Associate Director, Discover Marketing

Mars Incorporated; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 170,000 - 234,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company bonus

Job summary

Mars Incorporated's Mars Snacking division seeks an Innovation Marketing Lead within the Discover Team to translate priority consumer pain points into tangible products, packaging, and experiential solutions rooted in verified human needs.

As Associate Director, you will lead cross‑functional teams, craft robust value propositions, prototype concepts with R&D and design, and run rapid tests with external experts to fuel scalable growth platforms across Mars Snacking.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; master's preferred.
• 7-10+ years in CPG brand marketing and NPD.
• Experience applying Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile.
• Strong consumer insights and qualitative research experience.
• Understanding of P&L, margins, and business case modeling.
• Experience building external partnerships.
• Excellent storytelling and executive presentation skills.
• Comfort with ambiguity and data-driven decision making.

Responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional innovation project teams.
• Champion consumer pain points and unmet needs.
• Collaborate with R&D and Design to prototype concepts.
• Run rapid consumer experiments to validate desirability.
• Partner with customers, buyers, startups, and researchers to test propositions.
• Develop value propositions canvases and early unit economics.
• Package insights and business cases into project briefs for handoff.
• Lead foresight and signal spotting to guide concept development.
• Track milestones and align initiatives with enterprise strategy.

Skills

Design Thinking

Lean Startup

Agile co-creation

Consumer insights

P&L knowledge

Partnership development

Storytelling

Executive presentation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Marketing or related field

Master's Degree or MBA in Marketing/Innovation/Business Strategy

Job description

Job Description:

Mars Snacking has established an internal entrepreneurship engine dedicated to identifying, incubating, and scaling the next generation of breakthrough snacking innovations. As the Innovation Marketing Lead within the Discover Team, this role lives and breathes priority consumer pain points-translating them into tangible products, packaging, and experiential solutions rooted in verified human needs.

Acting as both a pain point detective and a solution architect, the Associate Director shapes high-potential value propositions enriched by early validation from consumers, customers, retail buyers, and external domain experts to fuel scalable growth platforms across Mars Snacking.

What are we looking for?

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or a related field required, Master's Degree or MBA in Marketing, Innovation, or Business Strategy preferred
• 7-10+ yearsof progressive experience in CPG brand marketing, front-end innovation, new product development (NPD) required
• Demonstrated mastery in applyingDesign Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile co-creationmethodologies to build early-stage concepts
• Deep consumer insights fluency, with proven experience designing qualitative discovery sprints, behavioral research, and proposition testing
• Strong commercial acumen with an understanding of P&L drivers, margin structures, and early-stage business case modeling
• Proven ability to build and manage external partnership networks (startups, academic institutions, incubators, and specialized subject-matter experts)
• Exceptional storytelling and executive presentation skills with a track record of influencing senior leadership and cross-functional partners.
• Highly comfortable navigating ambiguity, driving self-directed initiatives, and pivoting based on experimental data

Key responsibilities

• Cross-functional Team Leadership:Lead and inspire multi-disciplinary innovation project teams (Marketing, Human Insights, R&D, Design, Science & Technology), fostering an entrepreneurial startup mindset focused on agility, speed, and continuous experimentation.
• Pain Point & Insight Mastery:Champion consumer pain points and unmet needs at every stage of discovery, ensuring all front-end initiatives remain anchored in verified human truths.
• Concept Prototyping & Design:Partner with R&D and Design teams to rapidly translate pain points into concepts, and physical/digital prototypes.
• Rapid Test & Learn Experimentation:In partnership with HI, run rapid consumer experiments to validate desirability.
• Bring in Voices Beyond Consumers: Partner early with customer teams, buyers, and external networks (startups, academic researchers, nutritionists, and entrepreneurs) to pressure-test, co-create, and refine emerging propositions.
• Value Proposition & Business Framing:Craft robust Value Proposition Canvases, preliminary business models, and early unit economics to substantiate scalable platform opportunities.
• Deliver & Handoff:Package insights, early validation proof points, and business cases into Project Briefs for seamless handover to intrapreneur and commercialization teams.
• Foresight & Signal Spotting:Leverage AI tools, digital trend platforms, regional customer/consumer connections, and science and technology developments to monitor emerging macro trends, cultural shifts, and dietary behaviors for early recognition and fast-follow concept development.
• Performance Tracking & Agility:Track discovery platform milestones, align initiatives with enterprise strategy, and utilize KPIs to continuously improve front-end innovation speed, learning velocity, and pipeline impact.

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.

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 169,840.00 - USD 233,530.00