Sr. Principal Scientist, R&D – Margin Enhancement Strategy & Pipeline

Job description

​​Serve as a recognized technical authority and thought leader in value engineering, providing consultation on the most complex product, ingredient, and formula challenges across the NA Region. ​Build and maintain a multi-year pipeline of high-value productivity opportunities that span categories, platforms, and business units. ​Shape the long-term North American productivity strategy by identifying emerging technical capabilities, white-space opportunities, and future cost optimization pathways. ​Identify breakthrough ingredient and formulation technologies that enable step-change cost savings while preserving or improving consumer outcomes. ​Conduct technical assessments of emerging technologies, supplier capabilities, ingredient systems, and manufacturing innovations to identify future value engineering opportunities. ​Develop and maintain external networks across suppliers, universities, startups, and industry organizations to proactively identify emerging value engineering opportunities. ​Partner with

Platform R&D teams to translate technical concepts into scalable productivity initiatives and innovation roadmaps. ​Provide technical leadership during opportunity ideation, feasibility assessments, and early-stage development activities. ​Lead cross-functional workshops focused on value engineering pipeline generation, opportunity prioritization, and technical risk evaluation. ​Collaborate closely with Procurement, Operations, Quality, Regulatory, Packaging, and

Commercialization teams to assess NA Regional value engineering opportunities. ​Establish and maintain technical frameworks, best practices, and methodologies for identifying and evaluating value engineering opportunities. ​Influence senior leadership through data-driven recommendations, competitive insights, technical evaluations, and long-term productivity strategies. ​Monitor industry trends, emerging technologies, academic research, and supplier innovations to continuously refresh the value engineering opportunity pipeline. ​Support critical productivity initiatives as a technical advisor and consultant, helping teams navigate complex formulation and scale-up challenges. ​Represent

Kraft Heinz externally through engagement with suppliers, industry organizations, universities, and strategic innovation partners.​ ​​Master's degree or PhD in Food Science, Food Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Biological Engineering, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Microbiology, or a related field is strongly preferred.

Candidates should possess 7+ years of relevant experience with a Master's degree, 6+ years with a PhD, or 8+ years with a Bachelor's degree, demonstrating progressive technical leadership, recognized subject matter expertise, and a track record of identifying and delivering high-impact value engineering opportunities. ​Possess deep knowledge of ingredient functionality, formulation design, food processing technologies, and cost optimization strategies. ​Demonstrated success identifying and advancing high-impact value engineering opportunities that deliver measurable business results. ​Demonstrated ability to evaluate technical opportunities through both scientific merit and business value, including cost savings potential, investment requirements, and implementation feasibility. ​Proven ability to develop technical strategies and influence organizational priorities across multiple business units. ​Strong understanding of manufacturing, scale-up, commercialization, and supply chain considerations. ​Experience evaluating emerging technologies, supplier innovations, and external trends to identify future business opportunities. ​Ability to simplify complex technical concepts and effectively communicate recommendations to senior leadership. ​Exceptional problem-solving, systems-thinking, and strategic planning capabilities. ​Demonstrated ability to influence without authority and build alignment across diverse stakeholder groups. ​Experience working across large global matrixed organizations preferred. ​Ability to travel up to 15% of the time to support supplier reviews, plant visits, innovation scouting, and technical workshops.​