Senior Scientist

What makes this a great opportunity?

• The spirits industry is an exciting, dynamic, and fast-paced business.  Suntory Global Spirits is a top player in the spirits business and focused on driving both category and brand growth. 
• Close partnership with the Senior Director to provide key leadership of liquid innovation strategy, optimization, quality and production of SGS’s spirits portfolio.   
• Close connection with the other multiple business regions to collaborate on global opportunities and lead broad global initiatives. 
• Responsible for leading high-complexity, research related to the enhancement & expansion of product development capabilities, alongside cross-functional teams, to drive key strategic priorities.  In many cases, this person will collaborate with scientists in other regions and at the Global Innovation Center.   
• Opportunity to bring a global mindset, drive liquid integrity, and play a key role in bringing future forward thinking and actions to deliver against our ambitions in new and creative ways. 

Role Responsibilities

• Build and maintain relationships across the organization, cutting across functional and location boundaries. 
• Develop and implement new products as part of cross functional project team, translating consumer/customer needs into relevant product design elements meeting consumer, cost, quality, and regulatory requirements, with minimal guidance of manager. 
• Manage the Satellite Blending Studio in the Segovia production plant, collaborating with the global team on equipment, materials, and processes.  
• Collaborate with external suppliers and develop concepts to extend product possibilities and identify, evaluate, and implement new enabling technologies and raw materials. 
• Proactively seek, demonstrate, and share understanding of the alcohol and non-alcohol market. Effectively incorporate this learning into business plans to drive new idea and technology potential. 
• Partner with the Global Center of Excellence in Kentucky, USA on project support and execution.
• Participate actively in team building and broader SGS and external initiatives. 
• Continuous improvement mindset and ability to learn from past projects and find ways to reduce complexity, utilize learnings, and increase efficiencies within the process. 

Qualifications

• Must be fluent in Spanish and English (speak, read, write)
• M.S Food Science or related preferred with 4 years’ experience, or B.S. degree with 6+ years’ experience. 
• Minimum 4 years work experience in food and/or beverage industry.  Experience in research initiatives and in ready to drink alcoholic beverages or carbonated soft drinks a plus. 
• Must be able to taste limited quantities of alcoholic beverage samples in accordance with evaluation/research needs.
• Ability to work in office/lab at least ~60% of the time, balancing work from home, as business needs require. For the first 3 months of employment/training, the amount of time in the office will be closer to 80% to speed up on-boarding
• Ability to travel globally to partner in project work with internal and external clients, as well as support implementation at Suntory Global Spirits facilities – travel approx. 10-30% globally to various SGS locations, vendors, etc.
• Must train in Kentucky, United States, for first 30 days of employment. After training is completed, this role will be based in Spain.