Head of Franchise Strategy
2 days ago
London
About Coolabi Coolabi is a leading, PE-backed Kids & Family entertainment company focused on building publishing-led IP into global multi-platform franchises. Its portfolio includes globally recognised brands, spanning publishing, television, digital, gaming, licensing and consumer products. Warrior Cats has sold 90m+ books, has the 4th biggest branded game on Roblox of all time with 730m plays, and is currently rolling out its first toy range across Walmart, Target, and other retailers. In the US in 2025, Warrior Cats graphic novels were the #1 and #5 bestselling Kids & Young Adults paperbacks of the year (frontlist titles). A new animated Warrior Cats series has just been greenlit with Tencent Video. Meanwhile, Beast Quest has sold 20m+ copies, is relaunching with a new publishing partner in 2027, and has a major animated TV series in advanced development. In addition to these flagship brands, Coolabi has over 200 additional IPs in its stable. Our latest property to be adapted for TV is the Lady Grace Mysteries, which launched on the BBC in May 2026. The business is entering a major new growth phase, with investment in franchise expansion across television, gaming, digital audience development and global licensing. As part of this evolution, Coolabi is building a more integrated, franchise-led operating model designed to maximise the long-term value and cultural relevance of its IP. The Opportunity We are seeking a commercially minded and strategically driven Head of Franchise Strategy to help shape the future growth of Coolabi’s key franchises. This is a high-impact cross-functional role sitting at the centre of the company’s franchise strategy. Working closely with the CEO and senior leadership team, the role will help define long-term franchise roadmaps, identify new growth opportunities, deepen audience understanding, and align publishing, television, digital, gaming and licensing initiatives around a coherent strategic vision. The successful candidate will combine strategic thinking, commercial awareness, audience insight and strong communication skills. They will act as both the internal voice of the fan and a strategic growth architect for the business’s major IP. This role is ideal for someone excited by the challenge of helping build modern entertainment franchises in an entrepreneurial, ambitious and highly collaborative environment. Reporting Structure Reports directly to the CEO. This is a cross-functional role working closely with senior leaders across books, consumer products, television, digital, and finance. Role Purpose To lead the strategic development and long-term growth planning of Coolabi’s core franchises, beginning with Warrior Cats and Beast Quest. The role will develop a deep understanding of franchise audiences, market opportunities and brand performance, using insight and data to help shape growth strategy across publishing, digital, television, gaming and consumer products. Working closely with senior leadership, the Head of Franchise Strategy will act as a central strategic integrator across the business, ensuring all franchise activity contributes to a coherent long-term vision and growth plan. Responsibilities 1. Franchise Roadmap & Strategic Direction • Develop and maintain 3–5 year franchise roadmaps, • Define priority growth pillars by brand, • Sequence publishing, licensing, digital and TV initiatives coherently, • Identify white space opportunities across categories and platforms, • Lead quarterly franchise strategy reviews 1. Brand Narrative & Franchise Articulation • Own master brand decks for each franchise, • Define and maintain clear articulation of brand pillars/values, audience positioning and growth narrative, • Ensure consistency across all external presentations, • Support leadership team in partner meetings and pitches, • Represent the full franchise vision in strategic conversations 1. Fan Insight & Audience Health • Commission rolling brand tracker research, • Conduct regular focus groups, • Analyse sentiment and engagement data, • Identify shifts in audience behaviour, • Integrate insight into roadmap and growth planning 1. Growth Opportunity Identification & Development Market & Competitive Intelligence • Monitor peer franchise activity across publishing, gaming, digital and licensing, • Track emerging platform trends, • Identify category adjacencies and expansion opportunities, • Surface early signals in international markets Proactive Partner Identification • Identify potential strategic partners across digital platforms, gaming studios, media producers, and international distributors, • Work with Directors to shape pitches and partnership frameworks, • Support senior negotiations with strategic context International Growth Strategy: • Develop territory prioritisation plans and identify under-penetrated markets, • Align local publishing, licensing and digital activation strategies, • Work with commercial teams to drive coordinated territory plans 1. Franchise Data & Financial Intelligence • Work with the Finance team to maintain consolidated P&Ls by franchise across all revenue streams, • Analyse margin by territory and category, • Identify revenue acceleration and margin expansion opportunities, • Highlight investment cases for Board discussion, • Bring together data and KPIs from publishing, digital, licensing and gaming to build a unified view of franchise performance, including franchise-level dashboards integrating sales data, digital performance, licensing results and territory metrics, • Identify correlations, growth drivers and leading indicators of franchise health, • Provide regular reporting to CEO and Board 1. Cross-Functional Integration & Alignment • Act as a central integrator across the business, aligning functional initiatives against the franchise roadmap, • Surface conflicts or trade-offs to the CEO Ideal Candidate Profile We are looking for someone who combines commercial and strategic thinking with a genuine passion for entertainment IP and fan culture. The ideal candidate may come from: • Franchise strategy or franchise management within a studio, entertainment or gaming business, • Entertainment, gaming or media consulting, • Multi-platform IP or brand strategy roles, • Consumer products or licensing strategy, • Audience, fan or category strategy within an IP-led business This role is not a social media or community management position. It is a strategic franchise growth role focused on long-term IP value creation. Experience Required • Significant experience in media, entertainment or consumer IP, typically 8+ years, • Experience working across multiple revenue streams, • Experience building franchise roadmaps or brand growth plans, • Strong commercial and financial literacy, • Comfortable analysing market trends and competitor activity, • Experience commissioning or interpreting consumer research, • Strong presentation and influencing skills, • Comfortable operating in matrix structures Practical Details/Package • Competitive senior-level salary plus bonus, • Hybrid working, based in London Application process To apply, please submit: • A CV/resume, • A short covering note outlining your interest in the role and relevant experience Applications should be sent to recruitment@coolabi.com. Shortlisted candidates will progress through a multi-stage interview process. Please note that Coolabi is managing this recruitment process directly and is not currently seeking support from recruitment agencies or search firms. Any unsolicited candidate submissions from third parties will be treated as direct applications.