At Mars, a Business Analyst plays a critical role in driving data-backed decision-making across some of the world’s most iconic brands, spanning Mars Petcare, Mars Snacking, and Mars Food & Nutrition. Rather than operating purely in a technical silo, a Business Analyst at Mars functions as a strategic partner. You will translate complex datasets into actionable business strategies that directly influence supply chain efficiency, market positioning, brand performance, and portfolio growth.

The scale and global reach of Mars mean that your insights will have a tangible impact on millions of consumers and pets daily. Whether you are optimizing inventory distribution for global confectionery brands or analyzing consumer purchasing trends for veterinary services, the problems you solve are highly dynamic. This role bridges the gap between raw data and commercial execution, requiring a unique blend of analytical rigor and stakeholder management.

To succeed in this position, you must navigate ambiguity and communicate complex technical findings to non-technical business leaders. Mars values associates who look beyond the numbers to understand the human and operational stories behind them. It is a highly collaborative, fast-paced environment where your work directly shapes the future of a global, family-owned business.

To help you prepare, we have categorized representative questions based on real interview experiences at Mars. These questions are designed to test your technical aptitude, behavioral alignment, and structured problem-solving capabilities.

Behavioral & Leadership

These questions evaluate your communication style, leadership potential, and alignment with the collaborative culture of Mars.

• Where do you see yourself in the future, and how does this role fit into your long-term career trajectory?
• What makes a good leader, and how have you demonstrated these qualities in your previous roles or academic projects?

Preparing for an interview at Mars requires a balanced approach. You must demonstrate both your technical data capabilities and your alignment with the unique culture of a purpose-driven, family-owned enterprise.

Role-Related Knowledge – You must show a deep understanding of business analysis methodologies, data manipulation tools, and commercial frameworks. Be ready to demonstrate how you translate raw data into business value, particularly within the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.

Problem-Solving & Structured Thinking – Interviewers will closely evaluate how you approach complex, ambiguous business challenges. You should practice structuring your thoughts aloud, using frameworks like SWOT analysis, and breaking down multi-layered problems into logical, manageable steps.

Alignment with the Five Principles – Mars is famously guided by its Five Principles: Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency, and Freedom. You should explicitly weave these principles into your behavioral answers to show that you make decisions aligned with the company’s core values.

Stakeholder Communication – As a Business Analyst, you will constantly collaborate with cross-functional teams. You must demonstrate the ability to translate technical findings into clear, compelling narratives that convince business leaders and drive action.

The interview process at Mars is designed to evaluate both your technical competence and your cultural fit. It typically balances automated screening tools with highly interactive panel discussions and business case presentations. The company places a strong emphasis on finding candidates who are not only analytically sharp but also collaborative team players who thrive in a relationship-driven culture.

Depending on the office location and the seniority of the role, the process generally spans several weeks. It begins with digital screening and moves into rigorous competency-based and case-study rounds.

The typical progression of the interview process includes:

• Online Application & HR Screening: An initial review of your resume followed by a conversation with an in-house recruiter to assess your basic qualifications and motivation.
• One-Way Video Interview (HireVue): A digital screening round where you record video responses to pre-set behavioral and situational questions.
• Technical Assessment / Case Study: A practical evaluation which may include a SQL/coding test or a business case analysis requiring a SWOT presentation.
• Panel Interview: A rigorous virtual or on-site interview with a hiring manager and senior team members, focusing on deep behavioral questions and situational grilling.
• Team Meeting & Final Feedback: A final, more informal conversation with potential team members to ensure mutual personal and cultural alignment.

The timeline above illustrates the standard stages of the Mars hiring journey from initial application to the final offer. Candidates should use this roadmap to pace their preparation, ensuring they allocate sufficient time to practice both video-based behavioral responses and live business case presentations. While some regional variations exist, most candidates will navigate these core milestones.

To stand out in the Mars hiring process, you must understand the specific competencies that interviewers are trained to evaluate. Each stage of the process targets key areas of your professional toolkit.

Business Case Analysis & Frameworks

This area evaluates your strategic thinking and your ability to apply structured business logic to commercial scenarios. Mars interviewers want to see how you dissect market challenges, evaluate risks, and formulate actionable recommendations.

Be ready to go over:

• SWOT Analysis – How to structure a comprehensive analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for a business unit or product.
• Market Sizing and Opportunity Evaluation – Estimating demand and assessing the financial viability of new commercial initiatives.
• Supply Chain and Distribution Metrics – Understanding how inventory, logistics, and retail distribution impact overall business performance.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Portfolio optimization strategies and assessing the impact of macroeconomic trends on consumer purchasing behavior.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Conduct a SWOT analysis for a potential new premium pet food line entering the European market."
• "How would you identify bottlenecks in our distribution network using historical sales and inventory data?"

Technical Competency & Data Analytics

This area measures your ability to manipulate, analyze, and visualize data. Depending on the region and specific team, this can range from advanced Excel modeling to SQL queries and programming languages like Python or R.

Be ready to go over:

• Data Querying & Manipulation – Writing efficient SQL queries to join tables, aggregate data, and extract key business metrics.
• Data Visualization & Reporting – Creating intuitive dashboards using tools like Tableau or PowerBI to convey insights to stakeholders.
• Statistical Analysis & Forecasting – Applying regression models or trend analysis to predict future sales or consumer behavior.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Building automated data pipelines or utilizing machine learning libraries to segment customer databases.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Write a SQL query to find the top three performing product categories in each sales region over the last quarter."
• "Walk me through how you would set up a dashboard to track real-time inventory levels across multiple fulfillment centers."

Behavioral Alignment & The Five Principles

Mars takes its corporate culture seriously. This evaluation area measures your soft skills, leadership potential, and how naturally you align with the core values that govern the business.

Be ready to go over:

• The Five Principles – Demonstrating a deep understanding of Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency, and Freedom in your professional life.
• Conflict Resolution & Influence – Navigating disagreements with stakeholders and building consensus across cross-functional teams.
• Resilience & Adaptability – Handling ambiguous situations, learning from failures, and adapting to changing business priorities.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Leading cross-functional initiatives without formal authority and driving long-term organizational change.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time when you had to prioritize long-term quality over short-term efficiency in a project."
• "Describe a situation where you had to deliver difficult feedback to a peer or stakeholder. How did you handle the conversation?"

As a Business Analyst at Mars, your day-to-day responsibilities will be highly dynamic and cross-functional. You will act as the analytical engine of your department, translating operational and market data into strategic business decisions.

Your primary responsibilities will include:

• Data Extraction and Modeling: Querying large databases to extract relevant datasets, cleaning the data, and building robust analytical models to identify trends, anomalies, and opportunities.
• Strategic Reporting: Designing, developing, and maintaining interactive dashboards and reports that provide business leaders with visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partnering closely with teams in Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, and Finance to understand their data needs and provide tailored analytical support.
• Business Case Development: Conducting market research, competitive analysis, and financial modeling to support the development of business cases for new product launches or operational changes.
• Process Optimization: Analyzing internal workflows and data systems to identify inefficiencies and recommend data-driven process improvements.

Through these responsibilities, you will gain deep exposure to the commercial operations of a global enterprise, making this role an excellent launchpad for long-term career growth within Mars.