Customer Growth Director SSA at Mars

As the Customer Growth Director SSA at Mars Snacking, you will lead the customer growth agenda across Sub-Saharan Africa by translating deep shopper and customer insights into scalable commercial strategies. In this senior leadership role, you will champion initiatives that enhance availability, conversion, and ROI across diverse retail landscapes—spanning Traditional Trade, Modern Trade, and D-Commerce.

Acting with an enterprise mindset, you will serve as a vital commercial partner to the General Manager Sub Sahara Africa and the broader Africa Business Team. You will steer a passionate team, build enduring strategic partnerships with key trading partners across the region, and unlock long-term profitable growth for our iconic snacking portfolio, including confectionery, salty snacks, and cereals.

What are we looking for?

• Extensive FMCG Commercial Leadership: A proven FMCG sales and commercial professional with 15–20+ years of progressive experience, demonstrating a strong track record in sales execution, customer development, category strategy, and joint business planning.
• Educational Background: A bachelor’s degree is required; an MBA or advanced degree in Business Administration or a related commercial discipline is strongly preferred.
• Regional & Channel Agility: Broad market understanding across Sub-Saharan Africa, with hands-on expertise navigating Traditional Trade route-to-market, Modern Trade partnerships, and emerging D-Commerce channels.
• Financial & Budget Mastery: Proven experience owning and optimizing multi-market customer, shopper marketing, and display budgets to maximize commercial return on investment (ROI).
• People Leadership & Talent Development: Demonstrated track record of leading, inspiring, and developing high-performing teams, fostering inclusion, engagement, and personal growth for direct reports and cross-functional associates.
• Mindset & Strategic Vision: A strategic thinker with strong business acumen and executive presence who can navigate complexity, influence key stakeholders, and convert shopper insights into tangible retail execution.

What would be your key responsibilities?

• Lead the SSA Customer Growth Agenda: Guide and mentor the Customer Growth Team to formulate and deliver efficient, profitable, and sustainable commercial growth plans across Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Drive In-Store & Digital Excellence: Spearhead execution for Intelligent Perfect Store and Perfect Digital Store programs, Transaction Zone initiatives, and impactful shopper activations that improve on-shelf conversion and physical availability.
• Deliver Insight-Led Strategies: Translate shopper, channel, and market insights into high-impact category and display solutions, partnering closely with regional sales teams and service partners.
• Budget Optimization & Governance: Oversee customer, display, and shopper marketing budgets across SSA, ensuring rigorous evaluation, measurement, and optimal ROI for commercial investments.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner actively with the Growth, Marketing, and Demand Planning teams to feed actionable market intelligence into regional innovation, forecasting, and brand strategies.
• Contribute to Business Leadership: Serve as an active member of the Africa Business Team, driving business objectives, organizational capability, and Mars culture across the region.