Job Description:The Discover team is a new construct at Mars Snacking, designed to unite human intelligence, consumer-centric design, research, and Science &amp; Tech capabilities to transform long-horizon innovation. This team’s mandate is twofold: first, to identify and interpret early signals of emerging human behaviors and tensions that will shape innovation priorities; and second, to drive front-end innovation focused on the most critical consumer tensions, developing high-potential propositions across categories and brands.The Discover Agile Innovation Insights - Associate Director reports into Global Agile Innovation Insights Director at Mars Snacking. Key internal partners include R&amp;D, Marketing, and Design to co-create solutions based on identified jobs and pain points.This role operates within a culture that champions a “test, learn, adapt” mindset—embedding agile, iterative discovery into the front end of innovation. It requires a human behavior-obsessed leader with a keen intuition for subtle but significant signals, an innovator who can translate deep needs and tensions into platform-able concepts, and a collaborator who can influence innovation leaders and entrepreneurs through compelling, insight-driven ideas. The role emphasizes speed, continuous learning, and organizational capability-building in qualitative discovery and agile insights. What are we looking for?<ul><li>Proven expertise in qualitative research methodologies such as ethnographies, interviews, and co-creation to uncover deep consumer insights and tensions.</li><li>Strong experience in translating emerging consumer trends and behaviors into actionable innovation opportunities and white spaces.</li><li>Demonstrated ability to lead agile experimentation cycles, including hypothesis development, rapid prototyping, and iterative learning.</li><li>Excellent collaboration and influencing skills, with a track record of partnering effectively across R&amp;D, Marketing, and Design teams to drive innovation.</li><li>Experience with jobs-to-be-done frameworks, pain point mapping and prioritization, and familiarity with agile innovation processes</li><li>Nice to have: background in consumer goods or snacking industry.</li></ul>What will be your key responsibilities?Human-Centric Discovery <ul><li>Lead early exploration to identify unmet needs, pain points, and whitespace opportunities. </li><li>Conduct in-depth qualitative research (ethnographies, immersions, interviews, co-creation, observations). </li><li>Translate findings into jobs-to-be-done frameworks that capture functional, emotional, and social needs. </li><li>Synthesize insights into innovation territories and opportunity platforms that inspire new ideas. </li><li>Build consumer empathy across teams by sharing stories and artifacts that bring needs and tensions to life. </li><li>Leverage trends, foresight, and weak signals to inspire innovation platforms and idea generation. </li><li>Prioritize critical opportunities by surfacing underlying tensions and providing clear decision frameworks. </li></ul>Agile Experimentation <ul><li>Design and execute lean tests (concepts, prototypes, pilots, digital experiments) to validate hypotheses. </li><li>Create rapid learning loops to refine opportunities and shape ideas iteratively. </li><li>Define success KPIs focused on consumer resonance, desirability, and feasibility. </li><li>Collaboration &amp; Influence </li><li>Partner with R&amp;D, Marketing, and Design to co-create solutions based on identified jobs and pain points. </li><li>Facilitate workshops, sprints, and ideation sessions connecting insights to bold ideas. </li><li>Influence senior stakeholders by translating discovery insights into compelling narratives. </li></ul>Ways of Working <ul><li>Embed agile, iterative learning into the front end of innovation. </li><li>Promote a “test, learn, adapt” culture prioritizing speed and continuous improvement. </li><li>Contribute to building organizational capability in qualitative discovery, jobs-to-be-done, and agile insights</li></ul>What can you expect from Mars?<ul><li>Work with diverse and talented Associates, all guided by the Five Principles.</li><li>Join a purpose-driven company, where we’re striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.</li><li>Best-in-class learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.</li><li>An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.</li></ul>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 locations listed within the job posting:USD 168,217.00 - USD 231,293.00

Royal Canin

Discover Agile Innovation - Associate Director of Insights USA-Illinois-Chicago

Royal Canin