Senior Beverage Scientist

Glanbia•Santa Clarita, CA

71d•$105,000 - $125,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Beverage Scientist will lead formulation, scale-up, and commercialization of beverage systems within the Glanbia Flavors portfolio. This role partners cross-functionally with Flavor Creation, Sensory & Consumer Science, Quality, Regulatory, and Operations to deliver best-in-class ready-to-drink (RTD) and concentrated beverage solutions across dairy, plant-based, performance nutrition, hydration, and energy platforms. The ideal candidate brings a strong grasp of thermal processing, stability engineering, and flavor/ingredient interactions to enable rapid prototyping, robust shelf-life, and efficient commercialization. This role will also formally and informally lead others.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Dairy Science, Chemical Engineering, or related field (advanced degree preferred).
7 or more years in beverage R&D (5 or more with advanced degree) with demonstrated microthermic/UHT experience and successful launches.
Demonstrated understanding of pre-mix formulation and degradation/stability of vitamins and bioactives.
Strong formulation skills across proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, hydrocolloids, emulsions, sweeteners, acids, minerals, and flavor systems.
Working knowledge of colloid science, protein chemistry (dairy and/or plant), emulsion stability, and heat-induced changes.
Hands-on experience with homogenization, deaeration, inline mixing, carbonation (nice to have), and aseptic techniques.
Proficiency with DoE/statistics and digital documentation (e.g., ELN, LIMS, PLM); data-driven decision-making.
Familiarity with relevant regulatory frameworks (FDA, CFR, FSMA/PCQI concepts) and labeling/claims considerations.
Excellent project leadership, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience with high-protein RTD, lactose-free, plant-based milks, energy/hydration, or functional/fortified beverages.
Experience leading others.
Knowledge of shelf-life modeling, accelerated stability, and packaging interactions (PET, HDPE, Tetra Pak).
Supplier and OEM engagement for ingredients (proteins, hydrocolloids, sweeteners) and processing equipment.
Experience leading tech transfers and commercial scale-ups in North America and/or EU.
Exposure to sensory methods (triangle, QDA, CATA) and consumer co-creation.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end product development for beverages: concepting, bench-top formulation, microthermic runs, pilot, and plant trials through launch.
Formulate beverage with vitamin-mineral premix.
Formulate around desired shelf life.
Design and execute microthermic/UHT/HTST thermal profiles to emulate commercial conditions and predict product performance.
Translate flavor briefs into scalable beverage systems, optimizing flavor delivery, sweetness, mouthfeel, and masking across bases (dairy, plant, water, protein).
Build and manage experimental designs (DoE) to screen ingredients, processing parameters, and packaging interactions for stability and sensory quality.
Lead microthermic lab operations (scheduling, sanitation, CIP/SIP coordination, run documentation, sample retention, and safety compliance).
Partner with Process Engineering and Operations to define critical control points (CCPs) and tech transfer requirements from lab to pilot/plant.
Characterize product stability using relevant analytics (viscosity, pH, density, osmolality, phase separation, sedimentation, protein stability, heat stability).
Collaborate with Sensory & Consumer Science on test design, data interpretation, and product optimization driven by consumer insights.
Author robust specifications, batch sheets, and process instructions; ensure alignment with QA/QC and Regulatory (labeling, claims, compliance).
Troubleshoot scale-up issues (fouling, burn-on, phase instability, flavor fade, sweetness drift) and implement corrective actions.
Maintain a strong external radar on ingredient innovations, processing technologies, and packaging trends; engage key suppliers and equipment OEMs.
Coach junior scientists and technicians; foster a culture of safety, quality, speed, and documentation excellence.