Product Owner - Architect, Plan & Deliver

The Digital Technologies Product Owner (Architect) - Plan & Deliver is the senior end-to-end technology product owner for supply chain planning and delivery capabilities across Mars Snacking AMEA, responsible for product strategy, architecture direction, roadmap, portfolio priorities, delivery and value realization.

The role serves as the primary regional DT partner for Supply Chain, Planning, Customer Service, Order Management, Logistics and Distribution, connecting the Global Product direction with AMEA business priorities, cluster requirements, Enterprise & TLT CoE delivery and sustainment.

The scope spans the end-to-end Plan & Deliver lifecycle: demand and supply planning, S&OP/IBP, production and inventory planning, supplier and network planning, deployment planning, customer and product master-data dependencies, Order-to-Cash (O2C), customer service and order management, fulfilment, warehousing, transportation, shipment visibility, distribution and related integrations.

Kinaxis is a core strategic platform within Enterprise Planning. The Product Owner must understand how Kinaxis planning capabilities and data requirements integrate with the regional SAP ECC and S/4HANA landscapes and downstream execution processes, while also managing relevant regional capabilities and transition from existing planning solutions.

The role combines business partnership, end-to-end product ownership, architecture direction, delivery leadership, deployment, adoption, sustainment and continuous improvement to create an integrated Plan & Deliver landscape that improves planning quality, service, inventory, fulfilment, logistics performance, resilience and business outcomes.

What will be your key responsibilities?

End-to-End Plan & Deliver Product Ownership:

• Own the AMEA Plan & Deliver product strategy, roadmap, portfolio, backlog, priorities, releases, dependencies, risks, adoption and value realization across planning through customer delivery.
• Serve as the primary regional DT product partner for Supply Chain, Demand and Supply Planning, Customer Service, Order Management, Warehousing, Transportation, Logistics and Distribution stakeholders.
• Translate business priorities into scalable product capabilities, architecture direction, delivery outcomes and measurable value, aligned with Global Product roadmaps and enterprise standards.
• Maintain an end-to-end view across planning and execution so optimization of one capability does not create unintended impacts across manufacturing, inventory, orders, logistics, Finance or customer service.
• Lead regional deployment of global products and templates while governing justified AMEA requirements and reducing unnecessary local customization.

Enterprise Planning & Kinaxis:

• Provide regional product leadership for Enterprise Planning with Kinaxis at the core of the transformation, spanning Demand, Supply, production, inventory, supplier and network planning.
• Partner with Global Product and Program teams on Kinaxis roadmap, deployment waves, process standardization, regional readiness, adoption and value realization.
• Ensure planning design is connected to the required SAP and non-SAP master data, including Product/Material, Location, Supplier, Customer, BOM, Resources and Transportation Lanes, and to the processes that maintain these data domains.
• Ensure the Kinaxis planning model integrates effectively with SAP ECC/S/4HANA and downstream execution, while recognizing relevant existing regional planning capabilities during transition.
• Partner with business, Data & Analytics, Master Data Management, integration teams and Product Owners to resolve process, data, integration and governance dependencies affecting planning outcomes.

Order-to-Cash, Customer Service & Fulfilment:

• Own the technology product direction for the O2C and customer fulfilment lifecycle within Plan & Deliver, with strong understanding of customer and business-partner master data, sales orders, order validation, confirmations, availability and allocation dependencies, delivery execution, shipment, invoicing integration and customer-service processes.
• Ensure O2C processes integrate effectively with planning, inventory, manufacturing, warehouse, transportation, Finance, Commercial, master data, EDI/integration services and external partners.
• Partner with Product Analysts and business teams on customer-service, order-management, e-invoicing, EDI and fulfilment requirements where these capabilities intersect the Plan & Deliver value stream.
• Maintain clear ownership and governance of cross-functional dependencies rather than treating O2C, planning, warehouse and transportation as isolated applications.

Warehouse, Transportation, Logistics & Distribution:

• Provide product direction across warehouse management, inventory execution, transportation management, route and shipment planning, logistics execution, distribution, shipment visibility and relevant 3PL/carrier integrations.
• Ensure alignment of warehouse and transportation capabilities with product/material master data, orders, inventory, deployment plans, customer requirements and Finance processes.
• Partner with WMS & Logistics Product Analysts, global teams, clusters, vendors, carriers and 3PLs on roadmap, design, delivery, adoption, supportability and performance improvement.

Architecture, Integration, Data & Controls:

• Guide the regional Plan & Deliver landscape across Kinaxis, SAP ECC/S/4HANA and relevant regional planning and execution platforms, working with Enterprise Architecture and Global Product teams on future-state direction.
• Ensure end-to-end integration across demand, supply, manufacturing, inventory, customer orders, warehousing, transportation, Finance, Commercial, Data and external logistics partners.
• Govern data, integration, security, controls, privacy, resilience, performance, application health, technical debt and non-functional requirements across the portfolio.
• Support a single, governed approach to master-data readiness across Product/Material, Customer/Business Partner, Supplier/Business Partner and planning-specific data dependencies.

Delivery, Deployment & CoE Governance:

• Lead product governance, design and architecture reviews, delivery controls, testing, data readiness, business readiness, cutover, adoption, hypercare and transition to sustainment.
• Work closely with Deployment roles, Product Analysts, BRMs, Global Product teams, IMO/program teams, Data & Analytics, Master Data Management, Test Management, vendors, system integrators and sustainment teams.
• Ensure process, requirements, solution, integration, data, control, test, training, operating, support and knowledge documentation is complete and reusable.
• Promote CoE standards, process standardization, reusable solutions, knowledge assets, analytics, automation, approved AI opportunities and continuous improvement.
• Measure adoption, business outcomes and value, and use post-implementation insights to refine roadmap priorities and subsequent deployment waves.

Success Measures

• Delivery of the agreed Plan & Deliver roadmap and priority initiatives with measurable business outcomes.
• Successful Kinaxis Enterprise Planning deployment and adoption across AMEA in alignment with Global Product direction and regional readiness.
• Improved integration and responsiveness across demand, supply, production, inventory, network, orders, warehouse, transportation and distribution decisions.
• Improved customer-service and fulfilment outcomes through effective end-to-end O2C integration and reliable master data.
• Successful deployments with controlled business disruption, effective user adoption and stable transition to sustainment.
• Stable, secure, integrated and supportable application landscape with reduced technical debt and unnecessary local complexity.
• Effective vendor and delivery-partner performance and demonstrated value realization.

What we are looking for

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Operations, Engineering, Business, Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related discipline. A postgraduate qualification in business, supply chain, operations or technology is preferred. Relevant supply-chain, product-management or platform certifications are desirable.
• 12+ years of experience in Enterprise Applications, Digital Technologies, Supply Chain technology, ERP delivery, product ownership, solution leadership or transformation.
• 10+ years of relevant experience across the end-to-end Supply Chain Plan & Deliver lifecycle, with strong experience spanning planning plus execution and fulfilment capabilities.
• Strong functional and technology understanding of demand and supply planning, S&OP/IBP, inventory, production and network planning, customer service, Order-to-Cash, order fulfilment, warehouse, transportation, logistics and distribution.
• Significant experience with Kinaxis or comparable enterprise planning platforms; direct Kinaxis implementation, product ownership or deployment experience is strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of SAP ECC and/or SAP S/4HANA and how planning solutions integrate with material/product, customer, supplier, production, inventory, order, warehouse, transportation and Finance processes.
• Proven experience leading multi-market or multi-site product roadmaps, large transformation or deployment initiatives, global templates, vendors and business adoption.
• Experience owning product backlogs, design and architecture decisions, data and integration dependencies, operational readiness, controls, sustainment and value realization.
• Experience partnering with senior Supply Chain and business stakeholders, Global Product teams, Enterprise Architecture, Data teams, delivery partners and sustainment organizations in a matrix environment.
• Strong stakeholder management, influencing, decision-making, problem-solving and executive communication skills.

Preferred

• Experience in FMCG, Consumer Products, food, manufacturing, retail or comparable complex supply-chain environments. - Hands-on or product-leadership experience with Kinaxis Maestro / Rapid Response planning capabilities. - Experience with SAP APO, SAP IBP, Anaplan and/or other legacy or regional planning platforms and transition to a strategic planning platform.
• Experience with SAP SD/O2C, SAP EWM/WM or other WMS, TMS, OMS, logistics visibility, EDI and external logistics integrations.
• Exposure to supply-chain analytics, scenario planning, control-tower capabilities, workflow automation, approved AI or digital-assistant opportunities.
• Product management, Agile, SAFe, PMP, APICS/ASCM, SAP, Kinaxis or enterprise-architecture certification

 
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.

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