Job Description:

The position is responsible for leading the development and deployment of product innovation/renovation within our Dry portfolio to enable the successful delivery of the North American Mars Pet Nutrition OP. The position is also responsible to support driving consumer based relevant aspects into the product designs and delivering product performance for both pet and pet parents. This role will interface with the global innovations teams to provide understanding of the NA OE capabilities in collaboration with NA Process & Packaging, and support deployment of global projects.

What are we looking for?

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Food Science, Technology, Engineering, or related technical field. Preferred: Graduate degree in Food Science, Technology, Engineering, Animal Science or related technical field.
4 + years of experience in Product Development and/or Formulation within a CPG company. Pet food experience is a plus.
Strong knowledge of product development from bench top to full scale production.
Prior experience must include design of experiments and functionality of raw materials. Statistical analysis knowledge is a plus.
Demonstrated excellence in project management and capability to lead cross functional projects. Stage gate process experience is a plus.
Strong ability to work cross functionally with people in other disciplines and/or business areas.

What will be your key responsibilities?

Lead R&D in the translation of consumer insights into product design.
Design product briefs in close collaboration with R&D and cross-functional partners (Process, Packaging, CTI, Marketing, Sales, Supply, etc.)
Define technical learning plans in collaboration with R&D partners (Process, Packaging, CTI, SRA, Q&FS, etc.) that then feed the design of project timelines owned by Project Management.
Use appropriate tools to facilitate concept and prototype creation & evaluation.
Provide technical knowledge of the raw materials used to manufacture dry products, including functionality, best application & inherent risks.
Formulate for innovation/renovation projects, meeting internal (MPENS) & external (AAFCO) nutritional guidelines, and ensuring product safety criteria with site deployment.
Drives execution of technical learning plans in close collaboration with Process, Packaging, Q&FS, Supply & Commercial.
Ensures R&D voice is represented in the risk assessment of the innovation/renovation stage/gate process (QuEST).
Ensures product performance validation for innovation/renovation projects.
Ensures shelf-life validation for innovation/renovation projects that deviate from existing technical foundation for shelf-life.
Delivers product frameworks, recipe frameworks, and finished product specifications for innovation/renovation projects.
Collaborates with CTI to define KQA (Key Quality Attributes) for innovation/renovation.
Follow corporate labeling and claim policy.
Collaborate with CTI to drive RCA (Root Cause Analysis) for preference plus outages identified in the annual preference monitoring program, and drives required actions to close the gap in collaboration with the cross-functional team.
As needed, partners with Product Formulation – CB (Current Business) to define gap closure strategies for PPP (Pet Product Performance) outages when root cause goes beyond existing framework.
Contribute product design expertise to unit, regional, and global communities for the pet care segment.
Mentor and coach more junior R&D associates.

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.

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