Job Description:

The Senior Operations Category Manager (T3) is responsible for delivering world-class commercial, operational, and resiliency performance across assigned material categories for Mars Petcare North America. This senior-level role connects Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain Operations, and suppliers to drive value leadership, supplier performance management, supplier claims governance, resiliency plans, and OTIF service excellence.

In addition to managing the operational and transactional aspects of the source-to-pay process and day-to-day supply base management, the Senior Operations Category Manager serves as a critical leadership resource within the Commercial Operations team. This includes acting as the key systems and capabilities lead (Functional Expert), spearheading critical Commercial Operations (COP) initiatives, championing team capability building, and representing the Line Manager (LM) in high-level leadership and project networks. The role strengthens material value streams, ensures supplier accountability, mitigates supply risk, and optimizes total cost of ownership (TCO) in a collaborative, pet-friendly environment.

Key Responsibilities

Please list the most important and relevant responsibilities

1. Team Leadership, Coaching & Systems Capability

• Onboarding & Training: Lead the structured onboarding and continuous training of new Associate Category Managers (ACMs) and team members to ensure accelerated time-to-value.

• Systems Functional Expert (FE): Serve as the primary, go-to team Functional Expert for critical commercial systems, including SAP, VIM, Power BI, Nexus, NEO.

• Coaching & Playbooks: Actively coach team members on Standard Operating Environment (SOE) execution (e.g., crafting impactful One-Pagers and Presentations). Maintain and update team operational playbooks to drive standard work.

• Voice of the Team & Maintenance: Act as the collective voice of the operational team to elevate continuous improvement ideas. Oversee ongoing quota and contract maintenance processes.

2. Commercial Operations (COP) Initiatives

• Resiliency & SLA Champion: Serve as the functional Champion for Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and supplier resiliency, driving compliance, vulnerability mapping, and risk mitigation across the segment.

• Scorecard & Performance Champion: Own the Supplier Performance Management (SPM) framework as the SPM Champion, driving scorecard execution and quality.

• Project Acceleration & 161s: Act as the Point of Contact (POC) for commercial project acceleration. Champion "161s" initiatives and support the Commercial Operations implementation of Segment Sourcing Strategies (MSSM/BAR).

3. Leadership, Network & Escalation Management

• Line Manager Representation: Act as the designated representative for the Line Manager (LM) at key Commercial and cross-functional SOE meetings when required.

• Escalation Point of Contact: Manage Purchase Order (PO) and operational Non-Conformance / Quality & Food Safety (NSQ) escalations for the operations team, particularly when the LM is out.

• Network Project Leadership: Lead and represent the Commercial Operations function in major network-level and cross-functional supply chain projects.

4. Category Strategy & Commercial Execution

• Category Strategy Co-Development: Co-develop comprehensive category strategies with Strategic Sourcing (MSSM) to drive value creation, resilience, and optimized commercial outcomes.

• TCO Optimization: Lead commercial execution for assigned categories with a sharp focus on value leadership, total cost of ownership (TCO) optimization, and cost-to-serve improvements.

• Sourcing & Spot Buys: Execute cost, service, and working-capital improvement initiatives. Manage spot buys and immediate short-term mitigation actions for emerging supply risks.

5. Supplier Performance, Risk & Resiliency

• SPM & KPI Governance: Own and lead the Supplier Performance Management (SPM) framework, including KPI governance, business reviews, and robust corrective action plans.

• Supplier Accountability: Ensure supplier accountability for OTIF (On-Time, In-Full), quality, service reliability, and overall compliance with Mars operational standards.

• Resiliency Planning: Lead supplier capability reviews, dual-sourcing evaluations, safety stock strategies, and business continuity planning to mitigate geopolitical, logistics, capacity, and quality risks.

6. Supply Chain & Value Stream Optimization

• Forecast Visibility: Provide accurate, timely forecast visibility to suppliers to support capacity planning and uninterrupted supply lines.

• Flow & Lead Time Optimization: Partner with Planning and Logistics to optimize material flows, improve lead times, streamline pipeline designs, and reduce working capital.

• Performance Tracking: Track, analyze, and communicate key metrics including OTIF, lead-time adherence, inventory health, resiliency KPIs, claims recovery, and cost savings.

7. Innovation, Quality, Compliance & Stakeholder Engagement

• Innovation Launch Readiness: Ensure supplier readiness and capability to support new product launches aligned with commercialization timelines.

• Compliance Assurance: Drive supplier compliance with Mars procurement policies, regulatory requirements, trade standards, and operational guidelines.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Facilitate highly effective collaboration between Supplier Quality Assurance (SQA), Manufacturing/Planning (MP), R&D, and suppliers. Keep internal stakeholders promptly informed of operational progress and resolution of escalated risks.

Context and Scope

Explain how the job gets done and the way it operates within the team and with stakeholders

• Engage and collaboration with the other functions (Planning, Q&FS, R&D, etc. are the highest priority) and other segment Commercial Operations teams (RC, Food, MW)

• Bring the best of the outside world, back into the Mars ecosystem and demonstrate how it will add value to Mars.

• Ability to learn from internal and external sources to develop knowledge and know-how and be recognized as the go-to expert.

• Has In depth knowledge in own category.

Job Specifications/Qualifications

State the preferred education, knowledge, skills and experience this position requires. State the physical and/or mental requirements for the role (e.g. stand for x hours, lift x weight, concentration on repetitive tasks).

Note: May differ from the current job holder's own skills and experience.

Education & Professional Qualifications

• Proficient in Power BI, SAP and MRP systems

• Experience in commodity markets and/or materials sourcing

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Logistics, Supply Chain Management or related field.

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant business experience in logistics, purchasing, research and development, innovation execution, vendor assurance, or related field.

• Minimum of 3 years experience using SAP or similar ERP software to order and manage inventory.

• Experience in Raw Materials & Packaging materials logistics and/or sourcing.

• Travel Required - up to 20%

Knowledge / Experience

• Strong understanding of logistics flows and supply chain operations

• Experience in supplier performance, resiliency programming, and claims processes

• Analytical ability to interpret data and drive value-focused decisions

• Cross-functional leadership and communication skills

• Knowledge of import/export, regulatory processes, and supplier compliance

• Expertise in resolving urgent supply issues and implementing sustainable corrective actions

• Project management capabilities in fast-paced environments