Sr Manager, Dairy Climate Smart Agriculture

Mars•Chicago, IL

13d•$153,600 - $211,200•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Manager, Dairy Climate Smart Agriculture is a high-impact leadership role responsible for the end-to-end global strategy for Dairy sustainability across Mars, while directly leading and executing regional implementation in North America. This role will be responsible for translating Mars Snacking’s global Healthy Planet commitments into on-the-ground operational reality under a unified framework targeting holistic impact across carbon (-50% GHG reduction by 2030), water, regenerative agriculture, farmer livelihoods and animal welfare. This role acts as a critical strategic bridge, connecting global Commercial, R&D, and regional brand teams with key value chain partners such as raw material suppliers, farmers, and 3rd party partners. By driving mutuality and co-investment, you will create generational resilience from Soil to Snack by derisking the climate smart dairy transition for farming communities while securing long-term supply chain resilience for Mars Snacking. This role serves as Mars Snacking’s key dairy sustainability expert, building strong partnerships to lead the industry in climate-smart food systems.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in Agronomy, Environmental Science, Sustainable Agriculture, Agricultural Economics, or a related technical discipline.
8+ years of direct industry experience (corporate, agribusiness, agriculture consulting or related sustainability industry) managing dairy sustainability programs or agricultural sourcing initiatives
Knowledge/understanding of global and regional dairy systems, with experience working with procurement teams to build comprehensive sourcing strategies
Proven ability to collaborate across multiple functions and track record of building trust and influencing diverse stakeholders, from multi-generational family farmers to executive commercial directors and downstream brand teams.
Strategic financial acumen and analytical capabilities. Strong command of agribusiness economics.
Comfortable navigating digital systems for data management and reporting.
Experience with measurement and accounting working with MRV systems across relevant metrics (e.g. carbon, soil health, water, biodiversity, et) and knowledge of standards like the GHG Protocol
Strong project management skills, including the ability to prioritize and manage multiple issues, manage scope and risks
Exceptional written, verbal and presentation skills. Proven ability to translate highly technical information into compelling narratives and drive fact-based decision making within all levels of the organization

Nice To Haves

Master’s Degree in a related technical agricultural field.

Responsibilities

Design, refine, and champion the multi-year Global Dairy Sustainability Strategy for Mars Snacking, ensuring alignment to the evolving Healthy Planet strategy, regulatory requirements and customer commitments.
Lead the deployment of holistic regional programming in North America that addresses relevant climate, regenerative ag, water, animal welfare and farmer livelihoods opportunities.
Establish robust global governance and performance management processes to execute quarterly KPI tracking on category delivery for both short term actuals and long term forecasts.
Partner with Global Commercial, financial institutions, and public agencies to design a funding strategy and implement innovative mechanisms (e.g., cost-sharing, premium structures, technical assistance grants, and public-private partnerships) that de-risk the multi-year transition for sustainable dairy.
Partner with Global Dairy strategic sourcing teams to integrate sustainability metrics and targets and animal welfare standards directly into sourcing strategies, commercial contracts, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and Joint Business Development Plans (JBDPs).
Serve as the primary, high-influence relationship owner for strategic global and regional dairy suppliers.
Support comprehensive supplier onboarding to Mars requirements and ensure suppliers are equipped with the knowledge and tools required to deploy Mars aligned interventions independently across their supply chain.
Where relevant, manage technical implementation partners (e.g. agronomists, conservation groups, crop advisors) to ensure farmers receive high-quality, local, and practical support during their transition.
Establish and maintain a robust, auditable system to track, verify, and report program performance data in accordance with global corporate metrics and standards.
Act as lead point of contact for the External Partnerships team. Identify technological gaps in delivering our dairy sustainability goals as input into start up selection processes.
Represent Mars in key regional industry coalitions to benchmark practices, pool resources and drive systemic sector change.
Support overall external communications on Mooving Dairy Forward strategy in partnership with Corporate Affairs.
Act as the regional subject matter expert, coach and train commercial buyers, category managers, and cross functional leadership on climate smart farming and the business case for sustainable dairy.
Support North America and Acclerator regional sustainability teams in delivering key regional targets and drive consistency between the regional and global strategies and activation plans.