Senior Brand Partnerships & Licensing Manager (All Genders)

YOU & AHEAD At ahead, we are on a mission to clean up the world's candy drawers. We make the snacks everyone actually craves, reformulated with less sugar and zero compromise on taste. We are 120 people strong, with 170+ SKUs and aggressive growth across D2C, retail, Amazon, and new European markets. Our Brand Activation department is where we move from product to culture. We do that through limited editions: co-branded drops with entertainment IPs, licensing deals with cultural icons, collaborations that make people genuinely excited about what they are eating. Are you a senior brand partnerships and licensing professional who closes deals, owns projects end-to-end, and has the network to make things happen from day one? If so, read on. YOUR TASKS Partner Identification & Pipeline Management: You proactively source, evaluate, and pitch licensing and co-branding opportunities across entertainment IPs, cultural icons, celebrities, and lifestyle brands. You run an active pipeline of 5-10 live opportunities at any given time and know which ones are worth pursuing for our brand and commercial goals. Deal Negotiation & Contracting: You lead negotiations end-to-end and close with confidence. LOIs, licensing agreements, talent contracts, commercial terms, royalties, usage rights. You represent us in front of top-tier partners, agents, and IP holders and you get deals across the line. End-to-End Project Management: You own the full lifecycle of every limited edition. Concept, LOI, product development, packaging redesign, legal sign-off, market launch. You keep cross-functional teams across brand, product, design, legal, sales, retail, and D2C moving in the same direction and on time. Business Case & Performance Ownership: You build and own the business case for every collaboration: budget, margin, revenue forecast, and post-launch review. You track revenue contribution, retail sell-through, D2C performance, and brand awareness lift per edition, and use it to make the next one better. Internal Alignment & Launch Enablement: You brief and align brand, social, ecom, and retail on launch strategy, content needs, and sell-in materials so every edition lands the way it should, in-store and online. YOUR PROFILE You bring 5+ years in licensing, brand partnerships, or co-branding, ideally within FMCG, consumer lifestyle, entertainment, or a licensing/talent agency. You have taken 3+ limited editions or co-branded drops from concept to launch and can point to the results. You are a strategic thinker with a hands-on mindset and a proven execution track record. You have negotiated and signed LOIs, licensing agreements, and talent contracts with full commercial responsibility. You come with a network of IP holders, agencies, talent managers, and entertainment companies that opens doors from day one. You are comfortable juggling multiple complex workstreams at once, aligning cross-functional teams without formal authority, and holding a timeline withou