Job Description
Job Purpose
The Principal Scientist for CX Product Insights is the technical authority and methodologist for consumer experience research for Away From Home initiatives. You architect fit-for-purpose CX learning strategies across the end-to-end product lifecycle, from front-end exploration and ideation through launch readiness, ensuring methodological rigor, evidence quality, and decision-ready synthesis that accelerates innovation. You translate consumer needs into clear product and packaging experience requirements, influence cross-functional teams toward consumer- and customer-centric decisions, and balance speed vs. rigor based on decision risk. You elevate functional capability through coaching, playbooks/toolkits, and ways of working, and guide internal teams and suppliers to the right level of rigor for the decision at hand. You’ll partner closely with R&D (Product & Process Development, Packaging, Sensory), Marketing/Brand, Insights, Analytics, Culinary, and external suppliers to ensure consumer learning is converted into practical product, packaging, and technical decisions.
Essential Functions & Responsibilities
Provide CX technical leadership for the Away From Home team, defining key learning needs tied to business and technical decisions at each development milestone.
Serve as subject matter expert (SME) for product and packaging design consumer research, bringing deep methodological expertise across qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Architect end-to-end CX learning plans from upstream exploration to downstream validation, with clear decision framing, success criteria, and evidence standards aligned to risk and timelines.
Translate complex consumer experience insights into actionable experience requirements that inform product and packaging design, managing tradeoffs and defining what success looks like.
Lead high-stakes stakeholder readouts with compelling decision narratives, synthesizing insights and tailoring technical depth to both executive and technical audience.
Serve as technical consultant on away from home product and pack methods and research design, best fit to the learning objectives that align with specific operators and venue types.
Evaluate, pilot, and standardize emerging CX methods and analytics (including vendor capabilities), documenting best practices, limitations, and evidence thresholds before scaling.
Coach and upskill scientists and partners through playbooks, training, and consultative support that embed CX rigor, curiosity, and storytelling excellence across functions.
Oversee vendor strategy and performance: capability alignment, quality assurance, data integrity, and delivery expectations.
Manage multiple simultaneous workstreams with disciplined prioritization, documentation, and strong stakeholder communication in a fast paced innovation environment.
Provide continuity and backup coverage for the CX leadership team as needed.
Ensure compliance with data integrity, privacy, and internal research governance requirements.
Expected Experience & Required Skills
Bachelor’s degree minimum (Consumer Behavior, Psychology, Marketing Research, Engineering, Food Science, Human Factors, Industrial Design, or related STEM field), advanced degree preferred
Minimum of 8+ years (BS), 7+ years (MS) or 6+ years (PhD) in consumer/product research, consumer experience, or applied insights supporting innovation, product development and commercialization.
CPG or food & beverage experience strongly preferred, with demonstrated progression in technical expertise, including independent research strategy development, methodological leadership, and influencing cross-functional product and packaging innovation decisions.
Experience in product consumer research to support away from home product R&D initiatives
Recognized expertise across CX research methods (qualitative and quantitative), including end-to-end study design, instrument development, analysis planning,…