Job Description:
Mars Snacking has established an internal entrepreneurship engine dedicated to identifying, incubating, and scaling the next generation of breakthrough snacking innovations. As the Innovation Marketing Lead within the Discover Team, this role lives and breathes priority consumer pain points—translating them into tangible products, packaging, and experiential solutions rooted in verified human needs.
Acting as both a pain point detective and a solution architect, the Associate Director shapes high-potential value propositions enriched by early validation from consumers, customers, retail buyers, and external domain experts to fuel scalable growth platforms across Mars Snacking.
What are we looking for?
- Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or a related field required, Master's Degree or MBA in Marketing, Innovation, or Business Strategy preferred
- 7–10+ years of progressive experience in CPG brand marketing, front-end innovation, new product development (NPD) required
- Demonstrated mastery in applying Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile co-creation methodologies to build early-stage concepts
- Deep consumer insights fluency, with proven experience designing qualitative discovery sprints, behavioral research, and proposition testing
- Strong commercial acumen with an understanding of P&L drivers, margin structures, and early-stage business case modeling
- Proven ability to build and manage external partnership networks (startups, academic institutions, incubators, and specialized subject-matter experts)
- Exceptional storytelling and executive presentation skills with a track record of influencing senior leadership and cross-functional partners.
- Highly comfortable navigating ambiguity, driving self-directed initiatives, and pivoting based on experimental data
Key responsibilities:
- Cross-functional Team Leadership: Lead and inspire multi-disciplinary innovation project teams (Marketing, Human Insights, R&D, Design, Science & Technology), fostering an entrepreneurial startup mindset focused on agility, speed, and continuous experimentation.
- Pain Point & Insight Mastery: Champion consumer pain points and unmet needs at every stage of discovery, ensuring all front-end initiatives remain anchored in verified human truths.
- Concept Prototyping & Design: Partner with R&D and Design teams to rapidly translate pain points into concepts, and physical/digital prototypes.
- Rapid Test & Learn Experimentation: In partnership with HI, run rapid consumer experiments to validate desirability.
- Bring in Voices Beyond Consumers: Partner early with customer teams, buyers, and external networks (startups, academic researchers, nutritionists, and entrepreneurs) to pressure-test, co-create, and refine emerging propositions.
- Value Proposition & Business Framing: Craft robust Value Proposition Canvases, preliminary business models, and early unit economics to substantiate scalable platform opportunities.
- Deliver & Handoff: Package insights, early validation proof points, and business cases into Project Briefs for seamless handover to intrapreneur and commercialization teams.
- Foresight & Signal Spotting: Leverage AI tools, digital trend platforms, regional customer/consumer connections, and science and technology developments to monitor emerging macro trends, cultural shifts, and dietary behaviors for early recognition and fast-follow concept development.
- Performance Tracking & Agility: Track discovery platform milestones, align initiatives with enterprise strategy, and utilize KPIs to continuously improve front-end innovation speed, learning velocity, and pipeline impact.
What can you expect from Mars?
- Work with diverse and talented Associates, all guided by the Five Principles.
- Join a purpose driven company, where we’re striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.
- A strong focus on learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.
- An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.
#LI-KS1
The base pay range for this position at commencement of employment is between the range listed below, however, base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including but not limited to job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package for this position will include variable pay, medical and dental benefits, participation in 401k plan, and paid time off benefits. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an applicant receives an offer of employment.
The pay range shown is applicable to all US locations listed within the job posting:USD 169,840.00 - USD 233,530.00Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or a related field
- Master's degree or MBA in Marketing, Innovation, or Business Strategy
- 7-10+ years of progressive experience in CPG brand marketing, front-end innovation, or new product development
- Mastery of Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile co-creation methodologies
- Deep consumer insights experience, including qualitative discovery sprints, behavioral research, and proposition testing
- Commercial acumen involving P&L drivers, margin structures, and early-stage business case modeling
- Experience building and managing external partnerships with startups, academic institutions, incubators, and subject-matter experts
- Exceptional storytelling and executive presentation skills with experience influencing senior leaders and cross-functional partners
- Ability to navigate ambiguity, lead self-directed initiatives, and pivot based on experimental data
Mars Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Mars and has not been reviewed or approved by Mars.
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Healthcare Strength — The benefits package is positioned as comprehensive, with broad medical coverage and additional protections like life insurance and short- and long-term disability. Mental health support is emphasized, including free mental health services and wellbeing programming under initiatives such as Mars Be Well.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave is highlighted as market-leading in the U.S., with an example of 18 weeks fully paid for both parents. Additional family-related leave types such as sick time for caregiving and bereavement leave are also described as part of the overall package.
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Retirement Support — Retirement offerings are described as strong, including 401(k) matching (with a 6% match cited) and pension plans in some cases. The broader package also references retirement savings options and contributions aligned to local market practice, supporting long-term financial security.
Mars Insights
What We Do
For more than a century, Mars, Incorporated has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. This idea is at the center of who we have always been as a global, family-owned business. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating and evolving in ways that affirm our commitment to making a positive impact on the world around us. Across our diverse and expanding portfolio of confectionery, food, and petcare products and services, we employ 133,000 dedicated Associates who are all moving in the same direction: forward. With $40 billion in annual sales, we produce some of the world’s best-loved brands including DOVE®, EXTRA®, M&M’s®, MILKY WAY®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, ORBIT®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, SKITTLES®, WHISKAS®, COCOAVIA®, and 5™; and take care of half of the world’s pets through our pet health services AniCura, Banfield Pet Hospitals™, BluePearl®, Linnaeus, Pet Partners™, and VCA™. We know we can only be truly successful if our partners and the communities in which we operate prosper as well. The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom – inspire our Associates to take action every day to help create a world tomorrow in which the planet, its people and pets can thrive.
