Sr. Director, Enterprise Growth Partnerships Strategy & Scaling

Mars; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 193,000 - 265,000; Full time

Job summary

Mars is seeking a Sr Director, Enterprise Growth Partnership Strategy & Enablement to orchestrate the Enterprise Growth Partnership strategy across Mars Marketing Leadership Council. You will align partners, agencies, platforms and AI-enabled marketing initiatives, driving scalable value while ensuring responsible governance.

This senior role leads cross-functional collaboration with Digital Technologies, Data & Analytics, Legal/Privacy, Procurement and agency partners to shape use cases,

Qualifications

• 10+ years in Digital Marketing, Media, Partnerships, Marketing Transformation, and emerging AI-enabled marketing capabilities
• Experience leading complex project leadership in large-scale, matrixed organizations
• Ability to translate between business and technical stakeholders and across teams with competing priorities

Responsibilities

• Lead and orchestrate the Joint Business Partnerships program for the Mars Inc enterprise, acting as the program facilitator and escalation point for Mars brands, segments, agencies, platforms, and strategic business partners
• Design and drive a strategic, productive, accountable and effectively measured Top to Top relationship between the MMLC and our Top tier Enterprise Growth JBP partners (eg Google, Amazon, Disney and others TBC)
• Drive the continued evolution from traditional JBP ways of working to a more integrated One Mars Planning model, aligning enterprise priorities, partner and internal technology capabilities, investment opportunities, governance expectations, and value creation plans
• Serve as the central connector across segments, capabilities, Commercial, Procurement, Digital Technologies, agency partners, and global platforms to align priorities, unlock synergies, resolve escalations, and maintain delivery momentum
• Owns the Growth Marketing AI agenda, delivered through Partnerships: define the business-led enterprise marketing AI agenda, including priority use cases, value pools, success measures, roadmap priorities, capability gaps, adoption model, and partner activation approach across segments and global marketing capabilities
• Owns adoption and scaling: creates the operating model for Partnership led/enabled marketing AI adoption, including playbooks, use-case prioritisation, test-and-learn approaches, communities of practice, training assets, and mechanisms to scale approved AI-enabled ways of working across the enterprise
• Partners with expert functions: works closely with Digital Technologies, Data & Analytics, Responsible Marketing, Legal/Privacy, Procurement, segment marketing teams, agency partners, platform partners, and the AI Governance SteerCo to ensure marketing the above priorities are technically feasible, data-enabled, responsibly governed, legally compliant, commercially valuable, and aligned to enterprise standards
• Influences the enterprise AI agenda: represents marketing needs and opportunities in cross-functional AI forums, surfacing adoption barriers, shaping scalable use cases, connecting segment requirements, and ensuring marketing priorities are reflected in the broader Mars AI roadmap
• Does not own: Enterprise AI governance, technology architecture, data strategy, data standards, platform selection, legal/privacy approval, risk review, responsible AI policy, or formal AI approval frameworks; these accountabilities remain with the relevant enterprise functions

Skills

Strategic Project Management

Collaboration

Partnership Expertise

Agency & SOW Management

AI and Technology Fluency

Education

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Media Communications, or related field

Job description

Job Description:

As the Sr Director, Enterprise Growth Partnership Strategy & Enablement, this role orchestrates MMLC (Mars Marketing Leadership Council)’s Enterprise Growth Partnership strategy and agenda while shaping and accelerating enablement and digitalization of those initiatives across the Enterprise.

Working closely with relevant Segment leads & Cross functional teams, this role will lead the continued evolution from traditional Joint Business Partnerships (JBPs) to a highly integrated, streamlined, and scalable One Mars Planning model, ensuring Mars unlocks greater value from strategic partners, agencies, platforms and, given the inherent linkage between our core partners and emerging AI-enabled marketing capabilities, there will be an extra emphasis in this space.

In this critical central role, you will define priority marketing partnership value pools, use cases, roadmaps, and adoption models across segments, partnering closely with Digital Technologies, Data & Analytics, the Responsible Marketing team, Legal/Privacy, Procurement, agency partners, and the AI Governance SteerCo to ensure that any aspects of the scope linked to AI-enabled marketing transformation are strategically focused, commercially valuable, scalable, and responsibly governed.
The role serves as an enterprise connector and program orchestrator, aligning priorities, coordinating inputs and dependencies, facilitating decisions, resolving issues, and ensuring consistent execution. It balances enterprise-wide standards and objectives with the distinct needs of each segment, enabling partnership and AI-enabled marketing solutions that create scalable value for the full organization while remaining aligned to responsible marketing and enterprise AI governance expectations.

What are we looking for?

Knowledge/Experience

• 10+ years experience with deep experience in Digital Marketing, Media, Strategic Partnerships, Marketing Transformation, and emerging AI-enabled marketing capabilities
• Strategic Project Management: Demonstrated experience in complex project leadership with the ability to navigate large-scale, matrixed organizations, align diverse regional stakeholders, and influence without authority.
• Collaboration: Experience translating between business and technical stakeholders, and across teams with competing priorities. A people-person who builds trust and influences without authority.
• Partnership Expertise: Proven track record of managing and maximizing Joint Business Partnerships (JBPs) with major global media and technology platforms as well as agency partners
• Agency & SOW Management: Experience directing large agency networks and managing complex, multi-million-dollar project agreements and deliverable
• AI and Technology Fluency: Familiarity with marketing AI use cases, mar tech, ad tech, data-enabled measurement, and enterprise governance considerations. Able to translate between business, technical, agency, and governance stakeholders with ease

Education & Professional Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Media Communications, or a related field.

• Professional Experience: marketing capabilities, media partnership management, marketing technology, or data governance within a global CPG or matrixed multi-brand enterprise

What will be your key responsibilities?

Joint Business Partnerships Program Orchestration

• Lead and orchestrate the Joint Business Partnerships program for the Mars Inc enterprise, acting as the program facilitator and escalation point for Mars brands, segments, agencies, platforms, and strategic business partners

• Design and drive a strategic, productive, accountable and effectively measured Top to Top relationship between the MMLC and our Top tier Enterprise Growth JBP partners (eg Google, Amazon, Disney and others TBC)

• Drive the continued evolution from traditional JBP ways of working to a more integrated One Mars Planning model, aligning enterprise priorities, partner and internal technology capabilities, investment opportunities, governance expectations, and value creation plans

• Serve as the central connector across segments, capabilities, Commercial, Procurement, Digital Technologies, agency partners, and global platforms to align priorities, unlock synergies, resolve escalations, and maintain delivery momentum

In service of the Growth/Marketing scope of the role, it will engage with / overlap with other functional leads in AI space. As such, we offer some “Role Boundaries” to enable clarity and agility:

• Owns the Growth Marketing AI agenda, delivered through Partnerships: Guided and governed by the MMLC, this role is accountable for defining the business-led enterprise marketing AI agenda, including priority use cases, value pools, success measures, roadmap priorities, capability gaps, adoption model, and partner activation approach across segments and global marketing capabilities
• Owns adoption and scaling: Creates the operating model for Partnership led/enabled marketing AI adoption, including playbooks, use-case prioritisation, test-and-learn approaches, communities of practice, training assets, and mechanisms to scale approved AI-enabled ways of working across the enterprise
• Partners with expert functions: Works closely with Digital Technologies, Data & Analytics, Responsible Marketing, Legal/Privacy, Procurement, segment marketing teams, agency partners, platform partners, and the AI Governance SteerCo to ensure marketing the above priorities are technically feasible, data-enabled, responsibly governed, legally compliant, commercially valuable, and aligned to enterprise standards
• Influences the enterprise AI agenda: Represents marketing needs and opportunities in cross-functional AI forums, surfacing adoption barriers, shaping scalable use cases, connecting segment requirements, and ensuring marketing priorities are reflected in the broader Mars AI roadmap
• Does not own: Enterprise AI governance, technology architecture, data strategy, data standards, platform selection, legal/privacy approval, risk review, responsible AI policy, or formal AI approval frameworks; these accountabilities remain with the relevant enterprise functions

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 192,560.00 - USD 264,770.00