JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Description:

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Partnership & Business Alignment

• Direct dialogue with China Business Segment President/GM and Senior leadership team to deeply understand market challenges, growth drivers, and talent implications.

• Proactively identify (“smell”) capability needs across the organization and influence business leaders to integrate L&D priorities into the broader people strategy.

• Provoke business leaders’ assumptions of capability gaps, and lead strategic conversations to accurately diagnose and validate the real learning needs behind business challenges.

• Inspire new possibilities of what/how L&D solutions can contribute to business growth, and obtain strong endorsement and sponsorship from senior leadership team.

• Act as the reliable strategic L&D partner for business leaders, being the first person they turn to for capability development opportunity/challenge, and gaining credits with impactful learning solutions/advices

• Partner with segment P&O leaders to identify capability gaps and prioritize learning interventions that deliver measurable business impact, to support segment people strategy.

2. Learning Strategy Development

• Translate the China business strategy into a comprehensive L&D strategy that enables China business growth through capability development

• Guided by Global Mars U learning strategy, synthesize insights from dialogues with senior leadership team, capability gap analyses to formulate a comprehensive China L&D strategy that fully aligned with China’s business priorities and talent development agenda.

• Define clear strategic pillars, learning modalities (experiential, digital, blended, etc.), success KPIs, and governance models to drive capability building for today and tomorrow.

• Present and obtain buy-in from segment P&O heads and global stakeholders, ensuring the strategy is both locally relevant and globally aligned, and that sufficient resources and executive sponsorship are committed.

• Establish a strategy-to-execution roadmap that prioritizes high-impact initiatives, phases rollout plans, and builds organizational readiness for sustainable capability building.

• Continuously refine the China L&D strategy based on evolving business context, emerging market trends, stakeholders’ feedback, and strategic inputs from Global Mars U

3. Learning Program Design & Development

• Design, curate, and deliver high-impact learning solutions focused on leadership excellence, including 0-to-1 program design where needs coming from top leadership team (CXO level) and target learners are CXO-1 (one level below C-suite) across business segments

• Lead the end-to-end process of key learning initiatives, including needs analysis, instructional design, piloting, and scalable rollout across China.

• Demonstrate deep mastery and flexible application of leading L&D frameworks, methodologies and best practices to design a high-impact learning solutions that shift behavior, elevate performance and deliver measurable business outcomes. through cutting-edge learning experiences.

• Embed measurement and evaluation mechanisms upfront to track learner progress, behavior change, and business impact, iterating rapidly based on data and feedback to ensure learning solutions genuinely drive impact.

• Deploy global Mars U curricula with fit-for-China approach to ensure cultural relevance and technical compatibility

4. Learning Culture

• Lead initiative that foster a culture of learning in China under the direction of Global Mars University

• Champion the "Employer Value Proposition" (EVP) internally, ensuring learning is a key driver for talent attraction and retention.

• Drive the adoption of digital learning platforms and self-directed learning behaviors to create a modern and accessible learning environment

5. Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of L&D professionals in China.

• Manage team daily operation, ensuring high-quality delivery and cost-effectiveness.

• Build highly engaged HPC team

6. Member of Global Mars University Leadership Team

• Act as the strategic representative China within the Global Mars Learning Leadership Team.

• Proactively share market insights, regional talent trends, and best practices to influence the global learning roadmap.

• Ensure global alignment while advocating for the agility required to win in the local market.

Qualifications & Experience

• Experience: Minimum 15+ years of experience in Learning & Development, with at least 5 years in a leadership role. Experience within a Multi-National corporation (MNC) is mandatory.

• L&D Expertise：A seasoned Learning & Development expert with deep mastery of leading L&D frameworks and methodologies, and proven hands-on experience in design, development, and delivery of high-impact leadership programs for senior leaders, with proven track record of business impact.

• Strong expertise and experience in designing and facilitation of pivotal and fit-for-purpose workshops to senior leadership team based on various business needs.

• Strategic Agility: Proven track record of translating business strategy into actionable learning strategies. Strong ability to “smell” needs, challenging leaders’ assumptions, and validate real learning needs behind business challenges-not just fulfilling training requests. Must be able to demonstrate how L&D initiatives have directly supported business growth.

• Stakeholder Management: Extensive experience navigating complex, matrix organizations with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels without direct authority. Track record of conducting direct dialogues with senior leaders in providing L&D insights/recommendations

• Global Mindset: Comfortable operating in a dual-reporting structure. Able to balance global consistency with local customization.

• Project Management: Strong program management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

• Team Leadership: Proven experience leading, coaching and developing high-performing L&D team in a complex matrix organization

• Communication: Exceptional influencing, presentation, and coaching skills. Must be fluent in both English and Mandarin (written and verbal) to bridge global and local teams effectively.

Key Competencies

• Business Acumen: Understands P&L, marketing, and sales drivers.

• Consulting and Business Partnering Skill.

• Influencing without authority

• Strategic Mindset

• Innovation: Brings fresh ideas regarding digital learning and modern L&D trends.

• Managing Complexity

• Customer Centricity

• Global Perspective

• Purpose-driven and Value-focused

• Functional / technical skills: L&D Instructional Design / Adult Learning/Social Learning/Team Coaching etc.

About Mars: Mars is a family-owned business with more than $50 billion in global sales. We produce some of the world’s best-loved brands: M&M’s®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, MILKY WAY®, DOVE®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, WHISKAS®, EXTRA®, ORBIT®, 5™, SKITTLES®, BEN’S ORIGINAL® and COCOAVIA®. Alongside our consumer brands, we proudly take care of half of the world’s pets through our nutrition, health and services businesses such as Banfield Pet Hospitals™, BluePearl®, Linnaeus, AniCura, VCA™ and Pet Partners™. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars operates in more than 80 countries. The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom – inspire our 150,000 Associates into taking action every day towards creating the world we want tomorrow.

Commitment to Equal Employer Opportunities: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment in accordance with applicable law and without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, pregnancy, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other category protected under federal, state, and local laws. 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.

A Note to Candidates Regarding AI Embracing AI as a vital skill for today and tomorrow, we welcome candidates to use AI to assist with your preparation as you engage with our recruiting process—from helping to perfect your CV/resume to using it to refine your interview skills. While AI can assist you, we expect that your ideas, responses, and demonstration of competencies throughout the recruitment process are authentically your own. We value genuine engagement and want to see the real you shine. At Mars, AI is here to support—not replace—the human connection at the heart of our recruitment process.

Note to Search Firms/Agencies: Mars, Incorporated and its subsidiaries and affiliates (Mars) do not compensate search firms for unsolicited assistance unless they have a written search agreement with Mars and the requisition is position-specific. Any resumes, curriculum vitae, and other unsolicited assistance from search firms that do not have a written search agreement or position-specific requisition submitted to any Associate of Mars will be deemed the sole property of Mars and no fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Mars.