Senior Manager R&D

Mars•Chicago, IL

2d•$119,040 - $163,680

About The Position

Accelerator is Mars Snacking's growth engine, focused on unlocking growth across high-potential categories and brands. Within Accelerator sits Nature’s bakery alongside the Better For You portfolio includes KIND®, RXBAR®, Nutri-Grain®, Special K Bars®, and Pure Organic®. Combining the scale of Mars with the agility of a growth business, we are driving innovation, accelerating performance, and transforming how we work through data, automation, and AI-enabled solutions. We're looking for passionate collaborators to help us become the foremost leader in Mars Snacking and positively impact society along the way. If you're looking to be a part of an inspiring, energetic and entrepreneurial environment, you've found the right place.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Biology, Engineering, Nutrition, or a related technical discipline.
10-12+ years of experience with recognized product-development expertise, complex project leadership, and demonstrated people leadership.
Deep expertise in product innovation, formulation, ingredient functionality, prototyping, product testing, scale-up, quality systems, and commercialization readiness.
Strong capability in technical strategy, experiment planning, data analysis, risk assessment, and technical documentation.
Proven ability to lead complex programs, direct team execution, develop standards or best practices, and make risk-based technical recommendations.
Flexibility to travel to laboratories, pilot plants, manufacturing sites, suppliers, or consumer/market learning locations as needed.

Responsibilities

Set team priorities, direct product development activities, allocate work, manage delivery trade-offs, and coach up to three direct reports.
Plan and execute technical work to deliver product innovation, formulation, prototyping, product quality, scale-up, and commercialization readiness against project objectives, timelines, quality, safety, and compliance expectations.
Use data, experimentation, risk assessment, and technical judgment to make recommendations and resolve complex issues.
Partner with cross-functional teams including R&D, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, commercial, regulatory, and external partners.
Document assumptions, specifications, methods, decisions, learnings, and handoffs in accordance with governance requirements.
Lead complex investigations, establish best practices, influence technical strategy, develop talent, and ensure effective team performance.