Job Description:Digital Commerce (DCOM) is set to represent 35%+ of all CPG sales in the not-too-distant future and is a must-win channel. Mars Snacking has an ambition to more than triple its DCOM business over the
coming years and incubating the next horizon of DCOM customers and business models will be essential to our success. The DCOM Strategy & Business Development Director will be a key leader in the day-to-day execution and deployment of the Global DCOM Ambition & Strategy and ad-hoc engagements with senior leadership. It will also drive the future frontiers of our strategy by scanning the global landscape for emerging models and platforms, assessing their commercial potential, and collaborating with Regions to create the internal capabilities and external partnerships needed to move fast. Ongoing growth initiatives will help drive include Seed Business (e.g., Hotel Chocolat, TruFru) acceleration, and the Advantage Trade Attitude Survey relationship and market engagement.
What are we looking for?Must-have: Bachelor's degree required
Preferred: MBA for candidates from non-commercial backgrounds
10-15 years of progressive experience in digital commerce and customer development, with at least 3-5 years in a leadership or strategy role.
Knowledge/ExperienceCore Experience
- Experience working in a global, matrixed organization; CPG ecommerce experience strongly preferred and experience supporting emerging or start-ups is a plus.
- Prior experience in customer-facing or customer engagement roles.
- Experience managing cross-functional workstreams and influencing without direct authority.
- Demonstrated track record of spotting and developing new business opportunities and taking them from pilot to scale.
Knowledge & Skills
- Strong understanding of global DCOM landscape and business models, including pure play/marketplace, omnichannel, social commerce, quick commerce, D2C, and emerging AI-driven commerce models.
- Strong business acumen and ability to create business cases, ROI frameworks and investment rationale.
- Excellent communication skills, enabled by ability to synthesize complex, ambiguous information into simple and actionable narratives for executive audiences.
- Fluency in DCOM data and analytics (e.g., digital shelf metrics,
Leadership Behaviors & Skills
- Entrepreneurial mindset that gains energy from building new things.
- Visionary storyteller that can get partners and executives excited about what is possible, whilst also being pragmatic about how to build towards that future now.
- Collaborative and relationship-oriented; builds trust quickly across a diverse group of peers.
- Able to balance blue-sky strategic thinking with commercial discipline to prioritize ruthlessly and deliverable tangible outcomes with strong potential to scale.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working with or managing an emerging brand/business portfolio (e.g., incubator, venture seed business, or innovation unit within a large company).
- Prior exposure to venture capital and start-up ecosystem in retail or retail-adjacent verticals.
- Experience collaborating with tier-1 global DCOM retailers such as (e.g., Amazon, Walmart).
What will be your key responsibilities?Strategy- Leads organization and agile management of global DCOM strategic initiatives (e.g. market & category acceleration deep-dives, enterprise planning mega-processes, senior leadership engagement).
- Contributes to the refresh and relaunch of the Global DCOM strategy and partners with the Regions on embedding new solutions.
- Serve as growth partner for Seed Businesses (e.g., Hotel Chocolat, TruFru), translating Mars Snacking enterprise strategy & capabilities into tailored growth plans.
Voice of the Customer- Runs the global relationship with Advantage (authors of the "Trade Attitude Survey" that measures retailer's perception of a brands' partnership quality vs. their peer-set).
- Leads the internal community of practice across 20+ markets to share best practice on action plans, and align regional improvement plans to reach top-tier status.
- Synthesizes global survey outputs into recommendations and action plans for Global Sales and the broader Global Growth Team to drive multi-year improvement with an aim to have 70% of markets in the top-tier vs. peer-set.
Business Development- Assesses & prioritizes emerging digital business models (e.g., live shopping, super apps, AI-native marketplaces, and autonomous vehicles vending).
- Builds the frameworks and business cases to assess commercial viability, scalability and strategic fit with Mars Snacking's brands.
- Collaborates with the Regions to foster external partnerships with emerging operators and launch pilots ahead of the competition to learn quickly and create competitive advantage.
- Leads development of executive ready thought leadership on New Business for Regions to engage strategic customers within JBPs.
- Creates Mars Snacking engagement plan at key industry events and forums to bring the outside in and establish relationships with promising new partners.
What to 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.
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 153,600.00 - USD 211,200.00
