Job Description:
Location: Based at our global headquarters in Aimargues, located just 30 minutes from the city of Montpellier. Our campus offers direct access to major European hubs while letting you enjoy 300 days of sunshine a year!
Segment: Royal Canin
Contract Type: Permanent
You will be responsible for the execution of our regional project pipeline, from implementation to deployment, ensuring key initiatives align with our global business strategy. You will act as a key partner for our European teams, working across functions to drive project delivery, ensure clear governance, and champion continuous improvement within our project management processes.
Your first major challenge will be to lead our high-priority transition to sustainable packaging across the region (EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation -PPWR) , a complex and highly visible project that will influence our global operations. Following this, you will manage a variety of other innovation projects that are critical to our continued success.
What are we looking for?You are an experienced project manager with a proven track record of leading large-scale, complex projects in a regional or global setting.
You possess exceptional communication and influencing skills, with the ability to build strong relationships and drive decisions with senior leaders and diverse project teams.
You thrive in ambiguous situations, demonstrating the confidence and proactivity to move projects forward even when the path is not clear.
You are a master of stakeholder management, capable of aligning cross-functional teams and navigating the needs of a complex, global organization.
You have a strategic mindset and a structured approach to managing project portfolios, identifying risks, and ensuring governance.
You have previous experience or a strong interest in the pet nutrition industry (this is an asset).
If you have experience navigating European packaging sustainability regulations, specifically the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), this is a strong asset.
Drive high-priority regional projects: You will lead large-scale, complex projects to success, ensuring they follow industry-best standards and are delivered on time and within scope.
Navigate cross-functional decision-making: You will guide diverse, multi-disciplinary teams through complex challenges, helping them align and make key decisions to keep projects moving forward.
Own risk management & performance tracking: You will proactively identify project risks, establish effective mitigation plans, and monitor project health using key performance indicators (KPIs) to provide strategic recommendations to senior leaders.
Establish continuous improvement: You will lead post-project reviews to capture valuable lessons, continuously improving our regional project management ways of working.
Bridge projects and business strategy: You will ensure all project goals perfectly align with our broader European business strategy, helping leaders prioritize the right activities.
Secure project feasibility and governance: You will evaluate and report on the feasibility and risks of new project ideas as they pass through our structured development phases (from initial idea to final launch).
Harmonize regional planning: You will collaborate with different business functions to standardize our planning processes, ensuring seamless coordination across the European region.
Mentor and grow talent: You will support, mentor, and coach junior project managers and team members, helping to foster a high-performing and collaborative regional team.
Shape the regional agenda: You will actively lead internal improvement initiatives and contribute to the growth and development of our broader regional project management community.
At Mars, we believe in a relationship of mutual trust, dignity, and respect between our company and Associates that is more meaningful than the standard employer/employee relationship.
As Associates, we can expect to be respected, supported, and valued as individuals, and to be treated fairly and equitably.
The opportunity to learn and develop, taking charge of your own career across Mars.
You will work in a multicultural environment (more than 40 nationalities) and where your dog will be welcomed by more than 100 other Associates’ dogs at the office!
You will work in a unique campus, which gathers more than 800 Associates working for the international HQ, the French subsidiary, two laboratories, a kennel and a cattery with more than 200 cats & dogs, and finally the most important factory of the Royal Canin group.
Royal Canin's CSR commitments, to build a better world for tomorrow: All Royal Canin products manufactured in Europe are ISO 14001 certified from design to factory gate.
Skills Required
- Proven track record leading large-scale, complex regional or global projects
- Exceptional communication and influencing skills with senior leaders and diverse teams
- Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional alignment capabilities
- Ability to work proactively in ambiguous situations and drive projects forward
- Strategic mindset with structured project portfolio management, risk identification, and governance
- Experience mentoring and developing junior project managers and team members
- Experience or strong interest in the pet nutrition industry
- Experience with European packaging sustainability regulations, specifically PPWR
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.
