Director, Technical Consumer Research

Consumer-centric insights are paramount to building a truly global, multi-year innovation pipeline. The role of the Technical Consumer Research function is to create, translate and connect sensory, consumer, and technical insights to support and enable the mission and vision of R&D and Innovation at The Coca-Cola Company. The Principal Sensory & Consumer Scientist will be an integral part of the Global Technical Consumer Research team reporting to the Group Director of Global Technical Research.

Role Summary

This position will be responsible for the design and project management of sensory & consumer research as well as synthesizing, translating & connecting sensory, consumer & technical insights to enable business continuity, innovation & growth. There are also critical and emerging digitization aspects to the scope of this role that includes leveraging state-of-the-art Data Science/data analytics tools to generate key insights and drive data-based decision making.

What You'll Do for Us

• Lead sensory & consumer research initiatives spanning the Total Beverage Portfolio within the Sparkling category.
• Design, develop, conduct (or supervise), analyze and report sensory and/or consumer testing studies conducted to guide product/process/ package /equipment Research & Development.
• Work in partnership with Global Category teams (Marketing & Innovation), Global Research & Development, to define research needs to fuel multi-year pipeline
• Provide mentoring to our global Technical Consumer Research talent

• BS, MS or PhD in Chemical Engineering, Food Science or equivalent with a concentration in sensory science, behavioral psychology, data analytics or applied statistics
• 15 or more years of experience in CPG field, preferably in the Food and Beverage industry.
• Innovation and Research & Development: must be highly creative and possess analytical skills necessary to effectively assess ideas from both internal and external sources
• Delivers Results: must be self-motivated and have ability to effectively focus and motivate resources
• Cross-Functional Relationships: must be able to build good working relationships with Technical colleagues around the world and from functional business partners
• Knowledge of Food and Beverage industry a plus
• Experience using Design Thinking and Agile methodologies is a plus
• Project and program management skills required with ability to lead and manage multiple projects simultaneously.

• Must be an effective influence manager capable of getting the stakeholders/cross-functional partners to do the correct sensory and/or consumer studies at the right time thereby increasing the success rate.
• A proven track record of turning complex business issues into simple and actionable recommendations. Expert skill in Data visualization and storytelling. Must be skilled at transforming complex data and/or technical information into engaging & easy to understand content for non-technical audiences and drive decision making.
• Deep expertise in Consumer Science & Sensory Science application. Strong working knowledge of statistics including the appropriate use of statistical techniques to analyze and interpret data (including parametric and non-parametric methods, ANOVA, and modeling tools, etc.)
• Strong technical and analytical skills, and a passion for learning and developing new research methodologies. Expert knowledge of quantitative & qualitative research techniques and proficiency applying techniques, including creation of the research design, implementation and data gathering, data analysis, and trend analysis, interpretation, implications, and next steps.
• Past hands-on experiences executing analytics or modeling type of projects is a must. Competent in Data Science and big data/text analytics understanding. Direct, hands-on experience leading AI and cognitive technology projects and leveraging state-of-the art data science tools to develop robust consumer behavior models is a plus.
• Strong communication skills including ability to write concise, informative reports and verbally present complex technical information to non-technical audiences. Ability to listen and identify project objective and influence research plan.
• Working knowledge of sensory assessment of food/beverage ingredients and sweeteners.