Director, Liquid Development, Anora Group Oyj

Anora is a leading Nordic wine and spirits brand house and a sustainability forerunner operating across the Nordics and Baltics, with exports to more than 30 countries worldwide. Our portfolio includes some of the region’s most iconic brands such as Koskenkorva, Linie, O.P. Anderson, Blossa and Chill Out. Guided by our purpose, “Let’s drink better”, we combine strong brands, consumer-driven innovation and sustainability leadership to create long-term growth and value.

We are looking for a commercially minded and inspiring Director, Liquid Development to lead Anora’s liquid development function and shape the future of our spirits portfolio. In this strategic leadership role, you will drive liquid development strategy, lead a team of experienced experts, strengthen innovation capabilities and ensure that our products continue to delight consumers while supporting Anora’s growth ambitions across the Nordics and beyond.

About the role

As Director, Liquid Development, you will be responsible for defining the vision, strategy and long-term roadmap for liquid innovation within Anora’s own spirits portfolio. You will lead a team of ten specialists and work closely with stakeholders across marketing, production, quality, supply chain, procurement and commercial functions.

The role combines strategic leadership, innovation management and people development. You will build future capabilities, ensure technical excellence and guide the development of new products and liquid concepts that strengthen Anora’s competitive position. The position is part of the Spirits Marketing & Innovation Management Team and reports to Director, Own Spirits.

Your main responsibilities

• Develop and execute Anora’s liquid development strategy in line with business objectives.
• Lead, coach and develop a team of highly skilled liquid development professionals.
• Drive innovation by identifying consumer trends, emerging categories, new technologies and materials.
• Oversee product development projects from ideation through commercialization.
• Ensure recipes, production methods and product documentation meet quality, compliance and business requirements.
• Coordinate wine portfolio development and resourcing with the wine team
• Manage budgeting, prioritization and resource allocation within the team.
• Build strong collaboration across marketing, production, commercial teams and external partners.
• Foster a culture that reflects Anora’s values: Courage to Explore, Energy to Inspire and Empowering to Win.

Our ideal candidate

You have a master’s degree in food science, Food Technology, Chemistry or a related field, combined with extensive experience in product development within the FMCG industry. You bring strong leadership capabilities and a strategic mindset, together with a passion for hands-on work and consumer-centric development.

To succeed in this role, you have:

• 5–7+ years of experience in senior new product development roles
• Experience leading experts and building high-performing teams.
• Strong knowledge of recipe development, sensory science and food and beverage legislation.
• Understanding of industrial food and/or beverage production processes.
• Commercial acumen and the ability to connect innovation with business growth.
• Experience working in international environments.
• Excellent communication skills and full professional proficiency in English.

Experience from broader beverage industry, alcoholic and non-alcoholic with ready-to-drink and ready-to-serve categories is considered as an advantage. Experience from regulatory, packaging and sustainability areas will be helpful.

What we offer

This is a unique opportunity to take a key role in one of the Nordic region’s leading wine and spirits companies. You will have a direct impact on Anora’s future portfolio and innovation agenda while working with iconic brands, talented colleagues and a broad network of internal and external stakeholders.

We offer:

• A strategic and highly visible leadership position.
• Opportunity to shape the future of liquid innovation and create new products in a leading Nordic company.
• Responsibility for a team of experienced and passionate experts.
• An international and collaborative working environment.
• Strong growth ambitions and a culture that encourages ownership, innovation and continuous improvement.
• Preferred location in Rajamäki, Finland but other locations are also possible.

Got interested?

If you are excited about leading innovation, developing high-performing teams and creating the next generation of successful beverage products, we would love to hear from you.

For further information, please contact Equita Talent Partners:

Yrsa Landsdorff, tel. +358 44 585 1468, yrsa@equitatalent.com or

Tiina Joronen, tel. +358 40 539 9058, tiina@equitatalent.com

Please submit your application and CV as soon as possible, as we will review applications on an ongoing basis.

Join Anora and help bring the best of the Nordics to the world.