Channel Development Director - Corporate Grocery

Job Description: As the Channel Development Director (CDD) – Corporate Grocery, you will drive Mars Pet Australia’s flagship revenue channel, delivering over $800 million in annual sales through our primary retail partners, Coles and Woolworths. Leading a high-performing team of nine Sales and Account Management professionals, you will hold end-to-end strategic and P&L accountability for this complex, fast-paced, and highly competitive omni-channel portfolio.

This is a critical leadership position within both the Pet Sales Leadership Team and the Pet Senior Leadership Community. Beyond driving your commercial portfolio, you will act as an enterprise leader - shaping Sales capability, steering long-term business strategy, and fostering deep, high-performance Associate engagement across the wider Mars network.

What you’ll do: Channel Strategy & Joint Business Development Strategic Planning: Develop and execute 3–5-year corporate grocery omni-channel strategies aligned with Mars Petcare’s global framework. Joint Business Plans: Formulate 2-3 year Joint Business Development Plans (JBDPs) to secure category growth and long-term competitive advantage online and instore.

Stakeholder Alignment: Manage ongoing high-level internal and external relationships to translate strategies into measurable, shared objectives. Commercial & P&L Management Financial Accountability: Hold full responsibility for GSV, Net Sales Value (NSV) targets, and trade investment optimization across the Corporate Grocery portfolio.

Trade Fund Stewardship: Partner with account teams, Coles 360, and Cartology to direct trade funds under a rigorous "Plan-Invest-Evaluate" cycle. Commercial Negotiations: Lead key commercial discussions, including Trading Term Reviews and profitability plans, to unlock mutually beneficial business opportunities. Drive Quality Availability & Brand Execution Perfect Store & Screen: Align physical "Perfect Store" and digital "Perfect Screen" benchmarks with retail partners to ensure maximum brand visibility.

Activation Excellence: Collaborate with customer marketing and retail networks to secure high-impact everyday displays and digital activation support. Collaborative Supply Chain Leadership Logistics Alignment: Partner with customer logistics teams to optimize CPFR initiatives, data integrity, and transport utilization.

Operational Performance: Meet key delivery targets (service levels and store fill rates) while actively identifying supply chain efficiencies that reduce waste. Associate Development & Capability Planning Coaching & Mentorship: Lead, coach, and inspire a direct team of nine, ensuring every Associate has a formal capability and developmental roadmap.

Talent Pipelines: Drive robust performance appraisal processes to foster an active internal succession pipeline for the broader Sales organization. What you’ll bring: We are seeking a visionary, commercial individual with a proven track record of leading large-scale retail operations within FMCG. To be successful in this role, you will bring: Commercial Leadership Experience: Proven experience operating at a Director or highly senior leadership level, managing large customer portfolios (ideally Coles and/or Woolworths) within the Australian FMCG landscape.

Full P&L Ownership: Deep experience managing multi-million-dollar budgets, optimizing trade investments, and working with modern retail media platforms. Strategic Excellence: Demonstrated capability in creating and executing 3-5 year multi-channel growth strategies and driving high-value Joint Business Development Plans (JBDP).

Exceptional People Leadership: A passionate developer of people, with a track record of building and managing diverse, high-performing teams (experience managing 5+ direct reports highly regarded) and fostering robust talent pipelines. Masterful Negotiation & Stakeholder Management: Highly polished communication skills, with extensive experience managing complex "top-to-top" executive negotiations and achieving industry-leading status in trade performance scorecards (e.

g., Advantage Survey).

Qualifications

A tertiary degree in Business, Commerce, Marketing, or a related discipline is highly desirable. Why you’ll love working for Mars: Purpose: Help craft beloved brands with a legacy of over 100 years of local manufacturing making products that people and pets will love all while helping to build a more sustainable future.

People: A culture that values your contributions, fosters leadership, and recognises the impact you make. Your work truly matters here. Development: Shape your career with personalised development and real opportunities to grow from day one. Wellbeing: Enjoy a team and business environment that is invested in helping you manage and grow your energy for work and life.

Mars is an equal opportunity employer and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, 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.