Product Development Scientist

About the role

Pepsi Lipton is a joint venture between Unilever and PepsiCo, combining over 125 years of tea expertise to pioneer the global ready-to-drink tea category. We develop and launch products worldwide, offering broad exposure and opportunities to shape the future of beverages. Our teams are passionate about unlocking the power of tea and pushing the boundaries of innovation from science to sensory to deliver exciting, high-quality products that reach millions of consumers globally.

Role Overview

We are seeking a highly motivated Product Development Scientist to join our R&D team in Valhalla, NY. This role combines Technical Brand Stewardship for LATAM markets with Innovation developments for Global programs. It is a pivotal role for a technically strong and creative product developer who will drive end-to-end product development on global programs and build technical depth and capabilities in future-facing beverage platforms, while serving as a key technical partner for LATAM business continuity projects.

Job Accountabilities

• Lead and deliver end-to-end product development for global innovation programs, from concept through to commercialization.
• Own formulation design and technical problem-solving, translating briefs into robust, scalable product solutions.
• Build and apply technical expertise in key areas: milk tea, functional ingredients, and fresh brew tea processing.
• Design and execute experimental programs, including lab development, product testing, and shelf-life validation.
• Lead product scale-up, supporting pilot and factory trials to ensure successful implementation.
• Drive creativity and consumer-centric design, leveraging external inspiration (e.g., chefs, mixologists).
• Contribute to global capability building, sharing learnings and strengthening best practices across teams.
• Ensure strong technical documentation and knowledge capture to support global delivery and future reuse.
• Design and execute experiments to investigate, troubleshoot, and resolve product and process issues through sound scientific analysis and technical recommendations.
• Lead product reformulations required to maintain regulatory compliance, ingredient transitions, supply continuity, and quality expectations.
• Validate ingredients, raw materials, and product changes to ensure fitness for purpose and successful market implementation.
• Partner with cross-functional areas like Regulatory, Analytical, Micro, Supply Chain, Marketing, Sensory, etc. to deliver robust, safe, legal, stable and fit for consumer products.
• Engage and manage external partners and suppliers, clearly defining technical requirements and driving innovation.
• Partner internally with Global Science Platform and externally with key strategic vendors to source ingredients and leverage expertise in ingredient functionality.

Education & Experience

• B.S. in Food Science or related discipline.
• 3+ years’ experience in a lab-based setting.
• Demonstrated experience in food and/or beverage product development at a CPG company.
• Proven track record of delivering projects from concept to commercialization, including scale-up.
• Outstanding teamwork, communication and leadership skills.

Technical Skills

• Strong knowledge of beverage formulation, ingredient functionality, and processing.
• Experience with functional ingredients, tea systems, milk/plant-based beverage technologies, or related beverage platforms.
• Ability to translate technical challenges into practical, scalable solutions.
• Strong external orientation (trends, ingredients, technologies) to support innovation.
• Ability to evaluate ingredient performance and recommend optimized solutions.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint, Outlook).

Critical Competencies

• Experienced in the consumer goods industry.
• Strong product development and technical problem-solving skills.
• Able to independently manage multiple projects and priorities.
• Intellectual curiosity and a passion for innovation.
• Strong analytical thinking and data interpretation capabilities.
• Excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills.
• Effective stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• Able to execute laboratory, pilot plant, and manufacturing trials with precision.
• Commitment to maintaining a safe working environment.
• Consumer-focused mindset with a balance of creativity and technical rigor.
• Able to translate technical challenges into practical, scalable business solutions.

Pay

The pay range for this position is $88,600 to $133,000. Unilever takes into consideration a wide range of factors that are utilized in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, qualifications and education, and other business and organizational needs.

Benefits

Unilever employees are eligible to participate in our benefits plan. Should the employee choose to participate, they can choose from a range of benefits to include, but is not limited to, health insurance (including prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage), retirement savings benefits, life insurance and disability benefits, parental leave, sick leave, paid vacation and holidays, as well as access to numerous voluntary benefits. Any coverages for health insurance and retirement benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents.