Job Description:
The VP, Portfolio Growth-Wet Dog leads the North America Wet Dog business, the category leader anchored by iconic brands including Pedigree and Cesar, at a pivotal moment of transformation and accelerated growth. This role sits within the North America Marketing organization and reports to the Chief Marketing Officer.
This role owns the portfolio growth strategy and will lead transformation of the business to unlock the next phase of growth across connected commerce, innovation, brand building, and in market execution. With connected commerce as the primary engine of category growth, this leader will shape how Mars Pet Nutrition wins in an evolving, digitally led marketplace while strengthening consumer demand and category leadership.
This is a highly visible enterprise role, influencing both North America and global strategy. As the North America representative on the Cesar Global Brand Board, the VP will influence global priorities while translating them into bold, integrated plans that deliver growth, strengthen brand equity, and build long term competitive advantage.
The role leads a cross functional team with clear accountability to deliver in market performance and continuous optimization. It also offers the opportunity to build and lead a high performing organization and play a central role in developing the future marketing leadership pipeline for North America.
This role is based in Franklin, TN with regular in office collaboration expected. Flexibility is a key enabler, empowering associates to make choices that support both business outcomes and personal needs, including occasional remote work.
What are we looking for?
- 15+ years of commercial leadership experience, with a strong foundation in brand building and consumer led marketing, including 8 plus years leading digital and connected commerce growth within portfolio, category, or brand leadership roles in global or regional CPG, retail, or tech companies
- Proven track record of delivering transformational business results, particularly in omnichannel and ecommerce driven environments
- Strategic, forward looking thinker with strong curiosity for emerging business models, capabilities, and trends
- Strong general management mindset with experience setting business strategy and navigating complex trade offs across growth, profitability, and investment
- Experience leading large, complex, and matrixed organizations, including globally distributed teams
- Inspirational and enterprise level leader with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and mobilize cross functional teams to deliver results
What will be your key responsibilities?
- Set and lead the North America Wet Dog portfolio 5-year integrated value creation plan, defining the growth strategy and building blocks across brands and growth platforms in alignment with enterprise and global priorities
- Lead the transformation of the Wet Dog business to accelerate growth, strengthening brand equity, scaling connected commerce, and unlocking new growth platforms
- Translate global portfolio, brand, and innovation strategies into integrated North America plans with clear accountability, execution requirements, and measurable outcomes
- Shape global priorities as the North America representative on the Cesar Global Brand Board, ensuring alignment to regional growth needs and long term brand equity development while providing clarity to clear execution requirements, accountability, and performance measures.
- Drive holistic, digitally led demand creation strategies to build consumer demand and win in an omnichannel environment
- Lead and orchestrate high performing cross-functional Portfolio Growth Teams, including strategic prioritization of resource allocation against growth priorities, business continuity needs, and value leadership.
- Sponsor and evolve the Wet Dog operating model, governance, and ways of working to improve speed, decision quality, and execution consistency
- Build, lead, and develop a high performing leadership team, with a focus on talent development, capability building, and long term succession for critical marketing roles
- Serve as a functional capability leader within Marketing, strengthening strategic brand and category leadership skills and contributing to the North America Marketing talent pipeline through coaching, standards, and enterprise learning priorities.
- Build, lead, and develop a high‑performing Wet Dog leadership team, fostering strong cross‑functional alignment, execution discipline, and talent capability.
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.
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Skills Required
- 15+ years of commercial leadership experience
- 8+ years leading digital and connected commerce growth
- Proven track record in omnichannel and e-commerce
- Experience leading large, complex organizations
- Strong general management mindset
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.
