Job Description:
Job Description:
The Senior Counsel is a business-oriented generalist legal advisor who will support Mars Pet Nutrition North America and additional businesses of Mars Fishcare, Horsecare, and/or PrettyLitter across a broad range of functions, including Marketing, Sales, Corporate Affairs, Regulatory, Quality, and Commercial, and will report to the Associate General Counsel, Pet Nutrition North America. This role requires comfort operating across multiple subject areas and business functions, and managing complexity to help the business move forward in a practical, compliant, and commercially grounded way.
Working in a highly collaborative manner with the various business functions and the broader Mars legal teams (e.g., Food Law, Sustainability, Ethics & Compliance, Corporate, and Privacy), the Senior Counsel is accountable for delivering holistic legal support to enable key business growth initiatives while managing legal risks and protecting the Mars Pet Nutrition brands and reputation. The role is North America focused, with the potential to work on projects that scale to other regions. The Senior Counsel will be a highly skilled lawyer with an excellent track record of creating collaborative relationships across a complex, matrixed organization. The successful candidate will be an effective and influential business partner with the ability to lead matters and projects independently while exercising sound judgment and excellent business partnership.
Key Responsibilities
Serve as a legal lead for teams across Marketing, Sales, Quality, Regulatory, Commercial, Supply, and Corporate Affairs
Provide practical, timely legal advice that balances risk management with business objectives in a fast-paced, matrixed environment
Manage sensitive and fast-moving issues that require calm judgment, clear communication, and cross-functional coordination
Collaborate closely with business and other Mars legal teams (e.g., Food Law, Ethics & Compliance, Privacy, Marketing & Innovation, Sustainability, Corporate) to support initiatives spanning multiple functional areas, deliver integrated, business-focused legal advice, and manage complex litigation and compliance matters
Partner with Food Law, Regulatory, Marketing, Sales and Commercial teams to develop and implement effective marketing and advertising to drive brand sales
Partner with appropriate teams across Mars to secure needed support and expertise in connection with technology and personal data collection, processing and use
Contribute to development of practical guidance, playbooks, and standards that improve consistency and efficiency for business stakeholders
Collaborate and partner with regional and cross-segment counterparts across the Mars enterprise to ensure a consistent and aligned “One Mars” approach on key matters and issues
Collaborate and partner with the regional business stakeholders and relevant members of the Mars Petcare legal team for global projects
Required Skills, Capabilities and Experience
J.D. from an accredited law school with active license to practice law in at least one US jurisdiction
8-10+ years of relevant legal experience, ideally in both a well-respected law firm and in-house for a successful and complex company
Experience in the consumer-packaged goods sector, ideally in food/beverage
Broad legal experience supporting marketing, advertising, commercial and regulatory affairs on food law and procurement issues, including drafting and negotiating a variety of agreements with a solid understanding of the associated regulatory environment (FDA, FTC), as well as competition law, data privacy and intellectual property issues
Experience managing complex litigation and/or compliance matters
Creative, agile thinker with an entrepreneurial, solutions-oriented mindset
Ability to analyze complex legal and policy issues from a commercial perspective
Practical, business-focused approach to legal problem-solving and experience providing counsel to senior business leaders
Strong communicator and relationship builder who can translate legal issues into clear, actionable guidance for varying levels of stakeholders
Excellent project management skills, with the ability to identify what needs to be done and the ownership to drive the work to completion.
Dependable and flexible team player and collaborator who works to achieve both personal and organization goals with ability to navigate a matrixed organization to deliver results
Ability to travel as necessary
Skills Required
- J.D. from an accredited law school with active license to practice law in at least one US jurisdiction
- 8-10+ years of relevant legal experience
- Experience in the consumer-packaged goods sector, ideally in food/beverage
- Broad legal experience supporting marketing, advertising, commercial and regulatory affairs
- Experience managing complex litigation and/or compliance matters
- Ability to travel as necessary
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.
