Head of Beverage Science and Future Horizons

At Britvic we’re on a journey to become the most dynamic soft drinks company. As one of the UK’s leading players in the FMCG market we pride ourselves on setting high standards, being courageous and pushing ourselves to think outside the bottle.  

We offer consumers a range of family favourite and global premium brands such as Robinsons, Tango, J2O, R. White’s & London Essence. We exist to help people enjoy life’s everyday moments.

About the Role:
Our R&D team is uniquely positioned to shape the future of soft drinks by bringing breakthrough innovation to life.  We’re people-centred and deeply collaborative to unlock innovation and growth against our four strategic priorities; Build local favourites and global premium brands. Flavour billions of water occasions, Healthier People, Healthier Planet & Access new growth spaces.

The team consists of highly trained scientists and professionals who work collaboratively with internal and external expert partners. Our team use science and technology to transform the future of soft drinks, creating products and packaging that help our consumers to ‘enjoy life’s everyday moments’ with a positive impact on environment and society.

As Head of Beverage Science & Future Horizons, you will be responsible for leading the identification, development, and delivery of the Britvic R&D global programme for Healthier People, Healthier Planet, with focus on product and ingredient sustainability.  You will develop short-, medium- and long-term beverage science and research programmes and develop innovation platforms for future horizons (beyond 2030).  You will work across our home markets creating programmes of work to support our healthier consumer choices strategy.

You will be accountable for setting the vision and strategy for Beverage Science and Future Horizons team, leading Healthier Consumer Choices pipeline to deliver the capability and technology to deliver growth ambitions meeting consumer needs in sweetness, hydration, and functionality. 

The Head of R&D Beverage Science & Future Horizons will define the technical/R&D principles for product development across our portfolio, working across all Britvic home markets developing and aligning ingredient roadmaps beyond 2030. You will also lead key areas of product sustainability over future horizons to innovate our portfolio with key sustainability areas (i.e. carbon, water, and biodiversity).

Key Responsibilities:

1. Ensure all programs have appropriate governance and risk mitigation, enabling robust development to move from ideas through concepts to commercially viable final product.
2. Support Global R&D teams to operationalise and commercialise outputs from the Beverage Research & Future Horizons pipeline to deliver new growth opportunities. 
3. Work closely with key stakeholders (marketing, insights, commercial, sustainable business) to ensure the Beverage Science & Future Horizons strategy delivers to key strategic and commercial opportunities for Britvic.
4. Support assessment of M&A project initiatives in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
5. Manage the Beverage Research & Future Horizons budget to maximise the added value attained for Britvic.
6. Ensure team compliance in line with R&D Policy ensuring IP opportunities are capitalised upon.
7. Provide management information for reporting to Director of R&D and Innovation, ensuring KPI’s / scorecards are meeting business requirements.
8. Create and introduce new processes and procedures to improve operational efficiency.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience Required:

1. Proven track record in delivering product innovation in FMCG (preferably food science or technology) with responsibility for driving innovations from concept to launch across multiple categories and/or markets.
2. Develop and lead Innovation pipelines, aligned to business strategy, trends and technology opportunities. 
3. Delivery of differing levels of Innovation including market/brand led projects, long term science and breakthrough Innovation.
4. R&D program management, allocating resource and budget appropriately to support global brands and category innovation.
5. External Partnership management with suppliers and academia to allow collaboration with subject matter experts in existing and emerging technology areas.

Qualifications:

1. Science degree, BSc, MSc or Ph.D.
2. Professional member of a relevant licensed body.
3. Chartered scientist or relevant experience.

We believe we are stronger together and that’s why we’re committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees. We know that by building a truly inclusive environment where everyone feels celebrated, safe and respected - diversity and wellbeing will naturally thrive