Summary

Marcom is the creatively-led global team that oversees Apple’s consumer facing marketing. We ensure the flawless development and execution of world-class communications across all medias and platforms. Every day, hundreds of millions of Apple customers around the world interact with our products. We drive the strategy and creative work that provide both new and existing customers with simple, engaging and inspiring marketing experiences.

We're the Marcom Strategy team for Europe, responsible for shaping our approach to marketing our products and services across UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Our team develops consumer insights, cultural intelligence, and data-driven strategies that fuel best-in-class creative work, ensuring it resonates locally while staying true to Apple's global brand. We work hand-in-hand with creative, media, channel, and cross-functional partners (Product Marketing, Corp Comms, Buzz Marketing) to bring campaigns to life across channels, with dedicated strategists embedded in each market (UK, FR, DE) alongside specialist leads in data & insights, social, and channel & partner comms. We sit within Apple's Europe Marcom organisation, collaborating closely with worldwide strategy partners and the broader Europe leadership team.

Description

The Channel Strategy Lead is a specialist role that will shape how Apple shows up across retail and carrier partner environments in Europe — developing the strategic approach for marketing communications within non-Apple-owned touchpoints across key markets in Europe. This includes both Apple-driven initiatives and partner-led campaigns that feature our products and services, ensuring every touchpoint delivers a compelling, on-brand experience that drives consideration and conversion.

Responsibilities

• Partner with country strategy leads to create the channel marketing strategy for Apple's retail and carrier partner environments in UK, France and Germany.
• Lead and own channel strategy for Spain, Italy, and other key markets or verticals in Europe.
• Partner with sales leads to identify opportunities and shape strategies that grow the business across partner touchpoints, aligning marketing efforts with commercial priorities in each market.
• Map and analyse the customer journey across partner retail and carrier environments, identifying key moments where Apple can reach customers in new, relevant, and helpful ways.
• Spot friction points in the customer experience and develop innovative, customer-centric solutions — working with creative, strategy, and partner teams to turn insights into action.
• Lead the strategic planning process for both Apple-driven and partner-driven marketing initiatives, defining the right moments, formats, and messaging to drive consideration and conversion.
• Champion creative quality across partner touchpoints, working with creative teams to ensure that in-store, digital, and co-marketing executions meet Apple's standard of excellence — regardless of who owns the environment.
• Collaborate with the data & insights lead to ground strategies in evidence — using sell-through data, partner performance metrics, and consumer insights to inform decisions and measure impact.
• Present strategies and results to senior leadership, translating complex partner dynamics into clear narratives that inform decision-making across the Europe team and with worldwide stakeholders.
  
  

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in marketing strategy, channel marketing, or commercial strategy, ideally in consumer technology, retail, or telecommunications.
• Proven experience developing marketing strategies for non-owned retail or partner environments, with a strong understanding of how customers discover and purchase products through third-party channels.
• Significant experience working across both digital and physical retail touchpoints, with a track record of connecting online and in-store experiences into a coherent customer journey.
• Demonstrated ability to work across multiple markets simultaneously, navigating different partner landscapes, customer behaviours, and commercial dynamics.
• Experience operating effectively in large, complex organisations, skilled at influencing and aligning multiple stakeholders across functions (e.g. sales, marketing, creative, retail) without direct authority.
• Experience using data and customer insights to identify opportunities, build strategies, and measure results, comfortable partnering with analytics teams to turn numbers into action.
• Familiarity with AI-powered marketing tools (e.g. content generation, analytics, automation) and an understanding of how they can enhance campaign performance and efficiency.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with carrier or mobile operator partners, with an understanding of how these partnerships shape customer experience and go-to-market strategies.
• Deep background in customer journey mapping, particularly across channels where the handoff between digital discovery and in-store purchase (or vice versa) is critical to conversion.
• Experience working across European markets, with an appreciation for cultural and commercial differences between the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.
• Familiarity with digital retail formats (e.g. partner websites, apps, online merchandising) as well as physical retail executions (e.g. in-store displays, training materials, point-of-sale communications).
• Experience in or exposure to innovation-led projects — comfortable proposing and piloting new approaches that bridge digital and physical experiences in partner environments.
• Working knowledge of a second European language (French, German, Spanish, or Italian) is a plus but not essential.
• Experience working at or with large global brands where maintaining brand consistency across diverse partner environments was a core challenge.