Regional Wet Technology Leader

Mars Incorporated; North Sioux City (SD); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401K matching

Bonus

Job summary

Mars Incorporated is seeking a Regional Wet Technology Manager to lead regional R&D strategy, governance, and capability development for North America and Rapid Growth Markets. You will align cross-functional teams across Manufacturing, Engineering, QFS, and Regulatory to deliver technology roadmaps and robust validation plans.

The role emphasizes leadership of a high-performing team, continuous improvement, and collaboration with global WET forums to shape standards and investment decisions.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Science, Engineering (Mechanical, Chemical, Food) or related technology program. M.S. degree preferred.
• 5+ years of relevant experiences in food technology development, process & product scale-up and/or implementation.
• 2+ years of experience as a people leader developing and engaging a successful team.
• Demonstrated Factory experience
• Working in a company with multicultural and international features
• Demonstrated industry experience as R&D engineer or Quality & Food Safety Engineer
• Green belt or Black belt for Lean 6-Sigma is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own and translate global and regional R&D strategies into a prioritized, time-bound WET technology roadmap for North America and Rapid Growth Markets.
• Provide regional decision leadership for WET technology deployment, balancing innovation, quality, supply continuity, sustainability, cost, and operational risk.
• Establish governance, priorities, performance indicators, and escalation pathways; proactively resolve gaps that threaten delivery or specification conformance.
• Represent the region in global WET technology forums and ensure regional needs, lessons learned, and risks shape global standards and investment decisions.
• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing technical team; set clear accountabilities and build succession and capability plans.
• Build WET technical depth across regional and site PPI communities through coaching, standards, training, and structured knowledge transfer.
• Create an inclusive, accountable culture that encourages sound technical challenge, disciplined experimentation, and continuous learning.
• Provide R&D leadership for complex regional industrialization, portfolio transfer, business continuity, quality improvement, sustainability, and innovation initiatives.
• Align Manufacturing, Engineering, QFS, Innovation, Project teams, Regulatory, Planning, and site leadership on scope, risk, resources, decisions, and readiness.
• Own the regional Industrial Risk Assessment for implementation of new raw materials, products, processes, and technologies; ensure mitigations and decision points are explicit.
• Direct industrial trials and Standard Running Condition definition, ensuring robust plans, data-based conclusions, and clear recommendations.
• Lead deployment, validation, and lifecycle governance of regional WET product and process specifications.
• Ensure conformance to Royal Canin WET manufacturing standards; identify systemic gaps, authorize regional changes within governance, and elevate global standard issues.
• Drive process capability and continuous improvement with QFS and Operations, including reduction of non-quality cost and recurring technical losses.
• Act as the senior regional escalation point for complex raw material, product, and process issues.
• Frame technical problems, assemble cross-functional expert teams, select robust methods, and lead investigations using DMAIC and Lean Six Sigma principles.
• Convert findings into sustainable standards, specifications, capability building, and network-wide learning.
• Serve as the regional R&D CVS lead for WET technology and define the validation strategy, protocols, resources, and acceptance criteria for new equipment and lines.
• Validate detailed design inputs that affect product and process performance, including raw material handling, line allocation, production sequence, and equipment parameters.
• Own regional R&D readiness for process and product validation, commissioning, ramp-up, portfolio implementation, and handover in line with project governance.
• Partner with the Global WET Technology Specialist on major or global projects while independently leading regional and lower-complexity implementations.
• Provide regional input during development, scale-up, validation, and deployment phases of QES and TRL projects.
• Influence test strategy, trial allocation, final risk assessment, and final R&D specifications using regional operating knowledge and industrial data.
• Capture and share validation and start-up lessons to strengthen global standards and future project execution.

Skills

People leadership

R&D management

Quality & food safety

Lean Six Sigma (Green/Black belt)

Education

B.S. in Science/Engineering or related

M.S. degree preferred

Job description

Mars Incorporated is seeking a Regional Wet Technology Manager to lead regional R&D strategy, governance, and capability development for North America and Rapid Growth Markets. You will align cross-functional teams across Manufacturing, Engineering, QFS, and Regulatory to deliver technology roadmaps and robust validation plans.

The role emphasizes leadership of a high-performing team, continuous improvement, and collaboration with global WET forums to shape standards and investment decisions.