Kwench Beverage Innovation Lead

WELCOME TO KFC, HOME OF THE REAL ONES.

We sell the world’s best chicken. Seriously. And we’ve done it since 1939, when the idea of crispy, original recipe chicken took Kentucky by storm. Now, we’re proud to serve 1000+ communities across the UK and Ireland, bringing the grit, pride and iconic reputation that we started with, all those years ago.

Across the Restaurant Support Centre (RSC), we come to work to be ourselves, and to make something of ourselves. We want to see our potential go that little bit further, as part of one of the world’s most iconic brands.

What’s the gig? Well, you support our restaurants — and we’ll support you every step of the way. Simple. Our doors are open — and they can take you anywhere.

All we ask is that you be you. Because that makes us, us. Sound good?

Great. Let’s find out about that job.

Our KFC Marketing team is a 50-strong crew of bold thinkers, cultureshapers, creative doers and BELIEVERS - from Brand and Digital to Strategy, Food Quality, Innovation, Corporate Comms & Community.

We’rehere to keep KFC at the heart of culture across the UK & Ireland, blending our iconic roots with fresh, fearless ideas that connect with real people.

Wedon’tjust make ads - we build obsession, fandom, drive growth, and stay one step ahead ofwhat’snext.

The Kwench By KFC Beverage Innovation Lead will create the drinks that make Kwench By KFC famous. This role is 100% dedicated to Kwench - KFC UK & Ireland's beverage business - and owns the innovation pipeline end-to-end: from cultural insight and concept, through formulation and product development, to launch-ready drinks that our restaurant teams can execute brilliantly at scale.

Kwench By KFC is one of KFC's boldest growth bets: building beverages into a second business - a destination, not an add-on - that wins new occasions and takes share from the QSR drinks category. The innovation you create is the beating heart of that ambition. Working within the Kwench By KFC venture squad alongside the Kwench By KFC Venture Lead, you'll turn trends into products, products into buzz, and buzz into sales.

We'll be straight with you:
Kwench By KFC is scaling fast and customers love it, but our innovation engine is early-stage. We don't yet have a deep beverage development capability in-house - that's exactly why this role exists. You'll be building the beverage menu vision, pipeline, the supplier relationships and the ways of working largely from scratch, with the backing of an iconic brand and a leadership team that has named beverages a strategic growth engine.

The bar is high. We're not looking for line extensions and safe seasonal syrups. We want bold drinks innovation that gets people talking, filming and queuing - refreshers, functional and low-sugar innovation, premium seasonal drops - drinks with the cultural energy of a streetwear launch and the operational discipline of a QSR at scale.

This is a rare hybrid. You're a genuine beverage specialist - a technical product developer who has actually formulated, developed and launched drinks - but you're also a brand thinker with real conceptual creative ability. You're tuned into culture: you know what's blowing up on social before it peaks, and you scan trends from other categories - fashion, beauty, music - to inspire drinks nobody saw coming.

And you're a pragmatist. You know a brilliant drink that can't be made consistently in 1,000+ restaurants isn't a brilliant drink. You'll work hand-in-glove with suppliers, supply chain and operations to make your ideas practical, repeatable and profitable. If you want to invent in a lab and hand it over the wall, this isn't the role. If you want to…