Global Head of Science & Technology

**Job Description:** **Location**: Oud-beijerland **Segment:** Mars Food & Nutrition **Reports To:** Vice President, Global R&D – Mars Food & Nutrition ### About Mars Food & Nutrition At Mars Food & Nutrition, we are dedicated to our purpose: **Better Food Today. A Better World Tomorrow.** We are a segment of Mars, Incorporated, proud to produce some of the world's most beloved and iconic brands, including _Ben's Original™_, _Dolmio®_, _Tasty Bite®_, _MasterFoods__™_, and _Kevin’s Natural Foods_. Our mission is to scale our global business by delivering foods that are **Tasty, Accessible, and Healthy**. ### The Opportunity We are seeking a visionary **Global Head of Science & Technology (S&T)** to join our executive R&D leadership team. In this role, you will be the primary bridge between cutting-edge scientific discovery and commercial business growth. You will shape and execute our global S&T strategy over a 1-to-5+ year horizon, translating complex science into scalable, proprietary technology platforms that deliver our short, medium, and long-term business objectives. As a key member of the **Mars Science Leadership Team (MSLT)**, you will also collaborate across our sister segments (such as Snacking and Petcare) to shape enterprise-wide scientific strategies and champion our future technical talent pipeline. What are your key responsibilities? ----------------------------------- * **Drive the S&T Strategy:** Define and execute a 1-5+ year technology roadmap that directly supports our business growth and scales our portfolio of Tasty, Accessible, and Healthy food solutions. * **Lead Pipeline & Scale-Up:** Oversee the end-to-end S&T pipeline from proof-of-concept to commercial hand-off. Take operational ownership of our global R&D labs and pilot plant facilities to ensure seamless scale-up to global factories. * **Global Process Standardization:** Govern global process specifications and partner with Global Engineering to standardize technologies across our global manufacturing sites. * **Pilot Plant & Scale-Up Governance:** Provide operational leadership for global R&D labs and pilot facilities, ensuring safe and seamless technical scale-up. * **Open Innovation Ecosystem:** Build strategic relationships with universities, research institutes, suppliers, and start-ups to accelerate proprietary scientific breakthroughs. * **IP Protection:** Proactively safeguard and patent breakthrough technologies, securing our global freedom to operate. * **Inspire and Develop Talent:** Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing, diverse global team of scientists and process engineers, preparing the capability pipeline for our future R&D needs. What are we looking for? ------------------------ * **Education:** Ph.D. or Master’s degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Chemical/Process Engineering, or a closely related scientific discipline. * **FMCG Track Record:** 15+ years of progressive R&D leadership experience in a global fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) or food ingredients environment. * **Commercialization Success:** Proven experience taking proprietary food technologies from early-stage discovery to successful, large-scale commercialization in complex global manufacturing environments. * **Travel:** Ability to travel globally 20% to 30% of the time. * **Strategic & Business Acumen:** You know how to translate scientific opportunities into clear growth strategies, balancing long-term exploratory pipelines with short-term business deliverables. * **Technical Mastery:** You bring expertise and knowledge in food chemistry, scale-up methodologies, and advanced process engineering. * **Innovation Leadership:** You create an environment that encourages creativity and experimentation, driving breakthrough innovation while managing execution excellence.  You champion external collaboration and open innovation. * **Scientific Communication:** You are a highly effective communicator who can build deep, strategic relationships with external research partners and easily explain complex science to non-technical business partners. * **People Leadership:** You have a passion for mentoring and developing multidisciplinary teams, fostering a collaborative culture of scientific excellence and continuous learning 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. * A strong focus on 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.