Senior Product Technologist (Innovation)

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!

Within R&D 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

This role is to design, develop & validate great tasting products in line with consumer expectations whilst leading the formulation aspects of projects, supporting from concept to launch. 

• Leading the formulation aspects of projects from concept through to launch.
• Creating & developing great tasting liquid formulations.
• Use of strong product development & sensory knowledge to validate prototypes.
• Value engineering existing recipes without impacting on product quality.
• Benchmarking of competitor products.
• Researching & sharing knowledge on new ingredients
• Working with the innovation team and attending innovation workshops to develop new drink ideas.
• Managing the introduction of new raw materials into the business using our raw material and recipe management system.  

• Working closely with suppliers and manufacturing teams to ensure the successful scale up from lab trials into production. 
• Ensuring product quality is consistent throughout shelf life.
• Generating accurate nutritional and recipe specifications using our raw material and recipe management system.
• Providing technical support on consumer & trade enquiries.

• 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.
• Strong understanding of food/beverage quality systems, specification management (ideally Hamilton Grant or similar), and raw material documentation requirements (e.g COAs).
• Highly effective communication skills, comfortable coordinating complex projects and following up with external suppliers and internal cross-functional teams.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, demonstrating strong self-motivation and proactive problem-solving skills.
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to build and maintain effective working relationships.
• Flexible and adaptable approach to work, with the ability to manage changing priorities and demands.
• Available to travel to manufacturing sites and to visit suppliers. 

You will also demonstrate our AG Barr behaviours of Being Honest, Accountable, Connected and Brave.

Please note, we may close vacancies early where we receive significant numbers of applications, so apply now!