Who we are

We are a global, consumer-focused organisation with a distinctive role in our transforming industry. As the smallest of the four large international tobacco companies, we embrace our natural position as a challenger business.

More about us
Our transformation - Imperial Brands

Our transformation

Find out more

Our Brands

We have a broad portfolio with a distinctive mix of international and ‘local jewel’ brands. We use insights to build brands which are focused, differentiated and address our consumers’ particular needs.

Explore our brands
Campaigning for a healthier future - Imperial Brands

Campaigning for a healthier future

Find out more

People and planet

Our ESG commitments are closely aligned to our commercial strategy and include reducing consumer harm, cutting carbon emissions and waste, and creating a safer working environment.

Find out more
Our focus areas - Imperial Brands

Our ESG focus areas

Our ESG approach

Investor hub

We play to our strengths as a challenger business, identifying opportunities overlooked by competitors and executing with speed and agility, supported by strong capabilities and culture.

Explore the hub
investment case

Investment case

Find out more

Careers at Imperial

Help us forge a path to a healthier future. Collaborate, push boundaries, demand better. Bring your challenger spirit. Choose to challenge.

Explore careers
why join us

Why join us?

Find out more

News

See key announcements, stories and insights from Imperial Brands. You can also sign up for our news alert service.

Find out more
City View

Capital Markets Day 2025

Find out more

Global Consumer office

We champion consumers by using powerful insights and a multi-disciplinary approach to create the products they desire now and in the future.

Share this page

Paola Pocci, Chief Consumer Officer

When we understand our consumers' needs, we make the right choices for the business and true success follows through clarity and teamwork.

Paola Pocci

Chief Consumer Officer

Employee within GCO

Championing and delighting consumers  are at the core of what we do in GCO.

We make powerful insights  the foundation of all our decisions. By developing a deep understanding of our consumers, we are creating the products they desire now and in the future. 

As a multi-disciplinary community, we work in an iterative way. We test, learn and evolve our thinking. With a portfolio ranging from global names to local jewels, we’re building brands that connect with consumers’ needs. 

 

In GCO we are at the forefront of Imperial Brands’ harm reduction journey. It will take time, but by staying close to consumers and developing compelling next generation products we are getting there one step at a time.

Where do you fit in?

Our diverse function is organised into five main areas, where teams work collaboratively to shape the future by driving innovation, operational excellence, and strategic growth within the organisation.

Research & Development and Innovation

We add value by using consumer insights to develop a portfolio of combustible tobacco and potentially reduced harm products to engage and excite adult consumers. Our Sense Hubs is our approach to consumer co-creation and agility to make sense of what consumers want and to help us developing better products to fulfil our mission of a healthier future.

Insights

We unlock value by ensuring we offer our consumers the right product choices to meet their needs.

These insights provide competitive advantage and inform our product offerings in both combustible tobacco and NGP and underpin how we communicate with adult consumers. 

Group Science and Regulatory Affairs

We use our know-how and smaller size to be agile in how we respond to regulatory changes. This is supported by our science and corporate affairs teams, who understand the regulatory environment in all our markets and ensure we operate responsibly and provide high-quality products compliant with local standards.   

Learn more about Imperial Brands Science

Marketing and Portfolio Management

Drive consumer-centric brands and experiences, optimise marketing investments, equip teams with top capabilities, and grow multi-regional brand revenue through innovative strategies and impactful consumer touchpoints .

Next generation products (NGP)

We recognise every individual’s journey away from combustible tobacco is unique, so to help make a meaningful contribution to the public health concept of tobacco harm reduction (THR) we’re offering adult smoker consumers a range of satisfying non-combustible next generation products. 

Meet our team

  • Andrea

    Andrea Leone

    Portfolio Management Director

    What do you like about your role?

    Portfolio management is an exciting area where we shape the future of our brand and the organisation. It brings together people from different functions to co-create long-term business strategies for our brands and products.


    How do you solve complex challenges?

    Consumer-led thinking must be at the heart of everything we do, day in and day out. For example, when we launch a new consumer proposition, we begin with a deep understanding of the consumer. We identify their pain points and needs, and based on this understanding, we create a strong and holistic brand proposition that we then launch in the market.

    Why is diversity important to you?

    In the current fast-paced working environment and amidst changing consumer demands, listening to different perspectives and opinions must be at the heart of our work. Diversity in thinking and idea generation should be fundamental steps in our approach to portfolio ownership in a given market. We assemble a highly cross-functional team and actively listen to one another, building on different ideas to create a stronger plan for our brands together.

  • Bethany Evans, Head of Product Safety & Compliance

    Bethany Evans

    Head of Product Safety & Compliance

     

    At Imperial, team spirit is key. Through diversity, openness, authenticity and respect we build trust within the team, creating the opportunity and passion to act with enthusiasm, look to the future, and identify opportunities and challenges for future development. We're not afraid of failures because we learn from them, share experience and develop better solutions.

    An individual employee approach is important to us, including development plans taking into account individual needs, ambitions and development opportunities – you are the author of your development path! We encourage learning and development through our global learning platform; internal and external training sessions; local, global and cross-functional projects; global development programmes and mentoring. Development, personally and professionally, is our priority.

  • Josie Williams, Head of Operational Science & Strategy

    Josie Williams

    Head of Operational Science & Strategy

    I decided to join Imperial because I was really interested in the idea of this massive transformation that is taking place right now and I was really into taking part in it and shaping the future of the company. Imperial Brands is an interesting place to be right now because we are creating new, innovative processes in the supply chain.

  • Art Valkenburg, Global Head of Digital

    Art Valkenburg

    Global Head of Digital

    Our mission is to revolutionise our end-to-end global operation through more agile decision-making, greater professional freedoms and the technological power to improve solutions and performance. We are creating a truly resilient and sustainable supply chain for the future and all that is enabled by the empowered team of our end-to-end talents. This is where we seek natural curiosity and we invite all the people who are ready to make the change and forge the future of supply chain together with us, here in Warsaw. We have a motto: we don't think outside of the box we think that there is no box.

  • Karolina Wiechmann – Head of Global Sensory & Consumer Science

    Karolina Wiechmann

    Head of Global Sensory & Consumer Science

    Our mission is to revolutionise our end-to-end global operation through more agile decision-making, greater professional freedoms and the technological power to improve solutions and performance. We are creating a truly resilient and sustainable supply chain for the future and all that is enabled by the empowered team of our end-to-end talents. This is where we seek natural curiosity and we invite all the people who are ready to make the change and forge the future of supply chain together with us, here in Warsaw. We have a motto: we don't think outside of the box we think that there is no box.

Women in laboratory

 

A global multi-disciplinary team

You could be part of our global network, and while you may be based at one of our key offices, there’s flexibility in how our teams work together to drive innovation, product development, and collaboration across borders.

With innovation centres in Liverpool, Hamburg, and Shenzhen, our global presence accelerates research and strengthens consumer connections through our Sense Hubs. Wherever you’re based, you’ll contribute to our centre of excellence.

Who thrives in Global Consumer Office?

If you have a passion for consumers, insights and innovation and are ready to make a positive impact, you’ll want to join a truly global organisation. At GCO, you’ll keep the consumer at the heart of everything you do, using powerful insights to drive strategic decisions. You’ll be a big-picture thinker, aligning your work with broader business goals while embracing collaboration and inclusivity. If you’re curious, adaptable, and committed to making a difference, you’ll thrive in GCO’s dynamic, diverse environment.  

Search jobs
Employee at Global Consumer Office

Our use of cookies

We use necessary cookies to make our site work. We’d also like to set optional analytics cookies to help us improve it. We won’t set optional cookies unless you enable them. Using this tool will set a cookie on your device to remember your preferences.

For more detailed information about the cookies we use, see our Cookie policy

Analytics cookies

We’d like to set Google Analytics cookies to help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone.

For more detailed information about the cookies we use, see our Cookie policy

: