【Business Context and Main Purpose of Job】

Pepsi Lipton is a joint venture between Unilever and PepsiCo to capitalize on growth of the Ready-To-Drink Tea segment and operates globally with three well-established brands Lipton, Brisk and Pure Leaf. Our global business is worth 3,0 billion USD, growing volume at the rate of 4-5% and with a double digit increase in net revenues. Our vision is to expand our global leadership and enter new benefit areas with current and additional brands.

A role in Pepsi Lipton is a unique experience in which to develop and add value to your career. Pepsi Lipton although a Joint Venture between Unilever and PepsiCo operates as a company and has its own Board of Directors. Whilst we have the full backing and support of our two parent companies, our entrepreneurial set up gives us real autonomy. Our roles are broad, our responsibilities big and our experiences even bigger. We have high visibility and great exposure – to senior leadership and to talented colleagues all over the world. It means we need to be impactful, smart influencers. And it means that we can get involved in the end-to-end business in a way that’s just not possible at our parent companies.

We have an established global R&D function which includes the Colworth, UK `hub’ from where the team focus on the European, AMESA and APAC businesses (iced tea portfolio), while Valhalla, US ‘hub’ is our center of excellence for milk-based teas on APAC business. We also have a small R&D team based in Shanghai acting as R&D partners for APAC & AMESA business. Expertise in R&D covers product development and packaging working together to develop products across our core, functional and premium platforms that meet a wide range of consumer benefits and needs.

We have an exciting opportunity for a R&D Assistant Manager to join our Product Development team to support technical delivery of R&D projects to deliver the growth, sustainability, productivity and quality agenda for APAC markets through products ready for launch.

This role manages and leads technical workstreams to deliver milk-based tea projects personally & indirectly through product development teams based in technical Hub at Valhalla,US. The role will partner closely with bottlers and local business team in Taiwan to ensure OTIF delivery of the technical programme for milk-based tea mainly in Taiwan, the geography scope may be expanded to other APAC markets (e.g. Hong Kong, Thailand) in future. The incumbent will work closely, assist, and report to the Senior R&D Manager based in Shanghai.

To learn more, visit www.pepsilipton.com

【Job Description】

APAC milk-based tea Program (Mainly in Taiwan)

• Partner APAC business partners to ensure OTIF delivery of product development (PD) activities in Annual Operating Plan (AOP) and Future of tea innovation roadmaps, including contributing to regional innovation strategy and program prioritization

• Drive agile ways of working across project teams and with business partners, whilst ensuring rigor through end-to-end functional excellence, risk assessment, HACCP studies and regulatory compliance

• Drive robust innovation and effective project management processes using stage gate techniques

• Ensure compliance with all relevant Code of Business Principles, SHEQA policies, and support development of compelling product claims, and effective management of risk

Technical Project Delivery

• Perform “hands on” product development working in lab/pilot plant at bottler/supplier facility based on project needs

• Lead internal and external team tasting sessions

• Lead new ingredient sourcing, link in with parent company Material Expert Team’s (METs) and ownership to drive quality integration into UL systems and processes

• Link in with local Regulatory team to ensure prototype development and ingredient selection complies with local requirements

• Ownership of functional specification delivery & utilization of digital tools (e.g. specification systems) to ensure technical output for AW and labelling (nutritional table, ingredient list and allergen info.) delivered at the agreed timescale

• Provide technical inputs into local systems (PIF) for new materials to support the launch of innovations

• Ownership of scale up trials required to confirm viability of new product/process design

• First commercial production of new innovation product – formula validation and approval

• SC support (e.g. product assessment of quality issues, ingredient sourcing moves)

• Adhere to safety and regulatory aspects throughout activities performed (traceability, allergen and consumer safety, microbiological clearance, SEAC approvals)

• Ensure best practice, developments shared across global PD network

Bottler Partnering

• Act as point of R&D contact to Taiwan bottlers on daily basis for product and ingredient related queries

• Present for product trial run validations as well as commercial productions at Taiwan bottlers when needed

• Partner with SC team to manage all technical documentation required by bottler to clear innovation process on time in full

• Build strategic relationship with bottler and explore new R&D working model with bottler to Max. business impact

• Manage R&D payment process to Taiwan bottlers for R&D activities according to budget

North Asia Ecosystem

• Support building up North Asia Ecosystem to seed new innovation/technology ideas for RTD tea product

• Explore external R&D partners to enable fast prototyping for product development

• Manage and lead open innovation partners once identified to deliver projects, including full technical delivery, required CDA’s and service agreements

【Requirement】

• A deep knowledge of and passion for milk-based tea product design with proven ability to translate consumer habits and needs into in-market product innovation

• A collaborative end-to-end mindset

• Analytical thinking and problem solving

• Excellent project/risk/time management skills

• Strong influencing & negotiation skills

• Action oriented, self-motivated with a “can do” attitude

• Highly agile and resilient with a strong disruptive and entrepreneurial mindset

• Building relationships with colleagues from different cultures

• MUST be fluent in both Chinese and English (Speaking/Writing/Listening)

• Degree (or equivalent) in Food Science, Chemical Science or Engineering with proven experience in FMCG in fields related to product or process development/ manufacturing in Foods or Beverages

• Experienced product developer in milk-based tea product

• Proven Technical Project Leadership capability

• Experience of delivery and landing products in market ensuring full compliance with regulatory and legal requirements

• Up to 20% of the time travel depends on program needs (e.g. trial runs, bottler/supplier visit)

Unilever is an organisation committed to equity, inclusion and diversity to drive our business results and create a better future, every day, for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. At Unilever we are interested in every individual bringing their ‘Whole Self’ to work and this includes you! Thus if you require any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of your application so that we can support you through your recruitment journey.