Associate Principal Product Guidance Scientist - Pet

We exist to make food the world loves. Our company prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives, and reimagine new possibilities. We look for bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one another and grow together to become the undisputed leader in food.

About the Role

The Associate Principal Product Guidance & Insights Scientist will lead Product Guidance & Insights (PGI) for the Pet business, focusing on companion animal research to inform the development of feeding and treating products. This role translates deep sensory, product, and pet parent understanding into clear guidance for teams to design and deliver remarkable product experiences across innovation, core renovation, quality, and value optimization. The role shapes learning strategies, generates actionable recommendations for product and packaging, and helps cross-functional teams make smarter data-based decisions. This individual will also build PGI capability through direct people leadership, strong prioritization, and the introduction of modern methods and tools.

What Success Looks Like

The strongest candidates combine deep sensory science expertise, strong dog and cat feeding and treating category knowledge, and the ability to translate complex learning into clear business action. They are credible technical leaders who identify key questions, design efficient learning plans, and turn insights into practical guidance that improves product experience, preference, and business performance. They influence effectively across all functions and levels, lead and develop talent, and continuously raise the impact of PGI through technical expertise, modern methods, and thoughtful use of new tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead Sensory and Product Guidance strategy and execution for the Pet business with a focus on companion animal research (for dogs and cats).
• Lead and develop one direct report, including coaching, work prioritization, development planning, and performance management.
• Partner on cross-functional project teams to define key product and pet parent questions, build effective learning plans, and de-risk critical business decisions.
• Design and lead sensory guidance, pet parent product understanding, descriptive, discrimination, and confirmatory learning plans from early exploration through iterative product optimization and validation.
• Generate actionable insights and recommendations by integrating sensory data, product knowledge, technical understanding, and business context.
• Influence product design, optimization, and troubleshooting decisions by helping teams understand the sensory and experiential drivers of product performance and preference.
• Communicate findings clearly and persuasively to technical and non-technical stakeholders, tailoring recommendations to drive alignment and action.
• Partner closely with the Pet Technology Team to ensure holistic product guidance from both pet and pet parent perspectives.
• Build foundational knowledge of key pet feeding and treating product spaces, including relevant product forms, formats, textures, aromas, palatability-related cues, and usage occasions.
• Build and strengthen external partnerships to enhance foundational knowledge in pet feeding and treating.
• Champion the product and pet parent voice to ensure products deliver on the intended experience, functionality, and preference.
• Prioritize projects against available resources and business needs, ensuring the highest-value work is resourced and executed with excellence.
• Identify capability gaps and introduce new tools, methods, and ways of working to improve the speed, quality, and impact of PGI learning.
• Contribute to a strong team culture by modeling collaboration, curiosity, technical rigor, and a continuous learning mindset.

Requirements

• Master's degree or PhD in Sensory Science, Behavioral Science, Psychology, Animal Science, Consumer Science, or related field.
• 7+ years of relevant pet experience in sensory science, consumer product research, product guidance, or related technical roles.
• Experience applying sensory science to product development, optimization, quality, and pet parent guidance within complex product systems.
• Experience developing and executing robust learning plans with appropriate rigor in partnership with cross-functional teams.
• Strong understanding of experimental design, statistical analysis, and interpretation of sensory and consumer data.
• Proven ability to connect technical product knowledge with consumer or user experience to inform product design decisions.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, collaboration, and influence skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and work effectively in a matrixed organization.
• Demonstrated passion for leading and developing people.
• Strong learning agility, problem-solving capability, experimentation mindset, and comfort with ambiguity.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading people as a manager or in a strong technical leadership role.
• Experience building foundational product knowledge and translating it into practical guidance for teams.
• Experience working across multiple brands, platforms, or business segments.
• Ability to identify and introduce new capabilities, tools, or analytic approaches that improve learning impact and efficiency.
• Demonstrated business acumen and ability to influence strategy and direction through product and pet parent insight.

International relocation or international remote working arrangements (outside of the US) will not be considered. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis; General Mills will not sponsor work visas for this position.

Pay

The salary range for this position is $110,800 - $166,300 annually. Pay is determined by factors such as education, skills, work experience, and certifications. Beyond base salary, General Mills offers a competitive Total Rewards package focusing on overall well-being, including health benefits, retirement and financial wellbeing, time off programs, wellbeing support, and perks. You may also be eligible to participate in an annual incentive program, with awards depending on individual and organizational performance.