Product & Assurance Strategy Principal Scientist, R&D – Consumer ; CX

Position: Product & Package Assurance Strategy Principal Scientist, R&D – Consumer Experience (CX) ​
Location: Golf

Job Description Job Purpose ​​The Product & Package Assurance Strategy Principal Scientist is accountable for embedding benchmarking as a practical, enterprise way of working that helps teams maintain & improve Kraft Heinz product and package in-market performance. This role defines the enterprise operating model, aligns senior leaders on program vision and scope, and builds the communication system that turns program outputs into shared focus and action.

You will lead robust annual product status update discussions, using structured cross-functional inputs & benchmarking results to inform targeted action for strong product/pack performance.  You will build systems that keep the program operating smoothly at an enterprise level: program goals, dashboards, impact tracking, communication cadence for LT updates. You will also enable automation (financial pulls, portfolio views, priority identification) so that teams spend less time chasing inputs and more time acting on results - so teams can strengthen in-market product and packaging performance.

​  Overview of the CX Product & Package Assurance Team The CX Product Insights Product & Package Assurance Team maintains & strengthens in-market product and packaging performance by translating consumer experience signals into clear direction that R&D and cross-functional partners can use to improve products. Their benchmarking program provides consistent, comparable measurement of product and packaging experiences to identify performance gaps, diagnose drivers, and track improvement over time.

Essential Functions & Responsibilities ​​Align executives on benchmarking program vision, scope, decision uses, product selection, and annual operating cadence across business units. ​Stand up enterprise governance: intake, prioritization, decision rights, and escalation paths; drive stakeholder alignment on test plans. ​Build and maintain enterprise dashboards and reporting that communicate progress, success criteria, and implications for leadership. ​Automate core program operations (ex: financial pulls, portfolio views, priority identification) in partnership with Finance/Analytics/Tech.

​Lead annual product status update with cross-functional inputs to revisit and get a pulse on current product & pack performance, formulation updates, & in-market dynamics (with Ops, Nutrition, Regulatory, etc.) ​Develop and embed quarterly tracking system to ensure action items are visible and prioritized as projects. ​Create the communication strategy and rhythms (LT updates, cross-BU forums, standard readout formats) that reinforce adoption and make the program “sticky” ​Drive socialization and training within & outside R&D to embed common language, adoption, and expectations for the benchmarking program.

​Connect across business units to ensure consistent enterprise rollout, transparency, and comparability of program outputs. ​Track program health (adoption, timeliness, stakeholder satisfaction) and drive corrective actions to improve engagement & actionable outputs.​ Expected Experience & Required Skills​​Bachelor’s degree minimum (Consumer Behavior/Psychology, Marketing Research, Engineering, Food Science, Human Factors, Industrial Design, or related STEM field). ​Minimum of 6+ years (BS), 5+ years (MS) or 4+ years (PhD) in consumer/product research, consumer experience, or applied insights supporting product development and commercialization—CPG or food & beverage strongly preferred—with demonstrated progression as a technical authority across multiple brands/platforms and vendor ecosystems.

​Proven executive alignment and stakeholder management (VP+), with clear judgment on decision rights and escalation. ​Strong program operating discipline: governance,…