The visual acuity requirements (including color, depth perception, and field vision) of this position:

Requires close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; and extensive reading.

90 Day Goals:

Build strategic understanding and relationships
- Attend New Employee Orientation, where applicable.
- Strong understanding of LEAN, GGOB, B-CORP
- Strong understanding of Counter Culture’s vision, mission, values, and plan
Assess and optimize processes.
Leverage date for consumer-centric strategy.
Drive early product development and launching strategies.

Benefits: Currently, the offered benefits include, group health (medical, dental and vision), available the first of the month after 30 days of employment; Flexible Spending Accounts for Healthcare and for Dependent Care; short- and long-term disability; life insurance; Wellness Benefits; 401(k) program; paid time off; eight company holidays; Stock Option Plan; A Stake in the Outcome.

Counter Culture Coffee a growth-oriented company, team of coffee driven individuals working together on continuous improvements.

Counter Culture Coffee is an Equal Opportunity Employer in both policy and practice.

Counter Culture Coffee assesses candidates for employment based on their knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the job for which they are applying and without regard to any non-job-related category as protected by federal, state or local law.

Finalist candidates for employment will be required to demonstrate USA employment eligibility - per federal and state law, Counter Culture Coffee participates in the federal E-Verify program. Candidates must have the legal right to work in the United States without sponsorship.

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