Chief Marketing Officer, Better for you

KIND Snacks•Chicago, IL

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Mars Snacking is seeking a Chief Marketing Officer to lead its Better For You portfolio—a collection of culturally relevant, purpose-driven brands redefining modern snacking. The portfolio includes KIND, RX, Nutri-Grain, Special K Bars, and Kashi Bars, spanning insurgent brands through scaled platforms. This is a rare opportunity to architect brand growth at the intersection of purpose, performance, and cultural relevance. The CMO will serve as the senior-most marketing leader for the portfolio, balancing brand autonomy and distinctiveness with the scale and capabilities of Mars. This role is not for a traditional CPG marketer. Mars is seeking a bold, modern brand builder with founder-level energy—someone who thrives in complexity, challenges convention, and believes brands can drive both commercial success and meaningful impact.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required; MBA highly preferred.
Senior marketing leadership experience (20+ years) with material time at VP / CMO / GM-equivalent level.
Demonstrated success operating in an entrepreneurial, fast-moving, or challenger environment, with clear evidence of risk-taking and innovation.
Experience leading complex, multi-brand and/or portfolio businesses, including brands at different stages of maturity.
Proven ability to build, inspire, and develop high-performing teams within a matrixed organization.
Strong commercial acumen, including experience partnering closely with Sales and Finance and managing large marketing investments with ROI discipline.
Authentic alignment with purpose-driven brands and the credibility to serve as a senior steward and spokesperson.

Nice To Haves

The successful candidate will likely have been developed in a high-performing global CPG organization but must have proven experience succeeding in entrepreneurial, agile, or challenger environments.
They bring strong strategic clarity, modern brand instincts, and are comfortable leading in ambiguity. They are courageous yet thoughtful—capable of leading brands that take meaningful stands while exercising sound judgment and cultural sensitivity.
An authentic spokesperson and steward for the brands, with a personal passion for purpose-led growth.
A strong talent and team developer who thrives in a matrixed, evolving organization, with exceptional influencing skills.
A calculated risk-taker who embraces bold ideas while driving accountability.
Nimble, resilient, and effective in structures that are still being built.
A leader with a clear point of view, capable of anchoring the portfolio through the evolution from founder-led brands to scaled global platforms within Mars.

Responsibilities

Define and globally port out clear, differentiated brand positioning and marketing strategies across the Better For You portfolio—respecting each brand’s unique DNA while creating a cohesive strategic spine.
Ensure each brand continues to play a distinct role within the “better for you” food movement, grounded in consumer needs, cultural relevance, and purpose-driven growth.
Balance short-term performance with long-term brand equity, ensuring no brand becomes commoditized as the portfolio scales.
Deeply understand core consumers while identifying new occasions, audiences, and points of distribution that expand reach and relevance across brands.
Partner closely with Sales to shape a compelling long-term brand vision and portfolio story that customers can buy into and actively support.
Co-develop omnichannel strategies that drive both brand strength and volume, across retail, e-commerce, and emerging channels.
Reshape the innovation pipeline from a traditional launch-driven process into a consumer-needs- and occasion-led model.
Build a holistic innovation agenda across brands, portfolios, packs, and formats that elevates the Better For You platform and fuels sustainable growth.
Pioneer a digital-first, consumer-led marketing approach, connecting authentically through brand fanatics, creators, tastemakers, and communities that are “brand- and mission-right.”
Connect digital marketing activities across regions and brands at the purpose and platform level, while allowing for local relevance and expression.
Instill an ROI-driven mindset as marketing investment increases—balancing experimentation with discipline.
Maintain a blended approach to marketing, combining mass reach (TV/OLV) with earned, experiential, and grassroots activation to preserve the challenger mindset of the brands.
Lead, inspire, and develop a highly committed, multi-brand marketing organization; recruit additional talent as needed to support scale and ambition. Ensure all talent models a culture rooted in purpose, courage, inclusivity, and high performance.
Build leaders who think like general managers, actively pulling levers across price, pack, portfolio optimization, innovation, and communications.

Benefits

401(K) or RRSP's with generous company match
Flexible Paid Time Off. Choose what works best for you, including summer hours.
Paid parental leave.
Excellent health, dental & vision insurance, with options to fit you & your family’s needs
Company paid disability and life insurance to provide income protection
Employee Assistance Program, a wellness subsidy, healthy food options and gym facility in HQ.
Casual office dress code– feel free to wear your KIND gear
Stock up on your favorite KIND bars to share with your family & friends, through a quarterly voucher
Training & tuition reimbursement program
A dynamic, ambitious, fun and KIND work environment
Charitable Donation Matching: KIND matches your charitable donations up to $1000 annually through our donation matching portal.