Discovery Marketing Lead — Front-End Innovation (CPG)

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

Benefits offered by this job

Mars University access

Company bonus

Five Principles culture

Job summary

Mars Snacking seeks an Associate Director of Discover Marketing (Finance) to drive priority consumer pain points into breakthrough concepts and scalable growth platforms. You will lead cross‑functional teams, validate early concepts with consumers and buyers, and shape business cases with strong storytelling for executive leadership.

The role demands 7–10+ years in CPG brand marketing, mastery of design thinking, lean startup and agile co-creation, and a hands‑on approach to partnering with

Qualifications

• 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+ years of progressive experience in CPG brand marketing, front-end innovation, and NPD.
• Strong proficiency in Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile co-creation methodologies.
• Deep consumer insights fluency with experience in qualitative discovery, behavioral research, and proposition testing.
• Strong commercial acumen with understanding of P&L, margins, and early-stage business case modeling.
• Proven ability to build and manage external partnerships with startups, academia, incubators, and subject-matter experts.
• Exceptional storytelling and executive presentation skills with influence across senior leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead multi-disciplinary innovation project teams across Marketing, Human Insights, R&D, Design, and Science & Technology.
• Champion consumer pain points and verified human truths at every discovery stage.
• Rapidly translate pain points into concepts and prototypes with R&D and Design teams.
• Run rapid consumer experiments to validate desirability in partnership with HI.
• Collaborate with customers, buyers, startups and external networks to pressure-test and refine propositions.
• Craft Value Proposition Canvases, early business models, and unit economics for scalable platforms.
• Package insights and validation into Project Briefs for handover to intrapreneurial teams.
• Monitor trends and signals using AI tools and digital platforms to inform concept development.

Job description

Mars Snacking seeks an Associate Director of Discover Marketing (Finance) to drive priority consumer pain points into breakthrough concepts and scalable growth platforms. You will lead cross‑functional teams, validate early concepts with consumers and buyers, and shape business cases with strong storytelling for executive leadership.

The role demands 7–10+ years in CPG brand marketing, mastery of design thinking, lean startup and agile co-creation, and a hands‑on approach to partnering with