This job has expired, please see additional jobs below
Director of Product Management
Mars
San Francisco, CA, United States
Job Details - this job has expired, please see similar jobs below
Director of Product Management
A mutually rewarding experience.
Work. Realize your ambitions. And realize there’s more to being in business than just making a profit. That’s the Mars philosophy. And the opportunity we offer every one of our Associates. An opportunity to take what you do and make it mean more for you, for those around you and for the planet. What you get here is challenging, interesting work. You get the tools you need to do a great job and you get to have the best possible people on your side to help you do it. And at the same time as getting to find ways to do business better today than we did it yesterday and driving a great career, you also get to build a more enlightened business and drive sustainability.
Because it’s never just about a single person, a single project or a single brand. It’s about how you can grab everything that’s within your reach here and use it to pursue mutual, long-term gain. It’s about having ideas. And ideals. Being prepared to risk failure because the promise of success means we’ll all be a little better off. It’s that mix of integrity and ambition that makes Mars such a special place to work. And why working here is always about more than just a job.
About Mars, Incorporated
Mars is a family-owned business with more than a century of history making diverse products and offering services for people and the pets people love. With almost $35 billion in sales, the company is a global business that produces some of the world’s best-loved brands: M&M’s®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, MILKY WAY®, DOVE®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, WHISKAS®, EXTRA®, ORBIT®, 5™, SKITTLES®, UNCLE BEN’S®, MARS DRINKS and COCOAVIA®. Mars also provides veterinary health services that include BANFIELD® Pet Hospitals, Blue Pearl®, VCA® and Pet Partners™. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars operates in more than 80 countries. The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom – inspire its more than 100,000 Associates to create value for all its partners and deliver growth they are proud of every day.
Connected Solutions, Mars Petcare's newest business division is the hotbed for future innovation, data and analytics. At the forefront of emerging innovation and technology for pets, pet owners and veterinarians, with WISDOM PANEL™ HEALTH, a patented genetic technology testing for dogs and the WHISTLE® GPS dog tracker, as well as the Leap Accelerator and Companion Fund; programs to support startup innovation and the next generation of disruptors in the pet care industry.
The Business Development team is central to our Innovation Agenda, and has three core roles. The first is to build our “startup studios”, the internally developed ideation and business creation unit. The second is to own our Accelerator program working with our partners to identify early stage startups to invest, partner and mentor in conjunction with internal and external expert. Lastly, the business development team is focused on driving key strategic partnerships for the entire business development lifecycle in the Petcare category that compliment our current businesses within Mars Petcare.
The Director of Product Management (“PM”) is a key team member of the business development team for a particular new business opportunity. Specifically, the PM is accountable for the product strategy and go to market plan for new business ventures from conception through to pilot, scale and transition either to a standalone business or back into an existing core business.
Our Product Managers are the champions of the product and the target customer it serves, evangelizing the opportunity both within and outside the core team. The role combines a deep understanding of the customer’s needs with the capabilities of the development team and emerging technologies to define a product strategy that is both compelling and achievable.
This role is the first hire within the product management organization and will have huge potential for future growth. The role could be based in Portland OR, San Francisco, CA or New York, NY.
• Drive the vision for the product; leading decision making on overall product positioning and pricing
• Brainstorm and source new ideas for development across the business, from potential customers and within existing markets and external categories.
• Develop and create product management framework to build, test, learn and accelerate startup creation within Mars Petcare
• Define the product roadmap, determining which features should be prioritized and in what timeframe
• Understand and drive team wide understanding of market and industry dynamics, keeping his/her finger on the pulse of what competitors are doing including working closely with the core business and startups to understand how the market is shifting and what impact these dynamics should have on product strategy both in the short term and long term
• Lead the cross functional team – including design, development, QA, data science, operations, sales & marketing, and legal - in the planning, requirement definition, design, development, test, deployment and support of releases across the life-stage of the new venture
• To the extent the offering is new and may not be distributed through existing channels and processes, the PM will also lead growth and operations efforts during the pilot and accelerate stages.
• Measures how the product is performing against stated objectives and uses ongoing analytics and empathy work to make changes to product roadmap as informed by data.
• Own the P&L of the new venture and own the relationship with internal and external investors to raise additional capital for new ventures
• Opportunity to become GM of the new venture going forward as these ideas scale and grow into standalone businesses
Key Skills Required
• Experience in start-ups and/or new product development functions within large organizations.
• Proven success and experienced failures in taking a new product from idea to launch and learned from it
• Ability to build empathy with customers; experience working with customers in field and in forming and leading customer co-development advisory boards
• Experience with technology landscapes and potential portfolio of technologies that may be leveraged to get the right product to market in the right time period
• Experience leading cross functional teams using LEAN start up approaches; knows how to manage a technology team using agile
• Expert knowledge in project management methodologies leading cross functional teams using agile and/or LEAN start-up approaches
• Experience working with various business models, understanding the various inputs that influence ROI and incorporating those insights into product development.
• Highly analytical with the ability to consume, process and transform large amounts of information into actionable insights.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment, comfort with ambiguity, and excellent interpersonal skills with an entrepreneurial spirit and sense of humor.
• Strong passion for the petcare industry
Minimum Qualifications:
8 years’ experience in new product development or management where he/she has been responsible for product vision, positioning, product roadmaps, product requirements and delivery of product into marketplace.
Bachelors Degree
Up to 30% travel required
Cross-functional partnership across engineering, design
Analytics background to analyze product over time
Preferred Qualifications:
9+ years of experience in product management, startups, or management consulting driving user and revenue growth via partnerships to have built depth of such competence.
MBA or advanced technical degree a plus.
Experience managing or working in cross-functional teams within in a start-up environment
Mars is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process because of a disability, it is available upon request. The company is pleased to provide such assistance, and no applicant will be penalized as a result of such a request.
Nearest Major Market:San Francisco
Nearest Secondary Market:Oakland
Job Segment: Manager, Consulting, Engineer, Outside Sales, Business Development, Management, Engineering, Technology, Sales