Sr. Director- Global Strategic Business Partner

Job Description:

The Transformation Office (TO) enables the Mars Snacking Leadership Team (MSLT) to translate strategy into execution and deliver step-change performance. The TO acts as the connective tissue across strategy, portfolio prioritization, and enterprise execution, ensuring focus, alignment, and pace across our most critical initiatives.

The team builds the bridge between strategic ambition and tangible outcomes by shaping the enterprise agenda, integrating and prioritizing initiatives, and ensuring disciplined delivery against our highest-value opportunities.

The role of the Transformation Office includes:

Enabling high-quality, agile leadership decision-making to accelerate delivery of strategic priorities Driving enterprise-wide strategic coherence and prioritization, ensuring alignment across initiatives, resources, and financial outcomes Leading the translation of strategy into execution, connecting the strategic portfolio to clear plans and measurable outcomes Strengthening stakeholder engagement and change leadership to support adoption, accountability, and sustained impact

What are we looking for?

• 15+ years of relevant experience in consumer-facing industries strongly preferred
• Bachelor's degree required. MS/MBA preferred.
• Experience in consulting (internal, external, or both)
• Experience leading program development, roadmap design, and/or strategy execution across a range of topics
• Proven track record of structuring and delivering large, complex transformation initiatives
• Cross-functional experience across multiple business areas and organizational levels
• Demonstrated success working with C-suite executives
• Experience with governance, risk management, and initiative prioritization is a plus

The TO team is looking for a senior strategic partner to play a key role in supporting strategy delivery. The role plays a critical part in elevating the quality of thinking that shapes direction and execution. Acting as a senior strategic partner, you will provide executive-level thought leadership, helping to shape choices and partnering closely with business leaders to define the right ambition, priorities, and pathways forward.

You will work across the enterprise and business units, leaning into the moments that matter most, where there is ambiguity, tension, or trade-offs to navigate. As a trusted advisor, you will challenge constructively, surface key decisions, and help leaders move forward with clarity and confidence, ensuring strong alignment and execution excellence across transformation efforts.

The work will continuously evolve based on the needs of the business, offering broad exposure and the opportunity to engage across a wide range of strategic topics. One moment you may be helping shape the direction of an enterprise transformation, and the next you may be supporting a critical leadership discussion or preparing for a key governance forum. It's a dynamic role that offers both variety and impact-and rarely looks the same from one day to the next.

What will be your key responsibilities?

Role responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

DRIVING EXECUTION OF ENTERPRISE TRANSFORMATION PRIORITIES:

Act as an execution expert and strategic thought partner to senior leaders on complex, high-impact transformation initiatives across the enterprise. This includes:

• Translating strategic ambition into clear, actionable roadmaps that align day-to-day execution with intended outcomes and priorities
• Supporting senior leaders in scoping, planning, and executing critical or sensitive transformation initiatives
• Defining key milestones, guiding stakeholders toward delivery, and ensuring timely, transparent progress tracking
• Leveraging stakeholder mapping, along with change and communication expertise, to drive alignment and adoption through execution
• Monitoring performance, identifying risks early, and dynamically adjusting plans to ensure successful outcomes

ELEVATING QUALITY OF THINKING ON PRIORITY TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVES:

• Provoking future-back thinking to ensure initiatives deliver transformative value and build future-fit, competitive capabilities
• Identifying where adaptive leadership is required to unlock step-change impact
• Navigating the operating model to enable scale, while connecting thinking across initiatives that cut across functions, markets, and business units

CREATING THE CONDITIONS TO DRIVE STRATEGIC DECISIONS:

Support senior leadership and transformation governance forums (e.g., TO SteerCo) through:

• Agenda and session design that surfaces the most critical decisions and conversations
• Facilitating discussions that address ambiguity, surface trade-offs, and remove roadblocks
• Ensuring efficient, outcome-oriented meeting processes that accelerate decision-making and execution

BUILDING TRANSFORMATION OFFICE CAPABILITY:

• Serve as a mentor and role model to team members, supporting onboarding and development
• Act as a center of expertise for the Transformation Office and broader organization on strategy execution, executive engagement, and enterprise transformation
• Drive continuous improvement of TO capabilities, including identifying and scaling new approaches, tools, and ways of working

The ideal candidate will bring:

• Executive presence & influence: Engages confidently with senior leaders across the enterprise, including C-suite executives, with the ability to operate independently, challenge constructively, and build credibility quickly.
• Comfort with senior leadership: Understands how senior leaders think, operate, and make decisions; adapts approach and communication to be effective, pragmatic, and outcome-oriented.
• Organizational agility: Navigates a complex, matrixed organization like Mars with ease; influences across boundaries and drives alignment without formal authority.
• Drive for results: Brings energy, focus, and accountability; consistently delivers against commitments and pushes self and others to achieve outcomes.
• Learning agility & perspective: Operates as a strategic generalist with the ability to quickly get up to speed across diverse topics, identify what matters most, and translate insight into action that advances enterprise priorities.
• Ability to inspire direction and purpose: Communicates a compelling vision and translates it into tangible goals, milestones, and momentum that mobilize teams and stakeholders.
• Strong communication skills: Excels at simplifying complex topics, crafting clear narratives, and delivering impactful executive-level communication and presentations.
• Collaborative leadership: Builds strong, trusted relationships quickly; demonstrates active listening and fosters an environment of openness and partnership across teams and leadership groups.
• Process & execution discipline: Breaks down complex strategies into actionable work, brings structure and clarity, and drives coordinated execution across stakeholders.
• Strategy execution expertise: Demonstrates deep understanding of how to translate strategy into enterprise-wide execution in a structured, scalable, and results-oriented way; able to coach others to do the same.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity: Thrives in complex, fast-moving environments; brings clarity, structure, and momentum in situations with uncertainty and evolving priorities.

What can you expect from Mars?

• Work with over 130,000 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.

#LI-KR2

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The base pay range for this position at commencement of employment is between the range listed below, however, base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including but not limited to job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package for this position will include variable pay, medical and dental benefits, participation in 401k plan, and paid time off benefits. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an applicant receives an offer of employment.

The pay range shown is applicable to all US locations listed within the job posting:USD 192,560.00 - USD 264,770.00

Client-provided location(s): Chicago, IL

Job ID: Mars-R155879

Employment Type: FULL_TIME

Posted: 2026-05-23T19:47:37