The Role - Head of Brand EMEA Head of Brand EMEA leads brand strategy and execution across EMEA, embedding CBRE’s brand throughout every channel and market to strengthen commercial position and extend our leadership in the region.
You will equip our people with the tools, guidance and frameworks to deliver brand and go-to-market strategies consistently, working in close partnership with marketers and brand counterparts across the globe.
The role requires strong people management, including direct oversight of the EMEA social media team, and the ability to build influential partnerships across the global go-to-market organisation, integrating closely with US brand counterparts.
Context CBRE’s marketing strategy is client led. The firm provides clients with insight on the issues affecting their businesses and the support to act on it. Brand either directly supports or counsels with direction on go-to-market activations, running end-to-end campaigns from media, digital and social, through to boardroom-level content that builds relationships and generates revenue.
Vision For CBRE to be the pre-eminent global commercial real estate services, investment and critical infrastructure firm serving their clients with market-leading capabilities
What you will be doing
Brand Strategy & Planning
Client Insight: research clients, prospects and the wider market to identify opportunities for brand and business evolution
Brand Health: define impactful brand metrics; measure, monitor and report on brand performance
Brand Activation: develop B2B activation approaches in partnership with business segment marketing leaders. Direct all paid media including sponsorships, media partnerships, OOH and digital.
M&A: lead the integration of significant acquisitions across the region
Ensure all plans and tactics reflect long-term brand strategy and deliver a consistent client experience
Drive integration and alignment with US brand counterparts, ensuring EMEA brand strategies are developed collaboratively and contribute to a unified global brand narrative
Continually challenge the status quo to deliver excellence in output and experience
Brand Management
Build the brand team’s reputation as an innovator that delivers clear business results
Manage the day-to-day application of brand systems, ensuring output delivers results, reflects brand strategy and inspires clients
Drive cohesion across brand storytelling, identity and experiences; champion collaboration across advertising, design, communications and digital
Partner closely with internal teams and agencies to build brand value
Work with internal and external partners to deliver brand innovations that raise standards for the industry and engage clients and employees
Be hands-on where needed, applying expertise across brand strategy, design direction, user experience and service design
Own brand and positioning communications including visual identity, key messaging, creative expression, tone of voice and imagery
Support regional partners with creative solutions that advance brand positioning and champion best practice
Sign off key marketing output across region, working closely with designers, freelancers and agencies to improve consistency and quality of all marketing communications
Build and maintain the CBRE brand skills in EMEA that hold brand standards inside AI output: Word, tone of voice, PowerPoint and HTML, built to carry across to Copilot, Gemini and Ellis.
Support the wider L&D programme on AI, building capability and confident, on-brand use across the business.
Social Media
Directly manage the EMEA social leads across EU and UK, setting clear priorities, owning performance and holding the team accountable to a regional-first, globally aligned operating model
Work with the EMEA social strategists to ensure social content acts as a storytelling engine that directly supports brand and go-to-market strategy
Define the channel activation framework across LinkedIn, YouTube, Meta and emerging platforms, setting the strategic approach for how content is captured, multiplied and distributed at scale across corporate and people-led channels
Champion the employee advocacy and creator programme across EMEA, providing strategic direction and the frameworks that enable the social strategists to encourage and train brokers, leaders and subject matter experts to become active and consistent distributors
Oversee the measurement framework for social performance across the region, ensuring real-time insight informs content strategy, paid social investment and the connection between social activity and business outcomes
Stakeholder Engagement
Build trusted relationships with country and regional marketing teams, grounded in strong market and competitor knowledge
Set the standard for stakeholder engagement — every interaction first class
Act as brand guardian and problem solver to all business lines and markets
Bring strong leadership, people management and influencing skills, with experience managing direct and indirect reports within and outside the region
Keep key stakeholders aligned and on brand as AI adoption grows, reviewing anything off-brand and working it through with the relevant teams.
What you will need to apply
Business
Deep B2B experience, with a clear understanding of brand strategy fundamentals and how brand and business performance are interconnected
Advanced knowledge of brand design systems and experiences, and a firm understanding of the theories that supports them, including:
Brand strategy and architecture
Brand Health tracking and Client Insight programmes
Brand implementation and management of brand identity systems
Branded experiences, behaviours and interactions
Deep understanding of integrated media and go-to-market channels, including paid, earned, owned, social, digital, OOH and experiential, with the ability to assess channel relevance by audience, market and campaign objective
Personal
A collaborative leader with a genuine passion for elevating brand and go-to-market strategies through shared learning and cross-regional partnership
Excellent communication, presentation and partnership skills
High energy; brings creativity, lateral thinking and positivity to every interaction
Strong ability to implement ideas, encourage excellence and get things done to an exceptional standard
Commercially aware with creative flair and ambition
Process-driven; leads by example
Comfortable managing multiple priorities with agility
Committed to the improvement of diversity throughout the workforce
Qualifications and experience
A background in brand design, brand strategy, or brand experience required; with demonstrable experience in media campaign planning and an understanding of how to leverage applicable channels to drive brand and business outcomes
Proven track record of stakeholder engagement and delivery of positive outcomes
Experience in an agency or consultancy environment and within a large, complex global organisation
International experience strongly preferred, with demonstrated ability to manage teams and stakeholders across geographies, including experience working with or alongside North American brand or marketing teams
Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business or Communications with 10 or more years of related experience and prior
Management experience required
Experience in staffing, selection, training, development, coaching, mentoring, measuring, appraising, and
Rewarding performance and retention preferred
Proven success with the development of strategic solutions for a multi-industry sales environment.
Excellent communication, organisational and complex problem-solving skills.
Advanced logical, critical thinking and quantitative skills.
Intermediate knowledge of all Microsoft Office Suite products. This includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, SharePoint, OneNote and Outlook
Ability to drive financial and functional performance across several areas of business.
Why CBRE When you join CBRE, you become part of the global leader in commercial real estate services and investment that helps businesses and people thrive. We are dynamic problem solvers and forward-thinking professionals who create significant impact. Our collaborative culture is built on our shared values — respect, integrity, service and excellence — and we value the diverse perspectives, backgrounds and skillsets of our people. At CBRE, you have the opportunity to realize your full potential.
Our Values in Hiring At CBRE, we are committed to fostering a culture where everyone feels they belong. We value diverse perspectives and experiences, and we welcome all applications.
