Senior Shopper Marketing & Brand Activation Manager

Own End-to-End Shopper Marketing for Fast-Growing CPG Brands

 

This position reports to Max, SVP of ZURU Edge North America.

  

About ZURU

 

ZURU is on a mission to disrupt industries and challenge the status quo through innovation and automation. Our brands reflect this vision: ZURU Toys re-imagines play, ZURU Tech leads the next building revolution, and ZURU Edge creates modern CPG brands for today’s consumers.

 

Founded in 2003 by EY Entrepreneur of the Year brothers Nick and Mat Mowbray, ZURU has grown to over 5,000 team members across 30+ international locations.

 

As one of the world’s largest toy companies, our award-winning brands include Bunch O Balloons, Mini Brands, XSHOT, Rainbocorns, and Smashers. Our CPG portfolio features MONDAY Haircare, Rascals, NOOD, BONKERS, Gumi Yum Surprise, and more.

 

For more information, visit www.zuru.com.

 

Position Overview

 

We are looking for a high-ownership Senior Shopper Marketing (Brand Activation) Manager with exceptional project management capability and strong creative judgement to lead the planning and execution of in-store activation across our largest retail partners, including Walmart, Target and key Grocery/Drug customers. You will translate brand strategy into retail-ready execution; owning displays and point-of-sale programs end-to-end so our brands show up with speed, consistency, and impact at shelf.

 

This role spans multiple ZURU Edge brands, from highly design-forward consumer brands such as DAISE Beauty, MONDAY Haircare and Millie Moon, to other fast-growing categories across our portfolio. It’s a rare opportunity to bring beautifully built brands to life in-store, at scale, and with real visibility.

 

Position Impact

 

You will play a pivotal role in how ZURU shows up at retail – turning brand vision into powerful in-store moments of connection that influence shopper behaviour and drive conversion. You’ll champion the consumer at the point of purchase, ensuring every activation is consumer-led and creatively excellent, while driving timelines, stakeholders, and details through to flawless execution. Your work will strengthen retailer partnerships and accelerate growth across ZURU Edge’s consumer goods brands in key markets.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Lead in-store shopper activation across key U.S. retail partners (Walmart, Target, and key Grocery/Drug customers), translating brand strategy into high-converting retail experiences.

• Own end-to-end project management for secondary displays / shippers / floorstands and in-store POS—from briefing and concepts through vendor quoting, retailer approvals, production, deployment, and post-activation reviews.

• Drive activation planning across the path to purchase, including in-store POS, sampling, promotions, endcaps, seasonal programs and other moments of connection.

• Be the day-to-day activation partner to the account team, building customer-specific activation plans that align to brand objectives and delivering against timing, budget, and quality expectations.

• Own trade show and experiential activation execution, including project plans, budgets, timelines, vendor coordination, and on-site delivery for priority events (e.g., trade shows, pop-ups, and brand activations).

• Act as the key activation contact for retailers and external partners on shopper programs—supporting sell-ins/presentations, leading display development, and delivering clear post-program learnings.

• Partner with internal Design to brief, review, and deliver best-in-class creative assets with clear communication hierarchy and strong shelf impact. This role includes creative approval authority within brand guidelines and the ability to use design tools/software to execute required changes (e.g., resizing, layout adjustments, hierarchy tweaks) to keep projects moving at pace.

• Manage external agencies and vendors (e.g., display houses, printers, merchandisers) to ensure quality, compliance, and speed—pushing for better solutions and continuous improvement.

• Own activation budgets for your programs, ensuring disciplined spend management and flawless delivery against deadlines.

• Track performance and extract learnings from activations (e.g., compliance, execution quality, and commercial impact where measurable), recommending improvements and codifying playbooks for future programs.

• Maintain working knowledge of retailer marketing ecosystems (e.g., Roundel, Walmart Connect, Kroger Precision Marketing) to ensure activations integrate effectively with retailer requirements and opportunities.

Skills & Experience

• 5+ years’ experience in shopper marketing / retail activation / trade activation / customer marketing, ideally within CPG (or similarly fast-paced consumer brands).

• Proven experience delivering programs with major retailers such as Walmart, Target, and/or leading Grocery/Drug customers.

• Exceptional project management capability—able to run complex, multi-stakeholder programs end-to-end, hit deadlines, and drive issues to closure.

• Strong creative judgement and design sensibility with the ability to approve shopper-facing assets within brand guidelines.

• Ideally hands-on design capability: comfortable using design tools/software to execute quick updates (e.g., resizing, layout/hierarchy tweaks, light production adjustments) to keep projects moving at pace.

• Clear, confident communicator with strong cross-functional collaboration skills (Sales, Design, Supply, vendors, and retail partners).

• Comfortable leveraging data and in-market observations to improve activations over time.

• Comfortable managing external partners (display houses, printers, agencies); vendor/agency management experience is a plus.

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, or related field (or equivalent experience).

LIFE@ZURU

At ZURU, we have cultivated a high-performing culture that encourages excellence. Our team works towards ambitious goals, learning, performing, and improving together, all while having fun. We empower talented individuals to do their best work every day.

 

At ZURU, you get out what you put in. You are responsible for driving your own career and we provide the platform to achieve it. As ZURU is on such a fast growth trajectory, there are opportunities here that you won’t find anywhere else.

 

We recognise that ZURU’s success stems from our people and you can only be at your best when you are looking after yourself. ZURU encourages all our team members to invest in their wellbeing by providing an array of benefits and tools.

 

ZURU – Tomorrow Reimagined

🚀ZURU.com

 

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