Peanuts and Tree Nuts are essential raw materials for top Mars-Wrigley brands such as Snickers®, M&Ms®, Twix®, Dove® and KIND®. Hence the supply quality, safety and assurance of these ingredients is critical to the growth of the business. This requires strong Nuts Science & Technology Programs that can address key current and future business challenges and opportunities.

A critical mid-level role within the Global Science & Technology team is a Senior Scientist to lead Peanut and Tree nut research initiatives which address key compliance risks such as microbial, mycotoxins, contaminants, oxidative stability, and foreign objects while addressing gaps and opportunities to improve Material Quality Management (MQM) for Nuts. Additionally, this role delivers against key initiatives to ensure a resilient and sustainable supply of fit for purpose ingredients, and to enable quality growth for current and future products.

The Senior Scientist will develop and provide global subject matter expertise in focused areas of Peanuts and Tree Nuts. They are expected to have a technical background along with high learning agility that will enable them to grow and develop their nut science expertise and stakeholder influence while leading more advanced projects.

What are we looking for?

• Education & Professional Qualifications

• B.S. in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Food Science, or relevant scientific discipline and 3 years of related experience.

  Preferred: MS in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Food Science, or relevant scientific discipline and 3-5 years of related industry experience.

• Knowledge / Experience

• Demonstrated record of building, leading and implementing complex initiatives.
• Development of robust experimental design and data analysis.
• Experience with raw materials/ingredient research, especially Peanuts and/or Tree Nuts.
• Experience with Material Quality Management (MQM), Quality Management Programs (QMP) and Quality and Food Safety (Q&FS).
• Understanding of Plant and Agronomic Science.
• An advanced understanding of the key scientific concepts associated with food systems, their analytical composition and ingredient/process interaction is critical.
• Travel to other Mars sites, vendors and farms required up to 25%, which could include international travel.
• Flexibility to work across different time zones to support global projects

Context and Scope

The Senior Scientist plays a key role in the development and governance of Peanut and Tree Nut Ingredients and supporting Science & Technology strategies. The associate will develop and lead research initiatives to ensure the compliance of our nuts raw materials and ingredients while enabling supply resilience, sustainability and growth. This requires thought leadership, technical expertise and consultation as well as the development of new capabilities, technologies, processes and best practices. They will develop and maintain an advanced level of working knowledge of state of the art in their specific scientific/technological discipline, collaborate with internal multidisciplinary teams and partner externally with key suppliers, farmers, universities and research consortia. This role is an individual contributor, technical expert reporting to the Sr. Manager of the Mint, Nuts Flavor Team, within Global Science and Technology.

What will be your key responsibilities?

• Provides input and guidance to functional strategies, influences key stakeholders, develops business cases from a Nuts Science & Technology perspective and leads technical teams to generate new ideas and approaches.
• Supports programs which deliver new solutions aligned with strategic business priorities.
• Initiates new projects, assigns priority reflecting the business goals, secures resources internally and externally, and maximizes the availability of the required skills and competencies.
• Leads the delivery of complex projects in the areas of quality, safety and supply resilience which deliver new technical solutions for nuts; in alignment with the business priorities.
• Designs, develops and manages scale up of raw materials, processes and specifications that translate to full-scale production and provide competitive advantage to Mars Inc.
• Designs and executes quality plans throughout the pipeline process – from raw materials to shelf life of finished products.
• Develops and provides global subject matter expertise for nuts raw materials, ingredients and quality management, and provides technical business support.
• Provides technical risk assessments and raw material specifications for global and regional units that deliver quality product at scale.
• Proactively provides technical insights on emerging science and new technologies related to nuts.
• Communicates research outputs and maintains effective internal and external collaborations.

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.

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.