Senior Beverage Technologist - Procurement Continuity

Job Title:
Senior Beverage Technologist

Location:
Middlebrook

Are you ready to Be Your Best Barr None?

Lets Grow!!!

We are all about Being Your Best Barr None and having a career with real Moments that Matter!

Employing around 850 people across the UK, we are proud to be a responsible business that takes care of our people, values diversity, gives something back to our communities and works to minimise our environmental impact.

For 150 years AG Barr has been building great brands and is home to some of the nations favourite flavours.

At our core is IRN-BRU, launched in 1901 and still going strong today, the vibrant RUBICON fruit based brand, Boost making every moment better with a caffeine kick, hydration hit or tasty treat, and FUNKIN where real fruit means authentic taste.

We also have a number of exciting owned brands within our portfolio including MOMA, which crafts quality oats into great tasting oat drinks and porridges.

There's never been a better time to join us!

At AG Barr we believe that the quality, taste and pack presentation of our products is right at the heart of the success of the business. We pride ourselves in delivering a superior product experience through our rigorous consumer research programme and ensuring the authenticity of our flavours.

As a Senior Beverage Technologist, you'll join the Research and Development (R&D) function to support the design and development of our great-tasting products, in line with consumer expectations.

• Support the approval of multiple sources per key fruit considering factors such as geographical diversity, seasonality, and agent network capabilities.
• Prepare samples for sensory evaluation ensuring a consistent match with the existing product's taste profile and quality parameters.
• Work closely with the AGB Procurement team and raw material suppliers to build and maintain relationships, support flexible sourcing strategies and mitigate supply risks.
• Lead formulation projects focused on continuity of supply and cost reduction (value engineering).
• Execute the annual batch testing of our existing juice portfolio.
• Review and verify the accuracy and completeness of all documentation in the Hamilton Grant system related to alternative raw material samples.
• Identify any discrepancies or missing information in documentation and proactively follow up with suppliers/agents to obtain necessary clarifications and updated paperwork.
• Manage the end-to-end approval process for new raw material sources from sample submission through to live production.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration with Procurement, R&D, QSE, and Production teams to ensure the efficient introduction of new raw materials, including coordinating factory trials where necessary.
• Co-ordinate and execute production recipe change over for approved continuity of supply items when instructed by the Procurement & Planning team, ensuring a smooth and quality-controlled transition.
• Maintain a detailed database of sample information, test results, and supplier details per season/crop.
• Use the database to provide regular technical updates and progress reports to key stakeholders (Procurement, R&D, Production) on continuity of supply initiatives.

• Educated to degree level, ideally in a Food Science or equivalent discipline.
• 5 years of experience in a formulation R&D environment or equivalent with a strong knowledge of sensory evaluation tools & techniques.
• Excellent sensory skills with the ability to detect subtle differences in flavour, aroma, and appearance to ensure product matching.
• Experience with raw material testing and sensory evaluation.
• Strong understanding of food/beverage quality systems, specification management (ideally Hamilton Grant or similar), and raw material documentation requirements (e.g COAs).
• Good written and oral communication skills are essential as you'll be interfacing with technical and non‑technical personnel internally and externally, in addition to reporting test results.
• Highly effective communication skills, comfortable coordinating complex projects and following up with external…