APAC Regional Portfolio Strategy and Innovation Director

Job Description:

The APAC Regional Portfolio Strategy & Innovation Director is a strategic and thought leader that will be responsible for developing and deploying regional portfolio strategies and initiatives related to strategic portfolio, innovation management to accelerate our value creation and sustainable growth ambition within the Asia-Pacific region.

This region includes China Big Bet Market, Japan, Hong-Kong & Taiwan, Australia & New Zealand, Korea, and from 2025 also SEA cluster, that includes Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.

This role will have a strategic impact and ultimately will help the region to drive our growth agenda, enabling Royal Canin achieving the overall goals and objectives (OGSM 2030) and having a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of more than 10 million of cats and dogs by 2030.  

The APAC Regional Portfolio Strategy & Innovation Director will be the subject matter expert of Portfolio Strategy and Innovation, and will require navigating the complexity of a matrix organization, interdependencies and management of different senior stakeholders such as global Innovation and activation directors and teams, R&D directors, Asia Pacific leadership teams, the Regional President and collaborating with various teams in the region and in the markets (incl. activity management, marketing, insights, etc. - across a big diversity of geographies and cultures, region and global and even x-segment) to get alignment and achieve the business goals.

This role will also require a deep understanding of the pet food industry, market trends, and consumer preferences and about our Royal Canin/Eukanuba portfolio (Products, Services, Knowledge), being able to leverage insights and transform those into plans. Will also require deep knowledge of Strategic Revenue Management (SMR), incl. deep understanding and of pricing strategies, price pack architecture.

The APAC Regional Portfolio Strategy & Innovation Director will be identifying key opportunities, defining investment areas and building the business case together with the relevant stakeholders, developing and supporting strategy implementation, driving for impact in the region.

The APAC Regional Portfolio Strategy & Innovation Director will lead the APAC Portfolio Management Review (with 2 steps) of the APAC S&OP+ Process.

• Tertiary qualifications (preferably Commerce or Business with Marketing Major)
• 10+ years of experience in petcare industry, including Portfolio management, Innovation, Pricing / Strategic Revenue Management, category management, customer marketing / brand management at local market and regional and/or global level
• Pet Care experience is essential
• Successful experience in a local market and regional and/or global level
• Experience of working in more than 1 geography/market, leading multi-markets projects
• Successful experience of working across cultures
• Excellent written and oral English language skills
• A strong sense of perspective and understand how your role fits into the bigger picture
• Strong analytical skills with ability to navigate through complexity & ambiguity
• Leadership skills and track record in creating collaborative relationships
• Strong category / customer expertise
• Possesses an Internal network within Mars / Royal Canin, has profound acquaintance with key interfaces collaborating across different functions
• Confident decision-making with the ability to influence internal and external partners. Ability to work across all functions of the company.
• Collaborative skills and ability to lead without authority a must
• Strong communication and presentation skills, both verbal and written
• Ability to handle multiple projects, tasks and priorities

• Develop and lead the deployment of the regional portfolio strategies and x-pillar portfolio principles that align with the company's overall goals and objectives (in service of delivering our growth plans and accelerate premiumization in APAC, ultimately to impact and accelerate in our priority health territories.
• It will include the focus on:  where to play: sources of growth, identify the key bets and overinvest where we want to win; focus on the largest granular growth opportunities across the region and in each market; drive the premiumization plan at scale;  and how to win: define portfolio strategy for the region, considering the needs and opportunities incl. product availability, distribution strategy, sourcing, pack size, pricing strategy, profitability, etc.
• Develop the value creation plan for Royal Canin (and Eukanuba) and be a passionate advocate and developing the brands according to our ambition – for the region and double down on China Big Bet and other key emergent & focus markets.
• Lead the strategic revenue management capabilities at regional level.
• Work and collaborate with cross-functional teams, including marketing, sales, and product development, innovation, R&D, VCO, Regulatory, Finance, etc. (at the different levels – global/region/local - to ensure alignment and successful execution of regional strategies. Influence and manage closely senior stakeholders. Work with the VCM teams in the region and in the APAC markets to develop, deploy a compliant and successful portfolio, and to ensure flawless execution.
• Provide insights re.  industry trends, market research, and consumer preferences to inform strategic decisions on portfolio and innovation.
• Lead and coordinate the innovation process from APAC with the global team, driving the innovation agenda with Global, having APAC as key contributor for the innovation pipeline development.
• Identify the key opportunities to ensure that the Big Bet market (China) needs are reflected in the innovation process and that we have a concrete plan to unlock the key products not yet available.
• Influence Global Innovation Process and its continuous improvement, actively providing feedback based upon facts, experience, and suggestions from the APAC teams.
• Strengthen the collaboration and APAC representation to be the go-to person to connect and influence Global stakeholders in APAC and in the global headquarters.
• Monitor and analyze portfolio performance, identifying opportunities for growth and improvement, in line with our growth  and Health through Nutrition agenda.
• Drive collaboration, codify and share best practices across the regional & global community
• Inspires through transformational change by engaging and actively developing the APAC demand community
• Lead the APAC Portfolio Management Review (R-PMR, that includes 2 steps – 1/ focused on project deployment & escalation and 2/ drive strategic demand priorities), of the APAC S&OP+ Process. Including all necessary feeder and follow-up actions, interfacing with Global, Regional and Business Units Stakeholders.
• Represent the APAC R-PMR at APAC-IRR for each cycle and APAC MBR when necessary.
• Follow and map-out the deployment and activation of Global Must-Have List formulas in APAC, while considering APAC acceleration opportunities and priorities.
• Create clear and measurable goals and objectives for the team to support critical business objectives, and partner with cross-functional teams.
• Promote a High Performing Collaboration mindset, and with all key stakeholders and functions.
• Foster career development and growth paths for associates in alignment with company and personal objectives.

• Work with over 140,000 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.