Sensory Scientist – Blue Buffalo Pet Food

The Sensory Scientist identifies how to optimize pet food for pets and Pet Parents. This person works with cross-functional teams, Pet Parents, and Pets to renovate and innovate pet products. KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES Partner with Consumer & Market Intelligence, Research and Development, Marketing, Packaging, Supply Chain, and other business and product teams to guide the optimization of new products, product improvements, and protect product quality as designed Drive projects through appropriate consumer and Sensory learning plans on product and package, from optimization to confirmatory testing, inclusive of building foundational product knowledge, protecting product quality, and enhancing Pet Parent understanding. Facilitates pet parent interactions to grow pet parent empathy Courageously champion product design and product quality as the sensory representative on business teams Design experiments to identify drivers of liking for pet products by pet parents Synthesize qualitative pet parent learning (derive insights from guided discussions) and interpret statistical analysis of results of quantitative sensory and consumer testing (derive insights from experimental design and statistical insights) Communicate key findings in a relevant and easy to understand manner and guide business teams to next steps in the product development process MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS M.S. degree in Sensory Science, Food Science, Experimental Psychology, Statistics, or related field Exceptional interpersonal, collaboration, and influence skills. A love of pets, and a desire to bring joy to pets and pet parents. Strong written and verbal communication skills Ability to manage resources and leverage existing data to effectively lead multiple projects Foundational knowledge in Experimental Psychology. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS Experience planning and executing sensory and/or consumer research in partnership with Product Design teams and/or Consumer Insights is preferred. Fundamental understanding of applied statistical analysis, including design of experiments and multivariate analysis techniques. Experience in using advanced statistics and modeling, to provide advanced analytic solutions to product and business teams. Experience in using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to uncover impactful insights from textual and other relevant sources of data. Experience running experiments with pet dogs and cats. Knowledge of Operant and Classical Conditioning. COMPANY OVERVIEW We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best — bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one other and grow together. Because becoming the undisputed leader in food means surrounding ourselves with people who are hungry for what’s next.