Global AI-for-Growth Leader | AI-Powered Consumer Experiences • Agentic Commerce • Gen Z
Paris, France | EU Work & Residence Rights in place | Open to Paris, London & select Europe-based mandates
Immediately Available • ivanfs@gmail.com • linkedin.com/in/ivansouza
The AI-for-Growth leader who reconnects global consumer brands with Gen Z.
One of the few AI-for-Growth leaders who has already tackled the Gen Z consumer disconnect at global scale — building AI-powered consumer experiences at Coca-Cola and co-founding five tech startups. His background is business-first: marketing, commercial, product, and growth. That is why he turns AI into a measurable growth system, with P&L implications always in view.
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Ivan de Souza is a Global AI-for-Growth leader who reconnects consumer brands with Gen Z through AI-powered consumer experiences — one of the few who has tackled this problem at global scale. At Coca-Cola, he co-founded Brazil's Digital Transformation division, later adopted as a global model; led AI product strategy for B2B and D2C e-commerce platforms across North America and LATAM; and co-founded Coke&Go, Coca-Cola's first global AI product, from MVPs in Brazil, China, and Japan to five continents. His foundation is business — marketing, commercial, product, growth — which is why he turns AI into a measurable growth system. Based in Paris with EU work rights. Especially relevant for luxury, fashion, beauty, and food & beverage.
Role fit, seniority, reporting lines, sectors, geography, availability.
Five differentiators. Each expands on click.
Co-founded Coca-Cola Brazil's Digital Transformation division, later adopted as a global model, and built Coca-Cola Brazil’s Data & AI practice from zero to drive AI-powered growth and reconnect with Gen Z. Led AI Product Strategy for B2B and D2C e-commerce platforms across North America and LATAM. Co-led Coke&Go from Brazil MVP to a global initiative across five continents. For any brand facing relevance, conversion, and loyalty erosion with Gen Z — this is directly transferable operating proof.
A rare combination: deep AI expertise + global enterprise-scale execution + serial tech startup founder track record. Built what did not yet exist, proved it at scale, and commercialised it — iMusica (0 → 249M users → América Móvil acquisition), Coca-Cola Brazil's Digital Transformation (0 → global model), Coke&Go (three-country MVP → five-continent initiative). His background is business-first: that is why AI becomes a measurable growth system, not a technical exercise.
Ivan's superpower is fusing AI with business strategy to drive growth. Backed by five tech startups built from zero and six years building AI at Coca-Cola across multiple regions. He applies that capability to one of the most urgent problems in consumer markets: reconnecting brands with Gen Z, where relevance, conversion, purchase frequency, and loyalty are now won or lost inside an infinite loop shaped by social, peer, and AI-mediated decisions.
Shopping and discovery are now AI-mediated. Ivan is already building the next layer: agentic consumer AI experiences that guide, decide, and act where Gen Z now discovers, evaluates, and buys. The shift is from passive recommendation to active orchestration — from "you might like this" to "I've already found the best option for you." The brands that solve this in the next few months will own a structural advantage. Those that don't will compete on price in a channel their AI helped build.
Brazilian, based in Paris with EU work rights, a French family, and operational experience across North America, Europe, Asia, and LATAM — including Coca-Cola's Mission China in Shanghai and Beijing. Ivan brings the cross-market operating range global brands need to align HQ and regions. Many global AI initiatives fail not at the idea stage but when they must work across markets, teams, and cultural contexts.
What he has actually built. Click to expand each item.
Reporting to the VP of Digital Transformation (C-suite equivalent). Led a 20-person Data & AI team, co-led digital strategy, and worked cross-functionally across business functions, IT, and Coca-Cola bottlers. Built the foundations for AI-driven growth and personalized consumer experiences across marketing, D2C and B2B e-commerce, bottlers, and key accounts. The division became the global model for Coca-Cola's digital transformation approach.
Reporting to the VP of Technology for e-Commerce & MarTech, Americas. Built personalization, product recommendation, and AI-powered shopping experiences across the full customer journey. Partnered with AWS on product recommendations for myCoke; with Adobe for personalization on Coca-Cola en Tu Hogar; and co-led the McDonald's × Coca-Cola LATAM AI partnership across food delivery, restaurants, drive-thrus, and the McDonald's mobile app.
Reporting to the Global VP of B2C. Shaped Coca-Cola's global B2C Data & AI strategy — designed to reconnect with Gen Z, increase purchase frequency, and drive profitable growth. Led cross-functional alignment at global and operating unit level across D2C, martech, bottlers, and IT/engineering worldwide.
Built Coke&Go's Data & AI product vision, roadmap, and capabilities — computer vision, AI, and personalization. Scaled from MVPs in Brazil, China, and Japan to a strategic global B2C initiative across five continents. Co-led pilots across cooler placement, purchase frequency, and customer engagement. Built the global data foundations that also fed Coca-Cola's global personalization strategy.
Led go-to-market, product, and sales for an omnichannel clienteling platform serving luxury, fashion, and beauty brands. Direct operating experience in these sectors makes his positioning in AI-powered consumer experiences credible, not aspirational. In luxury, fashion, and beauty, clienteling, personalization, and digital experience are now competitive imperatives.
Co-founded and scaled iMusica's mobile division from zero to 249 million users across LATAM in 18 months, turning it into the company's core business and helping drive its acquisition by América Móvil, Latin America's largest telecom group. A clear demonstration of founder-grade building ability, commercial instinct, and value creation at scale.
The market context behind his positioning.
Ivan reconnects global consumer brands with Gen Z through AI-powered consumer experiences.
Global consumer brands face a value perception and growth crisis. Gen Z is rewiring how demand, desire, and loyalty are created — eroding brand relevance and putting conversion, repeat purchase, and long-term lifetime value at structural risk. The signals are financial: Kering’s 2025 revenue fell 13%, Gucci down 22%; Burberry’s FY2024/25 revenue fell 15%, operating profit down 88%. Meanwhile, rhode was acquired for up to $1 billion on $212M in net sales.
Gen Z's spending power is projected at $12 trillion by 2030 — yet only 36% identify as brand loyal. The traditional marketing funnel is broken. Decisions happen outside the brand, across social, AI, and e-commerce. This is a “where decisions get made” problem. That is exactly what Ivan solves.
Gen Z operates in an infinite loop of Inspiration → Exploration → Community → Loyalty, where value is experience-led, and decisions happen outside the brand. A 20-year-old sees a creator wearing sneakers, checks a resale platform for price and authenticity, then asks an AI Assistant: “Find me the best option under €X, authentic, not a dupe, and tell me what people say about sizing.” The decision gets made across social, e-commerce, and AI. The brand shows up only as inventory, not as a relationship.
Brands respond by spending more on media. Yet while marketers believe 55% of their ads are relevant to Gen Z, only 42% of Gen Z agree. They keep investing in a model Gen Z has already left behind.
This isn't a “better ads” problem. It's a “where decisions get made” problem. That's exactly what Ivan solves.
Available immediately. EU Work & Residence Rights in place.
An executive brief prepared for headhunters and C-level decision-makers. Ready to share.