Product Owner – Distributor Management Solution (DMS)

Mars Incorporated in; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 134,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Mars in Chicago seeks a Product Manager for Distributor Management Solution (DMS) to own strategy, roadmap, and delivery across global markets. You will partner with Sales, Route-to-Market, Supply Chain, and Data teams to build a scalable DMS platform enabling distributor operations, inventory visibility, and order fulfillment.

The role requires 8–10+ years in product management and experience with DMS, SFA, ERP, and data platforms, plus strong stakeholder leadership and an appetite for

Qualifications

• 8–10+ years of experience in Product Management, Sales Technology, Route-to-Market, Distributor Management, or related CPG capabilities.
• Strong understanding of CPG indirect distribution models, including distributors, wholesalers, sub-distributors, and traditional/general trade.
• Experience with DMS, SFA/Retail Execution, ERP, B2B Commerce, TPM, or related sales platforms.
• Proven experience defining product strategy and managing complex global product roadmaps and backlogs.
• Experience delivering technology products across multiple countries and diverse Route-to-Market models.
• Strong understanding of APIs, integration, data platforms, analytics, cloud technologies, and modern product architecture.
• Exposure to AI, GenAI, and agentic capabilities applied to Sales and Route-to-Market is preferred.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with ability to influence across business, technology, regional, and market organizations.
• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the DMS product vision, strategy, and multi-year roadmap aligned with global Route-to-Market and Sales transformation priorities.
• Translate business strategy and market needs into scalable global technology capabilities.
• Continuously assess emerging technologies, industry trends, and evolving distributor operating models to shape the future product roadmap.
• Own end-to-end DMS capabilities including distributor onboarding, order management, secondary sales, inventory, pricing and schemes, claims, returns, credit/collections, and distributor performance.
• Drive standardization of core capabilities while enabling localization for different markets and RTM models.
• Own product backlog, epics, features, user stories, prioritization, and release planning.
• Drive seamless integration between DMS, ERP, Retail Execution/SFA, TPM, B2B Commerce, Supply Chain, Finance, and enterprise data platforms.
• Establish reliable visibility across sell-in, distributor inventory, sell-out, retailer orders, and product availability.
• Partner with architecture and engineering teams to ensure scalable, secure, and reusable technology solutions.
• Develop AI-enabled capabilities such as smart replenishment, demand sensing, stock-out prediction, inventory optimization, anomaly detection, and next-best-action recommendations.
• Enable proactive exception management and increasingly automated distributor operations.
• Establish trusted distributor data as a foundation for analytics and AI-driven decision-making.
• Partner with regional and market teams to understand local distributor processes, regulatory requirements, and business needs.
• Lead product pilots, market deployments, localization, and capability adoption.
• Drive harmonization and reuse across markets while minimizing unnecessary customization.
• Establish product governance and mechanisms for capturing and prioritizing market feedback.
• Act as the key technology product partner for Sales, Route-to-Market, Supply Chain, Finance, and Distributor Operations.
• Manage relationships with technology vendors, implementation partners, and internal engineering teams.
• Facilitate product governance and communicate roadmap, priorities, dependencies, risks, and product performance to senior stakeholders.

Skills

Product Management

Sales Technology

Route-to-Market

Distributor Management

APIs & Data Platforms

AI & GenAI

Stakeholder Management

Education

Bachelor’s degree

MBA or equivalent

Tools

DMS

SFA/Retail Execution

ERP

B2B Commerce

TPM

Job description

Job Description:

Role Purpose

The Product Manager – Distributor Management Solution (DMS) will own the product strategy, roadmap, design, delivery, and evolution of the technology capabilities that enable the company’s Distributor and Indirect Route-to-Market ecosystem.

The role will partner closely with Global Sales, Route-to-Market, Supply Chain, Finance, Data, Technology, and local market teams to build a scalable and intelligent DMS platform that improves distributor operations, secondary sales visibility, inventory management, order fulfillment, and overall execution effectiveness.

Key Responsibilities

Product Strategy & Roadmap

• Define and own the DMS product vision, strategy, and multi-year roadmap aligned with global Route-to-Market and Sales transformation priorities.
• Translate business strategy and market needs into scalable global technology capabilities.
• Continuously assess emerging technologies, industry trends, and evolving distributor operating models to shape the future product roadmap.

Product & Capability Ownership

• Own end-to-end DMS capabilities including distributor onboarding, order management, secondary sales, inventory, pricing and schemes, claims, returns, credit/collections, and distributor performance.
• Drive standardization of core capabilities while enabling appropriate localization for different markets and RTM models.
• Own product backlog, epics, features, user stories, prioritization, and release planning.

Connected Route-to-Market Ecosystem

• Drive seamless integration between DMS, ERP, Retail Execution/SFA, TPM, B2B Commerce, Supply Chain, Finance, and enterprise data platforms.
• Establish reliable visibility across sell-in, distributor inventory, sell-out, retailer orders, and product availability.
• Partner with architecture and engineering teams to ensure scalable, secure, and reusable technology solutions.

AI, Data & Intelligent Automation

• Develop AI-enabled capabilities such as smart replenishment, demand sensing, stock-out prediction, inventory optimization, anomaly detection, and next-best-action recommendations.
• Enable proactive exception management and increasingly automated distributor operations.
• Establish trusted distributor data as a foundation for analytics and AI-driven decision-making.

Global Deployment & Adoption

• Partner with regional and market teams to understand local distributor processes, regulatory requirements, and business needs.
• Lead product pilots, market deployments, localization, and capability adoption.
• Drive harmonization and reuse across markets while minimizing unnecessary customization.
• Establish product governance and mechanisms for capturing and prioritizing market feedback.

Stakeholder & Partner Management

• Act as the key technology product partner for Sales, Route-to-Market, Supply Chain, Finance, and Distributor Operations.
• Manage relationships with technology vendors, implementation partners, and internal engineering teams.
• Facilitate product governance and communicate roadmap, priorities, dependencies, risks, and product performance to senior stakeholders.

Key Success Measures

• Distributor and market adoption
• Secondary sales visibility and data quality
• Distributor inventory accuracy
• Product availability / reduction in stock-outs
• Order cycle time and fulfillment performance
• Distributor productivity and operational efficiency
• Global solution adoption and reduction of local technology fragmentation
• User satisfaction and product experience
• Business value delivered through automation and AI-enabled capabilities

Experience & Qualifications

• 8-10+ years of experience in Product Management, Sales Technology, Route-to-Market, Distributor Management, or related CPG capabilities.
• Strong understanding of CPG indirect distribution models, including distributors, wholesalers, sub-distributors, and traditional/general trade.
• Experience with DMS, SFA/Retail Execution, ERP, B2B Commerce, TPM, or related sales platforms.
• Proven experience defining product strategy and managing complex global product roadmaps and backlogs.
• Experience delivering technology products across multiple countries and diverse Route-to-Market models.
• Strong understanding of APIs, integration, data platforms, analytics, cloud technologies, and modern product architecture.
• Exposure to AI, GenAI, and agentic capabilities applied to Sales and Route-to-Market is preferred.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence across business, technology, regional, and market organizations.
• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred.

Leadership Capabilities

• Product Mindset: Focuses on business outcomes and user value rather than technology delivery alone.
• Strategic Thinking: Connects DMS capabilities to broader Sales and Route-to-Market transformation.
• Global-to-Local Leadership: Balances enterprise standardization with legitimate market requirements.
• Customer Centricity: Understands the needs of distributors, sales teams, retailers, and business stakeholders.
• Influence & Collaboration: Leads effectively across complex global and cross-functional organizations.
• Innovation: Identifies opportunities to leverage data, AI, and automation to reinvent distributor operations.

Product Mission

Build a connected and intelligent Distributor Management ecosystem that provides end-to-end visibility from sell-in to sell-out and enables distributors and sales teams to make faster, smarter, data-driven decisions.

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 134,400.00 - USD 184,800.00