Product Owner Make

Job Description:

The Digital Technologies Product Owner - Make is accountable for the AMEA technology product strategy, roadmap, architecture direction and delivery priorities for manufacturing and plant operations.

The role partners with regional and global business and technology teams to deploy, sustain and improve SAP and connected manufacturing capabilities across Production Planning, Quality Management, Recipe Management, Product Lifecycle Management, Plant Maintenance, Smart Factory solutions and related integrations.

The Product Owner balances business priorities with global standards to deliver secure, scalable and reliable capabilities that improve plant performance, product quality, maintenance effectiveness, compliance and operational continuity.

What will be your key responsibilities?

Make Technology Strategy & Product Ownership

• Own the AMEA Make technology product strategy, roadmap and portfolio, aligned with manufacturing priorities and global product roadmaps.
• Serve as the primary regional DT product partner for Make leadership, plant stakeholders and cluster teams.
• Translate business needs into scalable product capabilities, roadmap priorities, architecture decisions and delivery outcomes.
• Own product backlog prioritisation, release planning, dependencies, risks, adoption and value realisation.
• Identify opportunities to simplify, standardise and automate manufacturing processes and technology across markets and sites.
• Ensure priorities support plant reliability, product quality, operational efficiency, compliance and user adoption.

SAP Manufacturing & Plant Technology Ownership

• Provide product and solution leadership across SAP S/4HANA and SAP ECC manufacturing capabilities, including Production Planning (PP), Quality Management (QM), Plant Maintenance (PM) and relevant master data.
• Own the technology direction for recipe and specification management, formula and bill-of-material governance, and related product lifecycle capabilities.
• Partner with Global Product teams and Enterprise Architecture on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), R&D, engineering and manufacturing integrations.
• Ensure effective integration across manufacturing, warehouse and logistics, planning, procurement, Order-to-Cash, Finance, data platforms, plant systems and external manufacturing applications.
• Guide solution decisions covering batch management, traceability, quality inspection, production execution, maintenance planning, shop-floor connectivity and manufacturing reporting.
• Ensure solutions meet architecture, cyber security, data, privacy, regulatory, quality and operational resilience requirements. • Govern application lifecycle, technical debt, platform health and non-functional requirements across the Make portfolio.

Smart Factory, Data & Automation

• Shape the regional roadmap for Smart Factory, connected plant, industrial data and manufacturing automation initiatives in alignment with global standards.
• Partner with plant engineering, Operations Technology, Cyber Security, Data & Analytics and integration teams to enable secure IT/OT connectivity and reliable data flows.
• Identify practical opportunities for analytics, AI and automation that improve throughput, quality, maintenance, energy use and decision-making.
• Ensure pilots and innovations have clear business ownership, measurable outcomes and a path to scale and sustainment.

Delivery, Deployment & Operational Governance

• Lead regional deployment of global and regional Make products, templates and transformation initiatives across AMEA plants and markets.
• Partner with deployment analysts, programme teams and site stakeholders on discovery, design, testing, data readiness, cutover, training, adoption, hypercare and transition to support.
• Govern scope, quality, dependencies, risks, issues and delivery outcomes across concurrent initiatives.
• Establish effective product governance, decision forums, architecture reviews, delivery controls and performance reporting.
• Manage delivery performance with global teams, strategic vendors, system integrators, implementation partners and support providers.
• Ensure stable, secure and cost-effective operation of the Make application landscape, including clear service ownership and escalation paths.
• Capture lessons learned and improve reusable deployment patterns, templates and product practices.

Success Measures

• Delivery of the agreed Make technology roadmap and priority initiatives with clear business outcomes.
• Successful deployments delivered to agreed scope, quality, timeline and adoption expectations with minimal plant disruption.
• Improved process standardisation, data quality, traceability, control effectiveness and automation.
• Stable and high-performing manufacturing application landscape with reduced technical debt and avoidable complexity.
• Measurable improvements in operational reliability, quality, productivity, maintenance effectiveness and user experience.
• Effective vendor and delivery-partner performance against agreed outcomes and service expectations.
• Strong stakeholder confidence and demonstrated value realisation from Make technology investments.

What are we looking for?

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems or a related discipline. A postgraduate qualification in business, operations, supply chain or technology is preferred. Relevant SAP or product management certifications are desirable.
• 12+ years of experience in Enterprise Applications, Digital Technologies, ERP delivery, manufacturing technology or business transformation, with experience appropriate for a product ownership role.
• 10+ years of hands-on or solution leadership experience with SAP manufacturing capabilities, including strong knowledge of Production Planning (PP) and Quality Management (QM).
• Working knowledge of Plant Maintenance (PM), batch management, recipe or specification management, product lifecycle processes and related master data.
• Experience in FMCG, Consumer Products, food manufacturing, process manufacturing or a comparable plant-based industry.
• Proven experience leading SAP ECC and/or SAP S/4HANA manufacturing solutions, deployments or transformation initiatives across multiple sites or markets.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end Make processes and integrations with planning, procurement, warehouse and logistics, Order-to-Cash, Finance, quality, R&D and plant systems.
• Experience defining product roadmaps, prioritising backlogs, shaping solution architecture and translating business needs into delivery outcomes.
• Experience with manufacturing data migration, master data, testing, cutover, business readiness, adoption and operational transition.
• Understanding of manufacturing controls, product quality, traceability, regulatory requirements, cyber security and operational resilience.
• Experience working with plant stakeholders, global product teams, delivery partners and system integrators in a matrix organisation.
• Strong stakeholder management, influencing, decision-making and executive communication skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and make pragmatic product decisions while protecting standards, reliability and business continuity.

Preferred

• Experience with SAP S/4HANA manufacturing capabilities and modern SAP architecture.
• Exposure to Smart Factory, Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), industrial data platforms, shop-floor integration, IoT or advanced manufacturing analytics.
• Experience with PLM, recipe or specification management platforms and integrations with R&D and manufacturing.
• Exposure to SAP BTP, integration platforms, AI-enabled automation or process mining.
• SAP certification in PP, QM, PM or a related manufacturing area.
• Product management, Agile, SAFe, PMP 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.