As a leader in the science of nutrition, Nestlé Health Science believes in empowering healthier lives for patients and consumers through a rich product portfolio featuring top brands such as Garden of Life®, Nature’s Bounty®, Vital Proteins®, Nuun®, Persona Nutrition®, BOOST®, Carnation Breakfast Essentials®, Peptamen®, Compleat Organic Blends®, and more, as well as through Aimmune Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing therapies to prevent, manage and treat food, GI and metabolic-related diseases.

Our team members are challenged to make a genuine impact and play an integral role in driving the business forward. We embrace a dynamic culture that always puts the consumer first, and where ownership, accountability and agility are celebrated at every level. To help our people thrive, we offer expansive career growth potential, the opportunity to work alongside and learn from talented colleagues with diverse backgrounds and skill sets, and a range of best-in-class benefits.

We have more than 11,000 employees around the world, and products available in over 140 countries.

This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.

Position Summary: 
Provide novel consumer and sensory know-how to facilitate and influence complex, broad reaching, consumer-centric innovation, and renovation projects.  Work with cross functional teams and strategic partners to build category, consumer, and product insights. Provide sensory expertise to technical research programs, ensuing advanced foundational knowledge is acquired to impact and fuel business growth. Design and drive sensory and deep understanding of consumer beliefs, motivations, habits, and unmet needs to inspire & influence the innovation and renovation pipeline. Ensure consumer expectations (idea, concept, product, and packaging experiences) are met and are aligned with Business strategies. Demonstrate sustained evidence of successful execution of advanced consumer and sensory research while communicating sound insights and recommendations to help inform decisions that drives R&D and business success. Continuously drive the improvement of CSI practices, processes, and capabilities. Serve as a trusted advisor, recognized consumer and sensory expert and be a key advocate for consumers, patients, and healthcare providers.        
 
Key Responsibilities:
 

Provide sensory and consumer insights to innovation and renovation projects:
• Assure early-phase collaboration between R&D and business and defines the consumer insight, benefit territory and technical solutions in the context of the strategic business opportunity.
• Operate as a promoter of consumer perspective throughout the innovation/renovation development process. 
• For front-end innovation, drive and influence idea generation, concept development and refinement, by supporting co-ideation and co-creation processes with the end-user.
• Be key consumer/sensory business partner to R&D and Business Category Leads and help define questions and outcomes from a consumer and sensory insight perspective to add value and influence project success.
• Play an active part in cross functional project teams within and across NHSc and provide leadership, direction and guidance on use and choice of advanced sensory and consumer methodologies.

Manage and execute consumer and sensory studies with excellence:
• Apply appropriate consumer and sensory methods within time and budget constraints, execute tests, analyze results, and communicates high level recommendations and implications for efficient, effective, timely decision making. 
• Lead complex projects of strategic importance, by designing fit-to-purpose sensory science, consumer and/or market research methodologies (quantitative and qualitative), procedures and processes that provides key insights to answer objectives and communicate outcomes and their potential implications.
• Proactively manage and contribute to projects with cross-functional teams while supporting the identification and communication of risks and opportunities while working collaborative to identify solutions.
• Demonstrates ability to draw upon knowledge of adjacent functions to provide a clearer and deeper understanding of products and consumers.  
• Establishes clear sensory specifications that drive quality and manufacturing excellence. 

Provide sensory & consumer understanding as it relates to the product experience and translate into actionable insights:
• Build and leverage knowledge to identify new opportunities and guide strategy.
• Drive and lead category preference mapping to identify competitive insights to optimize the product to enhance the consumer experience and identify white space opportunities that can drive future growth and guide strategy. 
• Anticipate needs and nurture relationships with external service providers, such that they perform and serve as an extension of the CSI.  

Ensure CSI supports continuous improvement and team development:
• Drive new method development and adoption within and across the CSI functions that support NHSc.
• Model continuous improvement, technical knowledge sharing and functional know-how throughout the organization.
• Lead continuous improvement of consumer and sensory practices, applying innovative and agile methods.  
• Ensure high quality results through panel maintenance and performance, and participate in the recruitment, training of present and future panel members.
• Leads communication that promotes consumer understanding and maximizes collaboration between sensory, consumer, R&D, and global business/partners.
• Drive category-specific CSI training to Markets, Sensory, Factory Sensory, and business partners.

Build and share knowledge:
• Build and cultivates foundational knowledge of the product category and target consumer with a focus on how/why consumer perceive and interact with products (including packaging) to generate relevant insights.
• Develop knowledge and promotes bests practices for delivering taste preferences, sensory cues, and benefits to ensure effective product and package design.
• Uncover learnings and understanding from internal and external sources (trends, competitive benchmarking, preferences, and sensory mapping, etc.) that inform product and packaging design to maximize the consumer experience. 
• Apply strong analytical (Design of Experiment, statistics, etc.) knowledge and understanding to translate consumer responses into key drivers of liking and key sensory attributes to delight consumers.

Experience and Education Requirements:
• Advanced degree (Master or higher degree preferred) in Sensory Science, Consumer Science, Psychology, Marketing Research, Food Technology, Food Science, Statistics, or other related fields. 
• Consideration:  PhD with Minimum of 2 years of experience in a wide range of sensory analysis and consumer (qualitative, quantitative) testing techniques and their applications: OR Master’s degree with minimum of 4+ years of experience; OR Bachelor’s Degree with 7+ years of experience.
• Completion of certificate programs (i.e., UC Davis Sensory Certification, University of Georgia Market Research Certification) will be considered.
• Strong analytical, statistics, and problem-solving skills is a must.  
• Experience in fast moving consumer packaged goods, from R&D and/or business side is a plus.  
• Experience and understanding working with food, confections, beverages, supplements and/or health and wellness category space is preferred.    
 
Requisition ID:  249795 

It is our business imperative to remain a very inclusive workplace.

To our veterans and separated service members, you're at the forefront of our minds as we recruit top talent to join Nestlé. The skills you've gained while serving our country, such as flexibility, agility, and leadership, are much like the skills that will make you successful in this role.  In addition, with our commitment to an inclusive work environment, we recognize the exceptional engagement and innovation displayed by individuals with disabilities.  Nestlé seeks such skilled and qualified individuals to share our mission where you’ll join a cohort of others who have chosen to call Nestlé home.

The Nestlé Companies are an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer seeking diversity in qualified applicants for employment.  All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, gender, gender identity, age, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, perceived disability, medical condition, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other protected status, as defined by applicable law. Prior to the next step in the recruiting process, we welcome you to inform us confidentially if you may require any special accommodations in order to participate fully in our recruitment experience. Contact us at accommodations@nestle.com or please dial 711 and provide this number to the operator: 1-800-321-6467.

This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.