The Associate Media Manager plays a critical role in delivering best-in-class national paid media planning and execution across Mars Canada Pet Nutrition portfolio of brands. Reporting to the Senior Manager, Integrated Media & Communications, this role serves as a key connector between brand teams, agency partners, media vendors, and other cross-functional stakeholders to ensure campaigns are strategically sound, flawlessly executed, and optimized for performance.

This role is designed for a high-potential marketing professional seeking to accelerate their development. The successful candidate will demonstrate the capability to progressively assume greater ownership of media strategy, agency leadership, stakeholder management, and business planning responsibilities, with a path toward future opportunities at Mars.

What Are We Looking For?

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, communications, or a related field.
• 3–5 years of experience in media advertising, marketing, integrated communications in CPG or advertising agency environments.
• Proven track record of media planning and execution across digital, social, video, search, retail media, and traditional channels.
• Strong analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills, with demonstrated ability to translate media performance data into actionable business recommendations and proactively drive projects forward in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.

Nice to Haves:

• Experience working with learning agendas, media measurement and attribution frameworks, including brand and business outcome metrics.
• Experience managing media budgets, forecasting, and financial reconciliation processes.

Key Competencies

• Ownership mindset with strong prioritization, organization, and follow-through.
• Ability to navigating ambiguity, identify risk, and drive results independently.
• Strategic and analytical thinking with data-driven approach to decision-making.
• Strong project management skills with attention to detail and operational rigour.
• Effective stakeholder management with ability to influence across a matrixed organization.
• Strong communication and presentation skills.
• Curiosity, learning agility, and growth mindset.
• Confidence to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and proactively improve processes.

What Will Be Your Key Responsibilities?

Media Planning & Campaign Delivery

• Support the development and execution of full-funnel media plans aligned to business and brand objectives, ensuring campaigns are delivered on time, on budget, and according to established governance processes.

Agency & Cross-Functional Partnership

• Serve as a key day-to-day partner to agencies and internal stakeholders, driving alignment, accountability, and effective collaboration across brand, insights, digital, ecommerce, finance, legal, and procurement teams.

Media Performance Management & Optimization

• Monitor campaign performance, identify optimization opportunities, analyze results, and translate insights into clear recommendations that improve media effectiveness and business outcomes.    

Budget Management & Governance

• Manage media budgets, forecasts, invoicing, and campaign governance processes while proactively identifying risks, resolving issues, and driving continuous improvement across ways of working.

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.
• 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.

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