About the role:
Liquid I.V. is looking for a creative and highly technical sensory leader to represent consumer voice in the product development process. Reporting to the Senior Director of Product Development, this role will manage and have the support of sensory scientists. 

 As an integral member of the LIV R&D organization, you will have cross-functional collaboration within all levels of the business. The ideal candidate will be obsessed with our customers and will hold the bar high in delivering innovative products with undeniable product superiority. They are well informed and plugged into industry trends and are a skilled taster with a mastery toward flavor creation. 

As a Senior Manager, Consumer Sensory Science, you will lead and influence strategic and tactical initiatives to build best-in-class consumer and sensory research capabilities. You will be a strong advocate for consumers and product integrity on the cross functional innovation team. You will work through ambiguous situations and demonstrate your strong agility in adjusting to evolving business needs.

Functions and duties of this role include, but not limited to:

• Develop and lead all sensory program deliverables across innovation, resilience and research pipelines.
• Develop and lead an agile, high performing sensory team to objectively deliver the ‘product superiority’s measures.
• Deliver sensory presentations and conduct product tastings with leadership teams, cross functional partners, and customers, as required.
• Coach sensory talent to develop skills, deliver business objectives, OKRs and individual performance goals.
• Collaborate with your manager to build out annual operating plans, sensory strategy, and effectively manage sensory budgets.
• Collaborate with product development and consumer insights teams to identify consumer and sensory research needs.
• Support new in-house capabilities to advance consumer co-creation and product demonstrations.
• Translate learning of sensory and consumer research to actionable insights and serve as subject matter expert on?cross functional innovation teams.
• Lead and influence capability building including all internal and external testing panels, own budgets and vendor relationships.
• Collaborate with product development team to harmonize formulations and support international launches.
• Analyze data using statistical principles, evaluate results, form conclusions, and implement process improvements/recommendations.
• Provide appropriate sensory training to internal panel and?cross-functional associates to strengthen internal capabilities.
• Identify areas of opportunity and develop business cases for advanced research by understanding competitive landscape and collaborating with cross functional leaders.
• Travel as necessary to represent team at industry conferences and tradeshows as needed.

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Sensory or Food Science, Psychology, Consumer Science or related field.
• 8-10 years of experience in sensory and consumer research, preferably in a food and beverage industry.
• 2-3 years strong business experience in food and beverage segments, preferably identifying white space areas and supporting competitive profense. Stakeholder management experience is desired
• Proficient in beverage product development and innovation.
• Strong expertise in a range of sensory and consumer research techniques. 
• Proficient in using sensory software (Compusense, EyeQuestion, Sims etc.) and Statistical software (SAS, XLSTAT etc.).
• Strong background in statistics and relevant data science.
• Knowledgeable in advanced data analysis, design of experiments, qualitative/quantitative research, new method developments, project management and budget management.
• Experience managing a sensory lab; building and training sensory panels; building and managing a team of sensory professionals.
• Experience conducting consumer research.
• Effective written and oral communication skills.
• Effective project management skills.
• Ability and willingness to evaluate food and beverage products daily.
• Working knowledge of Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Microsoft Office.