Associate Principal Scientist – North American Coffee Partnership Product Development Team Band: L9

PepsiCo • Town of Mount Pleasant, NY

41d • Onsite

About The Position

As an Associate Principal Scientist on the North American Coffee Partnership (NACP), you will have the unique opportunity to be a member of the partnership between two market leaders to develop & commercialize Ready-to-Drink coffee innovation. Utilizing your passion, creativity, and technical skills, you will be looked upon to lead and contribute to our continued efforts to grow and expand the RTD Coffee platform in North America.

Requirements

• Must have experience with fluid dairy (development, applications, &/or processing)
• Analytical thinking / Problem solving / Experimental design
• Presentation skills (verbal and written)
• Highly organized and self-motivated
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Drive for results
• Manage ambiguity
• Minimum B.S. in Food Science (or related field with at least partial focus on Dairy Science)
• 4-8 years in product development or associated R&D functions, or conducting scientific research
• Experience with fluid dairy, either through scientific research or food/beverage development, applications, &/or processing
• Demonstrated competency in understanding ingredient functionality, specifically fluid & processed dairy

Nice To Haves

• Dairy Science (and knowledge of dairy chemistry) background preferred
• Previous technical experience in dairy-based research, beverage development, and/or dairy processing
• Previous RTD beverage product development & thermal process experience utilizing dairy ingredients
• Familiarity with dairy quality programs and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards

Responsibilities

• Lead the product development process from ideation to launch, including development of benchtop prototypes, implementation and maintenance of stability testing, exploring results in consumer research, and translating product development efforts from concept to scale up and commercialization.
• Provide product formulation and dairy based ingredients expertise to assist team in developing RTD beverages that are safe, stable, legal, and meet consumer needs.
• Lead and assess technical feasibility and product development activities across multiple thermal process platforms i.e. low acid retort, low and high acid aseptic, low acid ESL, and tunnel pasteurization.
• Balance multiple projects and provide technical guidance (focused on dairy applications) and bench development for existing & future RTD platforms.
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships across technical and non-technical functions, including Starbucks partners, to lead and influence cross functional teams to align on and achieve project objectives.
• Conduct trouble shooting and root cause analysis for brand maintenance issues at bench and plant level.

Benefits

• Bonus based on performance and eligibility target payout is 10% of annual salary paid out annually.
• Paid time off subject to eligibility, including paid parental leave, vacation, sick, and bereavement.
• Medical, Dental, Vision, Disability, Health, and Dependent Care Reimbursement Accounts, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Insurance (Accident, Group Legal, Life), Defined Contribution Retirement Plan.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal