Sr Flavor Scientist - Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

About the role

The Sr Flavor Scientist is an individual contributor who leads beverage development and commercialization projects from concept through scale up and market readiness. The role applies strong technical judgment, regulatory expertise, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver compliant, scalable products, with particular ownership of Beyond Beer and nontraditional beverage platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead beverage development and commercialization projects, including formulation refinement, process definition, scale up support, and launch readiness.
• Serve as technical owner for Beyond Beer and nontraditional beverage initiatives, working closely with the Insights and Innovation teams to translate concepts into scalable products.
• Source and qualify raw materials and flavors in partnership with Supply Chain, ensuring availability, cost alignment, and technical suitability for commercialization.
• Own and maintain the flavor and ingredient database, ensuring accurate documentation, specifications, regulatory status, and readiness for development and scale-up.
• Support nutrition labeling, ingredient statements, and regulatory documentation in collaboration with QA, R&D, Compliance, and Innovation partners.
• Collaborate with R&D analytical staff to define testing needs, interpret results, and apply data to formulation and process decisions.
• Ensure ingredient and formulation readiness for commercialization by defining clear specifications, use parameters, and process requirements prior to pilot and production trials.
• Apply working knowledge of TTB and FDA regulations to ensure formulations, processes, and documentation meet regulatory requirements.
• Communicate technical risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations clearly to cross-functional stakeholders while supporting GMP compliance and development readiness.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree or Master’s Degree in a scientific discipline (Food Science, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Brewing/Fermentation Science, Microbiology, Biology, or related field) required.
• 7 years of product development experience commercializing beverage products, including scale up, launch preparation, and post-launch technical support required.
• Strong practical knowledge of TTB and FDA beverage regulations, including familiarity with nutrition labeling requirements and regulatory documentation.
• Experience defining product and process specifications to support manufacturing consistency and quality.
• Experience using Genesis R&D, ESHA, or comparable formulation, ingredient, and nutrition labeling software.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional projects involving R&D, QA, Regulatory, Operations, and Supply Chain.
• Working understanding of analytical testing approaches and ability to collaborate effectively with laboratory-focused R&D staff.
• Project management capabilities, including scope definition, timeline management, risk identification, and stakeholder coordination.

Qualifications

• To be considered, selected candidate must pass a pre-employment, post-offer background check.
• This position will remain open until filled; online applications will be reviewed weekly.

Learn more about this role and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.