Corporate Security and Brand Protection Lead at Diageo

Job Description :

Job title: Corporate Security and Brand Protection Lead

Reports to: Legal Director and Company Secretary

Company Profile and Brands

Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL) is the leading drinks company in Uganda with an outstanding collection of brands that range from the flagship Bell Lager™ to several other beer and adult non-alcoholic drinks reaffirming our standing as a Total Adult Beverage (TAB) company.
The UBL brewery in Port Bell, Luzira, is also home to International Distillers Uganda Limited (IDU) which operates a spirits distillery that manufactures and exports a range of high-quality spirits like the world-renowned Uganda Waragi™.
UBL and IDU are both affiliates of East African Breweries Limited (EABL) which is part of Diageo Plc.

Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands including Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, Buchanan’s & Windsor Whiskies, Smirnoff, Ciroc & Ketel One Vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness™.

Corporate and Functional Structure

UBL is a public limited liability company, with 98.1% of its shareholding held by EABL and a minority held by over 100 individual shareholders, both of a local and foreign origin.
EABL is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) and cross listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) and Dar-es-Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE). EABL is majority owned by Diageo Plc, which is listed on both the London and New York Stock Exchanges.
UBL also provides oversight and accountability for East African Breweries Rwanda Limited (EABRL) and the Great Lakes Region.
All UBL products are either manufactured or distributed under license or sublicense from various brand owners.
The Corporate Security and Brand Protection departments report into the Legal Function which is headed by the UBL Legal Director. The departments also report to the Corporate Security and Brand Protection functions within the region and up to Diageo PLC.
The role holder will be responsible for supporting the Legal Director & Company Secretary and the Corporate Security and Brand Protection Manager in delivering the mandate, mission, and strategies for both Corporate Security and Brand Protection in Uganda and the Great Lakes Region.
The day-to-day management and supervision of the Corporate Security and Brand Protection Manager will be done by the Corporate Security and Brand Protection Manager.

Market Complexity

UBL has major operations throughout Uganda with the main sites for brewing and distillation and the distribution hub being located at Port Bell Luzira. UBL operations also cover logistics and distribution centres as well as sales and marketing operations countrywide.
UBL has a sales force of over 120 staff deployed nationally who have access to various company tools of trade including sales vehicles, laptops, point of sale (POS) systems. The company also has field staff under the Agriculture Department who fall under the Supply Chain function and are primarily deployed in the Western and Central regions of the country.
UBL has management oversight over the Great Lakes Region operations which cover Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern DR Congo.
The Corporate Security and Brand Protection Manager must demonstrate an understanding of the complex security environment in all these markets where the company is operating.
The region offers a number of security challenges including ensuring the safety of staff in high-risk locations, advising business travellers, protecting business facilities and goods from organised criminals, understanding the terrorist threat and illicit trade landscape, contingency planning and undertaking internal investigations.
The Brand Protection function must demonstrate an understanding of the complex trading and regulatory environment in Uganda and the Great Lakes region where we have trading and commercial interests.
The Uganda and Great Lakes Region is considered a strategic market in terms of Brand Protection due to the significant growth of illicit trade including many cross-border and in-country actions that require market coordination.

Specific Accountability of the Role

This is a mid-level management role based within the Uganda market. The role holder will be responsible for supporting the delivery of the Corporate Security and Brand Protection agendas for Uganda and the Great Lakes Region.

The role holder will be expected to execute the following responsibilities: -

Corporate Security:

Protecting company employees, assets, brands, reputation and business operations/activities from actual or potential security threats.
Preparing and/or reviewing high quality reports including intelligence briefings, threats assessments and investigation reports.
Having a comprehensive understanding of all the businesses managed by UBL and the risks they face and producing a resultant security risk assessment.
Providing strong leadership of the security function and maintaining close links with UBL Leadership and Extended Leadership teams.
Communicating corporate security risks to the UBL Leadership team and providing appropriate advice and mitigations.
Developing and driving proactive security programmes with stakeholders to ensure continued safe and effective operations of the business including the development and cascade of appropriate security guidelines for the business.
Ensuring the physical security of all designated facilities and personnel in UBL, IDU and EABRL including regularly conducting security vulnerability assessments.
Contributing to the global response to crisis and other significant events.
Establishing and maintaining close liaison with relevant law enforcement and government officials for purposes of effectively performing the role.
Conducting training and security awareness for employees and third-party providers; and providing professional security advice and consultation to corporate management.
Coordinating and managing Control Room Operations including the third-party service provider.
Scoping, implementation and reporting of progress on Corporate Security Projects.
Implementation of Business Continuity Management (BCM) initiatives across the business in line with Diageo requirements including ensuring timely sign off of Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) and conducting quarterly BCM testing.

Brand Protection:

Working with the other Corporate Security and Brand Protection Manager in developing, driving, and embedding a collaborative Brand Protection strategy across the business.
Coordinating the development and implementation of programs and systems designed to protect our brands and ensure the attainment of company sales targets through creating contestable sales space in the market. This will entail engagement of the company’s Brand Protection third party provider and law enforcement to coordinate surveillance, investigation and prosecution of matters concerning counterfeit, contraband, parallel trading, and other tasks relating to anti-illicit trade in the market.
Developing and implementing strategic departmental priorities, embedding global standards and ways of working.
Driving the building of Brand Protection knowledge management by coordinating and delivering capability trainings to both internal and external stakeholders including employees, traders, regulators, law enforcement authorities, etc.
Coordinating regular monitoring and reporting on the illicit trade landscape within the market, sharing key insights, trends, and recommendations for action by the business and/or the relevant authorities.
Coordinating the collection of samples of products that are suspected as being counterfeit, substandard, dumped, contraband and products that have infringed the company’s Intellectual Property Rights. The samples will then be consolidated, marked and shipped for analysis at a designated point indicated by UBL and also shared with the Enforcement Authorities for their investigation and further action.
Gathering evidence on the supply chain related to products that are counterfeit, substandard, dumped, contraband and products that have infringed the company’s Intellectual Property Rights and report to the Corporate Security and Brand Protection Manager for further action.
Coordinating market inspections with law enforcement agencies to check for counterfeits, substandard, dumped, contraband and products that infringe on the company’s Intellectual Property Rights; and submit weekly and monthly reports to the Corporate Security and Brand Protection Manager for guidance and action.
Conducting regular engagements with all relevant authorities that are responsible for the fight against illicit trade in alcohol and driving for continued enforcement and prosecution action against the perpetrators. These include Police, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP), Interpol, etc.
Preparing and/or coordinating the preparation and review of periodic departmental reports and ensuring their timely submission to the Legal Director & Company Secretary and other designated stakeholders within the business.

General:

Effective management of all Corporate Security and Brand Protection third-party providers including management of engagement/contracting, instructions, billing, and performance evaluation in line with agreed contractual obligations and performance targets.
Conducting end-to-end tracking and monitoring of the Corporate Security and Brand Protection Budgets budget, regular communication with Finance teams on the budget status, actuals, accruals, provisions and reporting as and when required.
Performing any such tasks and responsibilities as may be assigned from time to time by the Legal Director & Company Secretary or aligned on with the other Corporate Security and Brand Protection Manager.

Management Accountabilities

Drive Corporate Security and Brand Protection business partnering to enable delivery of enterprise-wide objectives and to enhance the delivery of service by Legal to other Functions.
Participate and contribute to cross functional projects and initiatives to minimize Corporate Security and Brand Protection risks and ensure achievement of the business objectives.
Actively drive savings and cost management through effective management of third-party providers to ensure that the business gets value for money.
Driving for improved efficiency and the promotion of ethical and compliant behaviour to enable business sustainability and limit revenue loss from failed internal controls.
Perform such other special projects and duties as assigned by the Legal Director & Company Secretary and/or aligned on with the other Corporate Security and Brand Protection Manager.

Innovation

Enable the business to achieve its business objectives in a legally compliant way while unlocking commercial opportunities through good practice and pushing for enforcement against illicit trade by law enforcement agencies.
Preserve value (financial and reputational) by minimising the risk of leakage and maintaining compliance with laws and policies.
Continually seek ways to optimise and improve systems and work processes to drive efficiency and reduce costs including use of technology.
Ensure that the business receives high quality support (both internal and external) to achieve set objectives.

Leadership Responsibilities:

Develop capabilities and expertise of the UBL Security team in the company’s security management systems.
Proactively provide commercial and practical security advice and solutions for the markets, including working with the Corporate Security team and Supply chain management to set policy and standards and manage security programmes.
Proactively engage the various stakeholders within the business such as the HR, Supply, Legal and Corporate Relations teams on relevant matters affecting the business from a Brand Protection and Corporate Security perspective.
Proactively lead Corporate Security and Brand Protection initiatives and draw in and coordinate other necessary contributors.
Build up an effective internal and external (law enforcement, government and elsewhere) network of contacts to assist with the protection of the UBL business and support law enforcement action, as required.
Be able to communicate clearly and confidently advise senior management on Corporate Security and Brand Protection related risks.
Supporting efficient management of the Corporate Security and Brand Protection budgets and spend through tracking spend, accruals, provisions and reporting as and when.
Effective third-party service provider management – follow up on instructions/engagement, tracking performance through clear evaluation criteria & performance scorecards, follow up on verification and timely settlement of bills.
Ensure and implement continuous training and education of members of the Legal Function and wider business on Corporate Security and Brand Protection.

Top 3-5 Accountabilities:

Ensuring that UBL Demand and Supply operations are run safely and securely whilst reporting and escalating any incidents in a timely manner as appropriate.
Provide excellent and pro-active Corporate Security and Brand Protection business partnering to ensure that the business delivers its strategic goals.
Embed Corporate Security and Brand Protection best practice, governance, and compliance across the business in line with the law and Diageo policies and standards.
Effective management of third-party service providers to ensure that the business gets value for money and achieves its strategic objectives.
Building and maintaining effective contacts with relevant law enforcement regulatory and industry bodies.

Qualifications and Experience Required:

Must be a university graduate with at least three years post qualification experience. Candidates with Legal and/or Corporate Security training preferred.
Prior experience in working with a government agency, law enforcement or as a corporate security professional, preferred.
Good working knowledge and experience of Supply and Demand security including in the areas of threat analysis, physical, people & travel security and developing risk analysis, evaluating and implementing physical asset protection and conducting site surveys and awareness of executive protection.
Good knowledge of the conducting and managing complex investigations, i.e., fraud allegations and civil investigations; conducting witness, victim, and suspect interviews.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Verbal and written proficiency in English required.
Ability to prepare documentation for corporate leadership and/or engagements with government agencies.
Ability to stay focused by constantly reassessing priorities and managing expectations within the business.
Ability to work confidently, persuasively and to gain the respect and trust of other senior managers within the business.
Flexible attitude to travel.

Diversity statement:

Our purpose is to celebrate life, every day, everywhere. And creating an inclusive culture, where everyone feels valued and that they can belong, is a crucial part of this.

We embrace diversity in the broadest possible sense. This means that you’ll be welcomed and celebrated for who you are just by being you. You’ll be part of and help build and champion an inclusive culture that celebrates people of different gender, ethnicity, ability, age, sexual orientation, social class, educational backgrounds, experiences, mindsets, and more.

Our ambition is to create the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products companies in the world. Join us and help transform our business as we take our brands to the next level and build new ones as part of shaping the next generation of celebrations for consumers around the world.

Feel inspired? Then this may be the opportunity for you.

If you require a reasonable adjustment, please ensure that you capture this information when you submit your application.

Worker Type :

Regular

Primary Location:

Portbell Brewery

Additional Locations :

Job Posting Start Date :

2025-11-03