Full-Time

Senior Director, Brand

Brand

Posted on 9/3/2026

Philz Coffee

Philz Coffee

501-1,000 employees

Customizes coffee blends in-store and online

Compensation Overview

$195k - $215k/yr

Los Angeles, CA, USA

Hybrid

Must be based within the Greater Los Angeles area. Hybrid office work is expected in late 2026.

Category
Growth & Marketing (1)
Required Skills
Branding/Brand Strategy
Social Media

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Requirements
  • 12+ years of progressive brand and marketing leadership experience, including significant experience leading a consumer brand within multi-unit food and beverage retail, restaurants, or quick-service restaurants.
  • Demonstrated experience leading brand strategy for a business with a meaningful physical retail footprint.
  • Experience helping a consumer brand scale into new locations and markets while protecting brand consistency and customer experience.
  • Strong understanding of the relationship between brand building and commercial performance, with demonstrated ability to connect marketing investment to customer acquisition, traffic, sales, and growth.
  • Deep experience developing brand positioning, integrated marketing campaigns, creative strategy, customer insights, and go-to-market strategies.
  • Experience leading across multiple customer channels, ideally including physical retail, ecommerce, and other distribution or wholesale channels.
  • Demonstrated success building integrated marketing programs across paid, earned, owned, social, experiential, influencer, partnership, and retail channels.
  • Strong understanding of local store marketing and new-store opening strategies within a multi-unit retail or restaurant environment.
  • Experience leading internal creative and brand teams and managing external agencies and partners.
  • Strong customer orientation with experience using consumer research, customer data, market intelligence, and performance analytics to inform decisions.
  • Demonstrated ability to protect the long-term strength of an established brand while evolving it to reach new customers and support growth.
  • Strong financial and commercial acumen with experience managing meaningful marketing budgets and evaluating return on investment.
  • Proven ability to operate effectively across both strategy and execution, setting a clear vision while remaining close enough to the work to ensure exceptional execution.
  • Exceptional communication, storytelling, and executive presentation skills with the ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional partners.
  • Experience operating within a fast-growing, multi-location consumer business where priorities evolve and teams must balance growth with operational realities.
Responsibilities
  • Own and evolve the long-term Philz brand strategy, positioning, architecture, voice, and visual identity while protecting the equities that make the brand distinctive.
  • Translate company growth priorities into a clear brand strategy that supports customer acquisition, retention, store growth, ecommerce, and wholesale.
  • Build a deep understanding of current and future Philz customers through research, customer data, market insights, and competitive intelligence.
  • Establish and track meaningful brand health measures, including awareness, consideration, preference, customer sentiment, and other indicators of brand strength.
  • Connect brand investment to commercial outcomes including customer acquisition, store traffic, sales, frequency, and market penetration.
  • Identify emerging consumer, cultural, and category trends that can strengthen Philz's relevance and differentiation.
  • Serve as the senior steward of the Philz brand, ensuring major marketing and business decisions reinforce long-term brand equity.
  • Lead the development of annual and multi-year integrated marketing strategies designed to build awareness, attract new customers, and deepen relationships with existing customers.
  • Oversee seasonal and evergreen campaigns across paid, earned, owned, social, retail, ecommerce, wholesale, influencer, and experiential channels.
  • Set the creative vision for Philz and lead the Creative and Design organization, ensuring work is distinctive, consistent, and grounded in customer and business objectives.
  • Own brand storytelling, content strategy, social media, public relations, influencer marketing, partnerships, collaborations, and experiential marketing.
  • Lead brand media strategy and ensure investments are focused on the audiences, markets, and moments with the greatest potential impact.
  • Establish scalable brand standards, creative systems, and processes that enable consistent execution across teams and channels.
  • Lead external creative, media, public relations, production, and other agency partners as appropriate.
  • Define how the Philz brand comes to life across stores, ecommerce, wholesale, packaging, products, menus, and other customer touchpoints.
  • Partner with Operations and Development to strengthen the in-store brand experience and ensure consistency across the existing portfolio and future locations.
  • Develop repeatable go-to-market strategies for new store openings and new market entry that build awareness, generate traffic, and establish Philz within local communities.
  • Create scalable local store marketing playbooks that balance enterprise brand consistency with market and community relevance.
  • Partner with Product and Operations on positioning, storytelling, and integrated go-to-market plans for menu innovation, seasonal offerings, and product launches.
  • Ensure packaging, merchandise, menus, ecommerce experiences, and wholesale marketing reflect a consistent and compelling Philz brand.
  • Establish clear measurement for store openings, market launches, product campaigns, and other major brand activations and apply learnings to future initiatives.
  • Build, lead, coach, and develop a high-performing Brand and Creative organization capable of supporting Philz's next stage of growth.
  • Establish clear priorities, operating rhythms, roles, and processes that improve focus, accountability, collaboration, and execution.
  • Develop and manage brand and marketing budgets with strong financial discipline and clear expectations for business impact.
  • Create compelling business cases for major brand investments and communicate results, insights, and recommendations to executive leadership.
  • Serve as a strategic partner to the Chief Business Officer and executive leadership team on brand, customer, market expansion, and growth decisions.
  • Partner closely with Operations, Development, Ecommerce, Wholesale, Product, Finance, People, and other functions to ensure the brand and customer are represented in key business decisions.
  • Lead external agencies, freelancers, and strategic partners and ensure internal and external resources are aligned to the highest-priority business and brand opportunities.

Philz Coffee creates customized specialty coffee blends using 2 to 7 beans sourced from around the world. It operates coffee shops primarily in California and Washington, D.C., and sells beans, merchandise, and gift cards through an online store, plus a subscription service. Customers can get freshly brewed coffee in-store or receive customized blends by mail; subscribers enjoy free shipping on orders of two or more bags. The company differentiates itself by its emphasis on personalized, made-to-order blends rather than standardized drinks, offering a wide range of custom flavor profiles across multiple channels. Its goal is to provide high-quality, unique coffee experiences while building recurring revenue through subscriptions and a diversified mix of physical and online sales.

Company Size

501-1,000

Company Stage

Acquired

Total Funding

$75M

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Founded

2003

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Elk Grove opened July 8, 2026, extending Philz's California expansion momentum.
  • Spring 2026 cold brews and July 2026 matcha lineup broaden Philz's addressable demand.
  • Philz Rewards offers 150 signup points and 10 points per dollar, boosting retention.

What critics are saying

  • Freeman Spogli's 2025 acquisition crushed employee stock, poisoning trust after the sale.
  • April 2026 Pride-flag backlash exposed brand fragility and alienated workers, customers, and allies.
  • Philz exited Washington, D.C. in 2023; continued market retreats could signal a shrinking footprint.

What makes Philz Coffee unique

  • Philz still sells made-to-order pour-overs and customized blends across 80-plus cafes.
  • Philz Rewards launched in 2026, deepening loyalty around app ordering and repeat visits.
  • Oakland roasting and Uji matcha sourcing keep Philz ingredients and flavors distinctive.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Life Insurance

401(k) Retirement Plan

401(k) Company Match

Flexible Spending Account

Health Savings Account/Flexible Spending Account

Mental Health Support

Paid Vacation

Paid Sick Leave

Commuter Benefits

Team Member Discounts

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

2%

1 year growth

1%

2 year growth

1%
The Oaklandside
Aug 25th, 2026
New Asian fusion moves into 10th & Wood spot, plus fresh bagel and Chinese takeout options.

New Asian fusion moves into 10th & Wood spot, plus fresh bagel and Chinese takeout options. A running list of restaurants that have recently opened in Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond, and beyond. by Momo Chang Aug. 25, 2026, 12:00 p.m. Editor's note: Nosh covers food and restaurant news across the East Bay, and each week we publish one article covering all the restaurant openings and one article covering closings. Have a tip for Nosh? Submit it here. Subscribing to the Nosh newsletter is the best way to stay up to date on all of the openings and closings, breaking news, deeper developments, and events in the East Bay food scene. Ak's Anh Hong. A new Asian fusion restaurant has opened in West Oakland, serving a mix of Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, and other Asian-inspired dishes. The menu includes noodle dishes like pho ga (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup), khao piak (Lao chicken noodle soup), Lao papaya salad, crispy pork belly over rice, and milk teas and other drinks. The location used to house 10th & Wood. Thanks to Oakland Reddit for tip. Ak's Anh Hong, 945 Wood St., Oakland Berkeley Bagels. Chewy, New York-style bagels have a new home in downtown Berkeley. NOSH has the details on Berkeley Bagels, the popular Westbrae shop that is opening a second location on University Avenue. "Alex Suon, manager of the Gilman Berkeley Bagels store hopes their new University store will serve the UC Berkeley population and downtown Berkeley neighborhood to bring them 'the same great quality bagels, handmade, chewy New York-style bagels.'" Berkeley Bagel's second location opens Thursday, August 27. Berkeley Bagels, 1941 University Ave., Berkeley Happy Express. A new Chinese takeout spot has opened in West Oakland, just off of San Pablo Avenue. Happy Express serves combination plates with single, two, or three items plus noodles or rice. Happy Express, 2608 Market St., Oakland Philz Coffee. The coffee chain that started in San Francisco and sold to a private equity firm in 2025 is opening a new location in Concord, the first location in that city. The coffee shop is located inside the Willows Shopping Center, which was recently redeveloped. The shop has a new mural by East Bay artist Alexandra Bowman. The grand opening is on Wednesday, Aug. 26. Philz Coffee, 1975 Diamond Blvd., Ste. C-108, Concord

John Doukas Photography
Aug 21st, 2026
Philz grand opening brea.

Philz grand opening brea. I recently had the opportunity to photograph the soft opening for the brand-new Philz Coffee in Brea. The goal was to capture the heart of the space before the grand opening doors officially swung open. I focused on the photos of the servers as well as the location itself, trying to show the uniqueness both inside and out. The seating areas provide interesting space both for visiting with friends and working on a laptop. Overall it was both an honor to get to photograph for them as well as a lot of fun. Welcome to the neighborhood, Philz Brea!

PR Newswire
Aug 14th, 2026
Philz Coffee appoints Mark Johnson as chief operating officer-retail

Philz Coffee has appointed Mark Johnson as chief operating officer for retail. Johnson will oversee day-to-day retail operations alongside chief business officer Andy Mai and chief development officer Patti Nelson. Johnson brings over 30 years of operations leadership in the food industry. He spent 12 years at California Fish Grill, where he helped scale operations during the brand's national expansion. Mai joined Philz in May 2022, leading business strategy across marketing, supply chain, technology, and wholesale operations. He has 24 years of hospitality experience from companies including Torchy's Tacos and California Pizza Kitchen. Nelson joined in January 2022, overseeing real estate, construction, and design. She brings more than 25 years in food and beverage development from roles at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Subway, and Peet's Coffee. The Oakland-based company, founded in 2003, operates over 80 stores across California and Chicago.

Investors Hangout
Aug 14th, 2026
Philz Coffee expands leadership amid growth push.

Philz Coffee expands leadership amid growth push. Big news brewing at Philz Coffee. You know how a good cup of coffee can turn things around? Well, it looks like Philz Coffee is trying to do just that - not just for its customers, but for its entire operation. The California caffeine bigwig just shook its leadership tree, adding Mark Johnson to the mix as the new Chief Operating Officer for its retail side. With a reputation in the food industry spanning over three decades, Johnson is set to stir things up in a big way. The right blend for growth. Johnson isn't some rookie stepping into the scene. Investors Hangout, LLC is talking about a guy who's been elbows-deep in the food industry for 30 years. Direct from California Fish Grill, he made his name scaling their operations as they spread their wings nationwide. Philz is betting on his knack for growing businesses without diluting what makes them special. "I look forward to supporting our teams and strengthening our operations," said Johnson. "Philz has built something truly special through genuine hospitality and handcrafted coffee." That's pretty much what any good COO should say, but coming from this veteran, it carries weight. They've lucked out, bringing someone onboard who can operate with a steady hand as their franchise finds its legs across more regions. Touting a team with deep pockets of experience. Johnson's not the only powerhouse holding things together at Philz. He joins a team spearheaded by veteran executives who know a thing or two about running the show: * Andy Mai, Chief Business Officer: With more than 24 years under his belt in hospitality, Mai's been handling Philz business strategy since 2022, juggling marketing, supply chains, even the roasting plant. The man's got his spoons in numerous pots. * Patti Nelson, Chief Development Officer: What's Patti's game? Real estate. And she's got a knack for it too, with more than 25 years sharpening her tools at places like Peet's Coffee & Tea and Subway. This is not just any group assembling in a boardroom. It's a seasoned crew with track records long enough to merit attention. Heck, their combined experience could ink a memoir at this point. Commitment to quality remains strong. It's not just about expansion, folks. More than ever, the focus is on retail operations without losing the valuable thread of personalized customer service that's given Philz its edge since 2003. These guys aren't about to throw in the towel on the little details that have won them a dedicated following. Indeed, with 80-plus stores in places like California and Chicago, they've carved out a niche for those after more than just a caffeine fix. What lies ahead for Philz. Philz Coffee is steering into a future that remains tightly bound to its mission - better days for everyone, every day. A lofty goal? Maybe. But with strong leaders like Johnson driving operations, they've got a shot at real growth without surrendering their grassroots appeal of community and quality. The focus is on one cup at a time, leaving room for leadership that's less about hierarchy and more about genuine execution. It's about tying integrity to expansion. For investors schooled in patience and prudent strategy, Philz might offer something more unique than just caffeine in a cup. With industry experts lining its benches, they're looking poised to deliver on its handcrafted promise while luring new regulars. Only time will tell if Investors Hangout, LLC is looking at substantial returns, but you can bet your morning java that folks are watching closely.

QSR Magazine
Jul 17th, 2026
Philz Coffee releases new matcha lineup.

Philz Coffee releases new matcha lineup. Jul 17 2026 Philz Coffee is entering an exciting new category with the launch of four new handcrafted matcha beverages. The lineup includes four vibrant signature drinks with playful flavors, each handcrafted to order with Philz's personalized approach that customers know and love. Each drink layers Philz's matcha, sourced from Uji, Japan, one of the world's most renowned matcha-growing regions, with oat milk and sweetness. Customers can opt for additional flavors layered in, stirring for a blended sip, or enjoy each flavor as it naturally unfolds. Available in a 16oz iced version only, the four new matcha beverages include: * Iced Matcha - Matcha layered over sweetened oat milk, for a creamy, earthy classic * Priced at $6.50 * Strawberry Matcha - Fresh strawberry purée and sweetened oat milk added to matcha for a bright, fruity favorite * Priced at $7.50 * Strawberry Mint Matcha - Layers of fresh strawberry puree, sweetened oat milk, and matcha, topped with Philz's signature mint * Priced at $7.50 * Salted Caramel Matcha - Rich caramel mixed with sweetened oat milk, matcha, and a sprinkle of sea salt for a perfectly balanced indulgence * Priced at $7.50 The drinks are designed to be served cold and may be customized with the customer's preferred sweetness level and milk option (oat as the default, with 2% also available) at no extra charge. Philz drinks are always served by baristas who aim to ensure each order is perfect. "Our top two requests from customers over the years have been a rewards program and matcha. With the successful launch of our Philz Rewards program last year, we turned our efforts to matcha. We wanted to introduce it in a way that feels unmistakably Philz," said Andy Mai, Chief Business Officer. "By pairing quality ingredients and bold flavors in a customizable way, our matcha feels both approachable and playful." Philz Coffee's matcha menu is now available at all 80-plus locations in California and Chicago. It's available in-store and to order ahead via the Philz app, home to the Philz Rewards loyalty program.