Demand Finance Business Partner (Project Role)

Sorry, this job was removed at 02:40 p.m. (UTC) on Wednesday, Aug 26, 2026
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Chicago, IL, USA
In-Office
134K-185K Annually
Senior level
Food
The Role
Act as the financial co-pilot for Marketing and Global Growth, managing A&CP and Overhead budgets, month-end execution, and reporting. Build automated self-service dashboards (e.g., Power BI), shift tracking to ROI-focused metrics, lead planning and forecasting cycles, and coach non-finance partners. Temporary transformation role (up to 18 months) combining day-to-day finance operations with process automation and capability building.
Summary Generated by Built In

Job Description:

This role will act as the financial co-pilot for the Marketing and Global Growth functional leaders, providing robust governance, planning, and analytics for all Advertising & Consumer Promotion (A&CP) and Overhead investments.

As a key business partner, this position is crucial in establishing budget guidelines, performance metrics, and developing streamlined, automated processes for effective reporting to keep budgets and investments on track. The Senior Manager will provide strategic direction regarding where funding should be prioritized—moving beyond simple budget administration to actively providing direction on where key investment choices should be made and where budget reductions must be met.

Importantly, this position is an upgraded role meant to serve as a backfill for an associate on maternity leave. It presents a unique mandate: maintaining essential daily and monthly administrative operations while actively designing and building the automation and self-service foundations that will modernize the department’s processes for the future.

This is a temporary transformation role with an expected duration of up to 18 months.

What are we looking for?

  • Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance.
  • Minimum of 8-10 years of business planning and forecasting experience.
  • CPA or MBA preferred.
  • Proven FP&A experience ideally in Corporate or Regional settings.
  • Consumer packaged goods experience preferred.
  • Statistical management and modelling an asset.
  • Solid financial working knowledge and business acumen
  • Strong communication, partnering, and communication skills.
  • Exposure to demand co-piloting and Global/ Regional Management Teams
  • Very strong Corporate Finance, FP&A and analytical experience
  • Business breadth, insight into business and financial processes
  • Experience of interaction and working with a range of financial operations teams
  • Relevant experience with process management, work processes optimization and planning and aligning work.
  • Learning and organizational agility

What will be your key responsibilities?

Lead period-end execution & operational administration:

  • Ensure seamless business continuity by managing the day-to-day financial administration of A&CP and Overheads.
  • Execute month-end close processes, including booking accruals, processing cross-departmental reclassifications, and executing ledger reconciliations.
  • Maintain tight financial control and ensure audit-ready precision for all transactions.

Architect and build the self-service solutions:

  • Take hands-on ownership of existing manual data consolidation and reporting workflows.
  • Redesign and transition these processes into automated, self-service tools and interactive dashboards (e.g., using Power BI or advanced modeling).
  • Proactively streamline and phase out time-consuming manual reports during the backfill period to create long-term capacity.

Transition A&CP from budget-to-actuals to ROI delivery:

  • Establish the foundational frameworks, metrics, and processes required to shift A&CP tracking from transactional execution to value creation.
  • Build preliminary capability models to analyze and report on the Return on Investment (ROI) of marketing and media spend rather than just tracking budget consumption.

Orchestrate AEP and strategic planning & forecasting cycles:

  • Direct the end-to-end Annual Operating Plan (AOP) and Strategic Plan processes for Overhead and A&CP costs.
  • Act as the central co-pilot providing planning templates, guidelines, and strategic guardrails.
  • Use the current planning cycle as a diagnostic period to identify, simplify, and standardize budgeting workflows across functions.

Empower and upskill budget owners:

  • Act as a proactive change agent and coach for functional leaders and teams.
  • Foster a culture of financial ownership and accountability by training non-finance partners on how to navigate financial statements, leverage self-service tracking tools, and interpret variance data independently.

What can you expect from Mars?

  • Work with over 130,000 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.
  • Best-in-class 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.

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 134,400.00 - USD 184,800.00

Skills Required

  • Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance
  • Minimum of 8-10 years of business planning and forecasting experience
  • CPA or MBA
  • Proven FP&A experience ideally in Corporate or Regional settings
  • Consumer packaged goods experience
  • Statistical management and modelling
  • Solid financial working knowledge and business acumen
  • Strong communication, partnering, and communication skills
  • Exposure to demand co-piloting and Global/ Regional Management Teams
  • Very strong Corporate Finance, FP&A and analytical experience
  • Experience interacting and working with financial operations teams
  • Experience with process management, optimization, and planning
  • Learning and organizational agility

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.

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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

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The Company
HQ: Mc Lean, VA
41,866 Employees
Year Founded: 1911

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.

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