Director R&D

Set and drive the technical and operational agenda for beverage flavours, concentrates, and kit development, ensuring differentiated formulation design, robust scale-up, commercialization readiness, and strong support for concentrate & kit manufacturing priorities. Serve as the senior technical leader for flavour strategy, concentrate and kit design, and concentrate process development, providing guidance on risk, quality, and technical decision-making. Own and govern a portfolio of flavour and concentrate innovation, renovation, productivity, and sustainability initiatives, ensuring clear prioritization, effective resource deployment, and strong execution through commercialization within the concentrate operations and bottling system. Provide leadership to a multi-disciplinary R&D organization, including talent development, capability building, succession planning, and fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Partner with senior R&D and cross-functional leaders across Operations, Supply Chain, Commercial, Procurement, Quality, Manufacturing, and other key business functions to identify growth opportunities, resolve complex technical challenges, and deliver solutions that create enterprise value. Influence senior stakeholders across Global R&D and Concentrate Operations on Flavour & concentrate strategy, investment priorities, compliance matters, and capability development. Unlock Ireland's food and beverage innovation ecosystem by building high-impact partnerships with flavour houses, ingredient suppliers, research agencies, technology centres, and industry networks to accelerate science-led, commercially scalable Beverage processing and Innovation solutions. Provide leadership in the resolution of flavour, concentrate & product quality, formulation, and manufacturing issues, ensuring timely decision-making and sustainable corrective actions. Manage functional budget, lead organizational design, and resource planning to enable delivery of near-term commitments and long-term technical strategic priorities. Bachelor's or Master's degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related discipline; advanced degree preferred. Minimum 12+ years of progressive beverage R&D experience, including significant leadership in flavour formulation, concentrate & kit development, scale-up, and commercialization. Proven ability to set the technical agenda for complex beverage R&D portfolios, translating enterprise strategy into focused technical priorities, capability plans and scalable innovation outcomes. Deep expertise in flavour technology, including flavour key chemistry, ingredient functionality, sensory performance, formulation design, flavour concentrate processing, and commercialization within complex beverage systems. Proven experience leading multidisciplinary R&D teams across multiple technical disciplines, including managers and technical experts, with responsibility for capability development, succession planning, and a culture of accountability. Senior leadership experience with demonstrated contribution to business strategy, culture and capability development. Experience operating successfully within a matrixed global function across multiple locations, aligning priorities, ways of working, decision-making, and stakeholder expectations across regions and teams. Demonstrated project and portfolio management capability, including leading multiple complex initiatives concurrently, managing priorities, aligning cross-functional stakeholders, and delivering outcomes against timelines and business objectives. Exceptional leadership, communication, and senior stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence across functions, regions, and leadership levels. Ability to travel domestically and internationally as required Established operational and technical mindset, with experience strengthening internal R&D capabilities, development rigor, technical decision-making, and scalable execution. Experience leading productivity initiatives with a holistic cost management mindset, balancing formulation, ingredient, process, supply, and operational considerations to deliver sustainable value. Knowledge of the sustainability agenda, with the ability to integrate sustainability considerations into formulation, ingredient selection, packaging, process choices, and capability development. Experience in technical brand stewardship, including renovation of flavours and concentrates to meet compliance requirements, quality expectations, productivity targets, sustainability goals, and other key success KPIs. Knowledge of beverage concentrate manufacturing technologies, quality systems, and scale-up processes. Familiarity with relevant data analysis, formulation, or R&D digital tools. Strong understanding of regulatory requirements, quality expectations, and risk management relevant to beverage flavours, ingredients, concentrates, manufacturing, and commercialization Deep technical expertise in concentrate processing and kit development technologies, including process design, scale-up, manufacturing readiness, and commercialization within complex beverage systems.