Senior Specialist Product Insights

Foods you love. Brands you trust. And a career that empowers you to grow. At Nestlé USA, we’re all working towards the same goal – to delight and deliver for our consumers. With a rich portfolio of beloved brands, including DiGiorno, Toll House, and Coffee mate, in 97% of U.S. households, we have a unique opportunity – and responsibility – to be there for every moment in our consumers’ lives. Joining Nestlé means becoming part of an inclusive workplace that inspires innovation, encourages strategic thinking and creativity, and celebrates your achievements.

About the role

This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship. The Senior Specialist Product Insights is responsible for leading, organizing, and maintaining quality product testing practices and serving as the connector and integrator between research vendors, R&D, consumer insight managers, and business teams. Success in this role includes identifying and making actionable recommendations to drive consumer preference vs. competitors, ultimately driving market share gains.

Responsibilities

• Leadership & Consulting
  • Serve as the product testing expert by providing thought partnership to brand management and R&D.
  • Focus on influencing business partners’ decisions and aligning the research agenda to them, then tailor communications of research findings to support upcoming decisions.
  • Proactively communicate product testing results with R&D and Business partners.
  • Identify efficient testing practices that meet the needs of the business while optimizing the spend.
  • Work with business partners to identify unknowns around which to engineer insightful meta-analyses.
  • Use transparent, strategy-aligned criteria to assess the value of projects to the business.
  • Collaborate with sensory and technical teams on product testing and leverage learning to inform product formulas.
  • Redefine medium-value requests and eliminate or outsource low-value requests; challenge the need for learning as appropriate vs. having courage to decide and go.
• Develop Product Understanding
  • Communicate and embed learning to minimize testing redundancies and optimize product opportunities.
  • Leverage opportunities within product testing to meet Good Taste (product superiority) requirements within the goals of testing.
  • Develop a holistic view of the products by understanding product use, product experience, and sensory profile.
• Manage Product Testing Logistics
  • Learn and apply all Product Testing rules when it comes to Product Procurement (e.g., same factory code to be used for Consumer Testing and Sensory Evaluation).
  • Oversee Product Shipping to make sure the right product arrives at the right testing sites at the right time.
• Budget and Vendor Management
  • Manage projects within budget.
  • Provide suppliers with access to all information needed to ensure intimacy with NUSA.
  • Use strategic assets to build non-monetary, reciprocally valuable relationships with suppliers, motivating above-and-beyond support and true partnership.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science, Statistics, Marketing, Economics, Psychology, Sociology, or related field required; Relevant Master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of 3+ years of consumer research experience with budget responsibility in a consumer packaged goods company.
• Working knowledge of expert sensory evaluation.
• Experience in Product testing via IHUT or CLT.
• Strong drive for results with a passion for the consumer.
• Experience leading projects with ownership of suppliers, research, test logistics, and schedule.
• Strong sense of curiosity and desire to seek opportunities to self-educate on new methodologies and techniques, and general research and business news.

Pay

The approximate pay range for this position is $103,500 - $130,000. Please note that the pay range provided is a good faith estimate for the position at the time of posting. Final compensation may vary based on factors including but not limited to knowledge, skills and abilities as well as geographic location.

Benefits

Nestlé offers performance-based incentives and a competitive total rewards package, which includes a 401k with company match, healthcare coverage, and a broad range of other benefits. Incentives and/or benefit packages may vary depending on the position.