Scientist, Products Research - Frozen Handheld & Spreads Research & Development Team

Your Opportunity as the Scientist, Products Research - Frozen Handheld & Spreads Research & Development Team

In this role you will be responsible for understanding consumers’ needs and translating them into technical requirements and consumer models to drive business impact. You will leverage technical thinking skills to bring together consumer needs and product possibilities into winning innovation. You will have Products Research leadership responsibility for projects or related programs for all our consumer product categories, including defining and executing the consumer methods used for foundational product understanding and iterative product and package development. You will independently plan and execute research across multiple food categories and brands. You will build relationships with internal stakeholders and external suppliers and will coach others in their area of expertise.

The scope of this role covers consumer food and other adjacencies and includes multiple brands within the JM Smucker Frozen Handheld & Spreads portfolio.

Location: Orrville, OH Corporate Offices

Work Arrangements: Minimum 30% in person expectation

In this role you will:

• Build subject matter expertise on the consumers and products related to their projects
• Understand consumers’ needs and lead translation of those needs to technical requirements
• Develop and socialize consumer learning plans
• Actively collaborate and leverage relationships within R&D and across functional teams to achieve established shared goals or objectives
• Lead category product learning for fundamental R&D product understanding
• Identify and leverage new research methodologies and capabilities
• Initiate, plan and lead internal and external research activities that guide current and future product and platform innovation
• Interpret research data, and present results to stakeholders to drive business decisions
• Interface directly with suppliers to develop Requests for Proposal and Statements of Work
• Accountable for all products research deliverables in support of Technical Readiness for projects they are supporting
• Provide coaching to colleagues
• Work independently, guided by functional processes

The Right Place for You

We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs.

What we are looking for:

Minimum Requirements:

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Science or Engineering
• At least 5 years of experience in Research & Development in the Consumer Products Industry with project leadership experience
• Strong experience and formal training in Products Research (both quantitative and qualitative research) within the Consumer Product Industry and track record of leveraging this experience to develop, qualify, and launch innovation
• Comfortable analyzing complex data, preferably using statistical software
• Ability to cross-functionally communicate complex data, both verbally and via technical writing
• Ability to build strong relationships and collaborate across multiple functions
• Self-motivated with the ability and desire to work independently
• Up to approximately 20% travel

Additional skills and experience that we think would make someone successful in this role:

• Food Research & Development experience
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment, managing multiple projects simultaneously
• Presentation skills including using Microsoft PowerPoint

Learn more about working at Smucker:

• Our Total Rewards Benefits Program
• Our Thriving Together Philosophy Supporting All Impacted by Our Business 
• Our Continued Progress on Inclusion, Diversity and Equity 

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