About Lactalis

Lactalis is a French family-owned business founded in Laval in 1933. Today, it is the world’s leading dairy group, present in 50 countries employing around 90,000 people. It is home to some of the world’s best known global and international dairy brands, including Président, Galbani and Parmalat.

In Australia, the Lactalis group offers a wide range of quality dairy products under some of Australia’s most loved brands including Pauls, Bega cheese, Mainland, Western Star, OAK, Jalna, Kraft and Cracker Barrel. These products are produced locally within a network of 24 manufacturing sites located across the country.

Our passionate and talented team is committed to nurturing the future, unlocking new opportunities, and fostering innovation in nutrition and food.

The Chance

Rarely does an opportunity arise to shape the marketing vision, brand strategy and consumer agenda of a business with the scale, heritage and ambition of Lactalis Australia!

Reporting to the CEO and sitting on the Australian Executive Committee (ExCo), you will shape the marketing agenda for one of Australia's largest branded food businesses.

The role is being created at a pivotal time as Lactalis Australia and Mainland Dairy come together. It offers a unique opportunity to bring greater connection and alignment to marketing across the combined organisation, while respecting the strength of the brands, channels and teams within each business.

As our newly created Chief Marketing Officer, you will provide enterprise-wide leadership across consumer strategy, portfolio stewardship, brand governance and marketing capability. Working across multiple sales channels, including Domestic Consumer, Foodservice and Ingredients, you will lead the strategy for our iconic portfolio of brands, including Pauls, OAK, Ice Break, Jalna, Vaalia, Lemnos, Président, Galbani, Mainland, Bega, Western Star and Perfect Italiano,



across the full breadth of the dairy categories, including fresh milk, beverages, cheese, butter, yogurt, desserts and functional nutrition. You will align marketing strategy, elevate capability and ensure our brands remain competitive, distinctive and positioned for growth.

This is a rare opportunity to influence the future direction of a large-scale FMCG portfolio. The role will not directly lead a marketing team. Instead, success will come through influence — working alongside the General Managers of each Business Unit and the marketing teams that sit within. The CMO will play an important role in strategic discussions with key retail customers and connect the Australian business with Lactalis global marketing teams.

Key responsibilities include

- Defining and leading Lactalis Australia's marketing strategy
- Shaping brand and portfolio direction across multiple categories
- Integrating marketing strategy, capability and ways of working across Lactalis Australia and Mainland Dairy
- Driving consumer-led growth through insight and market intelligence
- Leading through influence across a matrix organisation
- Representing the enterprise marketing agenda in strategic discussions with major retail customers and Lactalis global marketing teams
- Establishing brand governance and portfolio alignment
- Elevating marketing capability, frameworks and ways of working
- Advancing digital, e-commerce and media effectiveness capabilities




- Partner with global Lactalis teams to share local market expertise and leverage international best practices
- Foster collaboration across the global network to drive innovation, capability and growth
- Work closely with Operations and Supply Chain to align growth strategies with manufacturing capability and investment priorities
- Influence innovation, capacity and capital investment decisions to support long-term business growth.
- Contributing as a trusted member of the Australian ExCo

About You

You are an accomplished marketing executive with experience leading strategy across complex, multi-brand organisations. You are commercially astute and consumer focused. You know how to build alignment and drive outcomes in a matrix organisation, even when the teams you rely on do not report directly to you. You are equally credible with senior business leaders, marketing teams, major customers and global stakeholders.

To succeed in this role, you'll ideally bring:

- 15+ years' marketing leadership experience, ideally within FMCG, food or beverage
- Deep expertise in brand strategy, consumer insights and category growth
- Experience operating at enterprise or executive level
- Strong commercial acumen and strategic thinking capability
- A track record of influencing across matrix organisations
- Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills

What We Offer

- A newly created executive leadership opportunity with significant organisational impact
- A seat at the Australian ExCo table
- The chance to shape the future of a portfolio of iconic consumer brands
- Career opportunities within a leading global organisation
- Competitive executive remuneration and flexible working arrangements.

Please note that applicants must have full working rights for Australia to be considered.

We are politely declining recruitment agency support and approaches for this role.

📌 Chief Marketing Officer (Melbourne)
🏢 Lactalis - Mainland Dairy
📍 Melbourne