What makes this a great opportunity?

About Suntory Global Spirits

Suntory Global Spirits is a world leader in premium spirits. With a clear vision and strategy, a world-class portfolio of brands, and an inclusive, engaging culture, the business is growing its global footprint with an ambition to achieve $10B in sales by 2030.

We are a company rooted in two centuries of family heritage with a rich interplay of diverse cultures. Combining the new with the familiar, we encourage our people to inspire brilliance. To push boundaries. To pursue excellence and quality at every step.

Unleash Your Spirit and join a global team dedicated to crafting new experiences, from seed to sip.

What makes this a great opportunity

As Suntory Global Spirits accelerates its global footprint, we are establishing our own commercial business in the UK. As one of the largest, most sophisticated spirits markets in the world, the UK offers significant potential for our portfolio of premium brands. We’re building a world-class team to create a new and exciting business that is rooted in strong foundations, led by our values and long-term commercial ambition.

·       Be part of the establishment & set-up of direct route-to-market project to elevate UK market to the next level.

·       Exposure to a wide range of stakeholders, including senior leaders.

·       Opportunity to contribute to driving commercial results and process improvement within a newly set up company.

The Brand Ambassador Bourbon & Portfolio Brands will be the senior advocacy lead and recognised authority for Suntory Global Spirits' Bourbon portfolio in the UK, championing brands including Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and our Small Batch Bourbons, as well as supporting on our wider portfolio such as Sipsmith & Midori.

This role will bring the heritage, craftsmanship and distinct stories of our Bourbon brands to life, while shaping how we build advocacy, education and influence across the UK market.

Working across the trade, consumers, customers, media, luxury and prestige channels, the role will build communities of influential advocates and create exceptional experiences that strengthen brand equity and contribute to commercial growth.

Alongside leading Bourbon advocacy, the role will play an important role in developing our prestige Bourbon proposition, supporting the cultivation of relationships and commercial opportunities for high-value and single-cask expressions through prestige retail, specialist customers and high-net-worth individuals.

Role Responsibilities

Bourbon Portfolio Leadership & Advocacy

• Act as the senior UK ambassador for the Bourbon portfolio, championing Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and Small Batch Bourbons with credibility, expertise and passion.
• Lead an integrated UK Bourbon advocacy strategy aligned with brand plans, portfolio priorities and commercial growth opportunities.
• Bring each brand’s positioning, heritage, craftsmanship and stories to life while creating a compelling narrative for the overall portfolio.
• Serve as a senior custodian of brand messaging, ensuring consistency and excellence across advocacy, education and experiences.
• Build influential relationships with bartenders, hospitality professionals, customers, consumers, media, opinion leaders and collectors.
• Maintain deep expertise in Bourbon and American Whiskey, including production, culture, competitors, trends and luxury and secondary markets.

Brand Education & Capability

• Lead best-in-class Bourbon education and training for internal teams, customers, trade partners and external advocates.
• Strengthen Bourbon knowledge across the business and trade through programmes that build long-term brand advocacy.
• Develop scalable tools, assets and experiences enabling Sales, Marketing and ambassadors to represent the portfolio confidently.

Advocacy, Experiences & Influence

• Create and execute innovative advocacy programmes, tastings and experiences that generate meaningful engagement for the Bourbon portfolio.
• Lead high-profile masterclasses, trade engagements, media opportunities and VIP experiences, representing SGS with gravitas and credibility.
• Develop relationships with influential bartenders, venues, retailers, collectors and opinion leaders, building communities that extend brand reach and reputation.
• Partner with Brand, PR, Social and agency teams to create content and assets that amplify Bourbon storytelling across relevant channels.
• Host brand home, distillery and visitor experiences for priority customers, trade partners, media and VIPs.

Prestige, Single Cask & Commercial Development

• Act as a senior brand authority supporting prestige and high-value Bourbon growth, particularly single-cask and limited-release opportunities.
• Partner with Sales, Prestige and Marketing to develop opportunities in prestige retail, specialist spirits, luxury hospitality and high-net-worth consumer networks.

Role Responsibilities

Qualifications

• Significant Brand Ambassador, advocacy or related experience within premium spirits, with strong expertise in Bourbon / American Whiskey highly desirable.
• Demonstrable experience representing premium or luxury brands with credibility across trade, consumer, customer and VIP audiences.
• Strong experience developing and delivering brand education, training and advocacy programmes.
• Experience creating and executing high-quality events, tastings, masterclasses and brand experiences.
• Experience building influential networks across the drinks industry, hospitality, specialist retail and/or luxury sectors.
• Commercial awareness and an ability to understand how advocacy contributes to brand growth, customer development and high-value sales.
• Experience working with luxury consumers, collectors, prestige retail or high-net-worth audiences would be advantageous.

Key Skills and Behaviours

• World-class storyteller able to communicate with expertise, gravitas and passion while adapting storytelling for different brands and audiences.
• Deep curiosity and expertise in Bourbon, American Whiskey, premium spirits and the wider drinks industry.
• Strategic capability, able to move beyond delivering activity to shape advocacy priorities and programmes that create sustained impact.
• Outstanding relationship builder, comfortable engaging everyone from bartenders and consumers to senior customers, collectors, media and high-net-worth individuals.
• Strong commercial instinct, able to recognise opportunities where brand expertise and advocacy can unlock customer and consumer value.
• Proven ability to lead, coach and positively influence others without relying on formal authority.
• Able to manage multiple brands, priorities and stakeholders while maintaining exceptional executional standards.
• Collaborative and able to work effectively across Brand Marketing, Sales, Commercial Marketing, PR, agencies and Global Brand Houses.
• Entrepreneurial, proactive and comfortable creating new opportunities rather than simply delivering established programmes.
• Digitally fluent and confident across social media and emerging platforms, with an understanding of luxury, collector and secondary-market dynamics.