Job Information
Pet Nutrition Marketing Director - Pet Nutrition Canada in Bolton, Ontario
This role is based in Bolton with regular in-office collaboration expected. Flexibility is a key enabler—empowering associates to make choices that support both business outcomes and personal needs, including remote work
The Marketing Director, Pet Nutrition is a key member of the Canadian Pet Nutrition Leadership Team, leading the Brand Management and Marketing Excellence organizations. This role co-leads the One Demand agenda—an integrated sales, marketing, and category engine—in partnership with the VP of Sales and Head of Strategy, driving commercial planning across the Pet Nutrition portfolio.
This role owns brand strategy, category vision implementation, innovation, and integrated marketing execution. The Director makes clear portfolio choices, executes with excellence against established playbooks, and builds where needed in the local market (leading pilots, testing new models, and scaling what works).
Through the Marketing Excellence organization, the Director leads Center of Excellence teams across media, omnichannel, recruitment, and creative studio, ensuring these capabilities drive both brand equity and commercial performance.
The Marketing Director also serves as a key liaison to North American and Global stakeholders, partnering on innovation, brand platforms, and capabilities to ensure Canada both benefits from and contributes to the broader Mars ecosystem.
What are we looking for?
Undergraduate degree required, preferably a BA/BS in Marketing or Business Administration. MBA or other graduate degree is an asset.
10+ years of experience in Marketing, Brand Management, Category Leadership, or related commercial roles within the CPG industry with extensive people leadership experience.
Proven ability to co-own a commercial agenda in partnership with sales and strategy counterparts, operating as part of a shared leadership model.
Strong analytical and financial acumen with experience managing portfolio P&L performance, marketing investment, and ROI delivery.
Experience leading and developing high-performing, multi-disciplinary teams and working effectively in a matrixed environment.
Brand management and category leadership experience including shaping portfolio strategy, leading innovation, and accelerating category performance at scale.
Strong influencing and stakeholder management capabilities with the ability to partner with and impact senior leaders to drive business-critical decisions.
What will be your key responsibilities?
One Demand Co-Leadership & Integrated Growth Planning:
Co-lead the One Demand agenda for Pet Nutrition Canada in partnership with the VP of Sales and Head of Strategy, driving the integration of sales, marketing, and category into unified commercial plans.
Own the marketing pillar within One Demand bringing brand strategy, consumer insight, media, and innovation into cross-functional planning rhythms. Ensure marketing operates as connective tissue between category strategy and in-market activation, contributing to a shared growth engine rather than a parallel workstream.
People & Organizational Leadership
Build, coach, and develop high-performing Brand Management and Marketing Excellence teams with clear strategic direction and talent development.
Foster accountability, agility, and enterprise thinking across both organizations.
Build succession pipelines and develop talent capable of operating at the intersection of sales, marketing, and category.
Long-Term Strategy & Category Planning
Shape the 3–5-year strategic growth agenda for Pet Nutrition Canada, identifying where the category is heading and positioning the portfolio to win.
Lead long-range planning for brand architecture, innovation pipeline, and capability investment ensuring short-term execution ladders to long-term competitive advantage. Anticipate market shifts, consumer trends, and competitive dynamics to inform strategic choices that sustain category leadership over time.
Partner with the Leadership Team to translate long-term vision into actionable annual operating plans with clear milestones and investment gates
Brand Management & Portfolio Strategy
Lead the Brand Management organization and own category vision implementation and portfolio strategic choices across a multi-brand business. Make decisive investment bets where to accelerate, defend, or deprioritize ensuring portfolio choices ladder to both category growth and customer relevance.
Lead innovation, seasonal programming, and renovation with ROI discipline, partnering with R&D, Supply, and Finance to bring new solutions to market.
P&L Accountability & A&CP Investment
Operate with full visibility and accountability across the total Pet Nutrition P&L, understanding how marketing choices impact revenue, margin, and profit delivery.
Own the A&CP budget across the portfolio, leading allocation decisions across brands, channels, and capabilities grounded in ROI, portfolio priorities, and category growth potential.
Make trade-off decisions that balance brand building with short-term commercial pressure, ensuring marketing investment drives both top-line growth and bottom-line contribution.
Deploy with Excellence, Build Where Needed
Execute global and regional playbooks with precision while identifying where the Canadian market demands locally built solutions.
Lead pilot programs, test emerging platforms and go-to-market models, and scale proven approaches with entrepreneurial judgment.
Own the PMR step and drive excellence in execution across all touchpoints.
Marketing Excellence & Center of Excellence Leadership
Lead the Marketing Excellence organization including COE teams across media, omnichannel, recruitment marketing, and creative studio.
Set capability standards and drive operational effectiveness, ensuring these teams serve the full One Demand system not marketing alone.
Leverage data-driven insights, digital tools, and AI capability to drive media effectiveness and content excellence.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Enterprise Influence
Represent the Canadian Market Unit to internal stakeholders across North America and globally, ensuring alignment on innovation pipelines, brand platforms, and new capability deployment while advocating for local market needs.
Serve as a key strategic partner on the Canadian Leadership Team, shaping unit strategy and influencing enterprise-wide outcomes.
Influence senior stakeholders on investment needs, priorities, and strategic choices rooted in data and consumer insights.
Navigate Mars' matrix organization effectively, partnering across functions, geographies, and senior leadership to drive One Demand alignment.
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.
Best-in-class 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.
Qualifications Decision Quality; Cultivates Innovation; Strategic Mindset; Business Insight; Manages Complexity; Drives Results
Req ID R153682