Omni Activation Manager, Walmart – Mars Petcare
Bentonville, AR
This role is based in Bentonville, AR with regular in-office collaboration expected. Flexibility is a key enabler, empowering associates to make choices that support both business outcomes and personal needs, including occasional remote work.
The Omni Activation Manager is a critical growth driver for the Mars Pet Nutrition business at Walmart. Based in Bentonville, Arkansas, this role develops and executes integrated omnichannel activation strategies that drive brand growth, shopper engagement, digital penetration, and incremental sales across the Cat and Treats portfolio.
The Omni Activation Manager works closely with sales, brand marketing, agency partners, Walmart Connect, and Walmart merchants to build holistic activation plans that connect digital and physical shopper experiences. The Manager will lead a diverse portfolio of activation levers including retail media, paid search, display advertising, Walmart Cash, shopper marketing programs, in-store displays, and marketing events to ensure every activation is aligned against a common objective: driving sustainable sales growth for Mars at Walmart.
As the team's subject matter expert for retail media and always-on optimization, this individual will serve as the primary day-to-day point of contact with Walmart Connect and agency partners, leading performance optimization, test-and-learn initiatives, and continuous improvement efforts. Success in this role requires equal parts analytical capability and commercial curiosity. The ideal candidate understands that metrics rarely tell the whole story and is motivated to continuously uncover the underlying drivers of shopper behavior, campaign performance, and sales outcomes. Rather than simply reporting what happened, this individual is expected to understand why it happened and how future activations can be improved.
What are we looking for?
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree
- 3-5 years of experience across CPG sales, category management, shopper marketing, retail media, customer marketing, or a related commercial role
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to connect multiple data sources to commercial recommendations
- Strong communication, influencing, and presentation skills
Preferred Qualifications:
- CPG sales or category management experience
- Experience supporting Walmart or another large omnichannel retailer
- Experience with Walmart Connect or other retail media networks
- Experience managing cross-functional projects, agency partners, budgets, and competing priorities
- Demonstrated ability to evaluate business impact beyond individual media KPIs
What would be your key responsibilities?
Omnichannel Strategy & Execution
- Develop and execute annual omnichannel activation plans for the Cat and Treats portfolio, aligned to customer, category, brand, and sales priorities.
- Connect digital and physical touchpoints to create cohesive shopper experiences and drive incremental growth.
- Partner with the Senior Activation Manager to align Cat and Treats plans with the broader Walmart activation strategy.
Retail Media Leadership
- Serve as the primary day-to-day Mars contact for our retail media agency, with ownership of execution, optimization, and performance discussions.
- Lead always-on paid search and display optimization, including investment shifts, learning agendas, and test-and-learn plans.
- Challenge assumptions and move beyond isolated retail media metrics to evaluate the full commercial and shopper impact of each activation.
- Identify emerging capabilities and activation opportunities that can strengthen Mars’ performance at Walmart.
Analytics & Continuous Improvement
- Evaluate activation performance using sales results, shopper behavior, media metrics, category trends, and customer insights.
- Diagnose the drivers behind results and translate complex data into clear recommendations for the next activation.
- Establish measurement frameworks and learning agendas that improve effectiveness, efficiency, and decision quality over time.
- Demonstrate intellectual curiosity by continuing to investigate when the initial answer is incomplete.
Budget & Project Management
- Own planning, forecasting, budget tracking, accruals, and optimization for ~$15MM in annual investment.
- Allocate resources toward the highest-impact opportunities while balancing brand priorities, customer needs, and sales growth objectives.
- Manage multiple complex projects and stakeholders, maintaining clear ownership, timelines, decisions, and follow-through.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Partner with Sales, Brand Marketing, Category, Finance, Walmart Connect, and agency teams to deliver integrated activation plans.
- Influence without authority and align stakeholders around shared objectives, investment choices, and performance recommendations.
- Build strong relationships across Mars, Walmart, and agency partners to improve collaboration and execution.
What can you expect from Mars?
- Work with over 150,000 diverse and talented Associates, all guided by The Five Principles.
- Join a purpose driven company, where we are 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.
Mars does not sponsor visas for this role.
This position is not eligible for relocation benefits.
