About this role
About Kerry
Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Every day we partner with customers to create healthier, tastier and more sustainable products that are consumed by billions of people across the world. Our vision is to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition. A career with Kerry offers you an opportunity to shape the future of food while providing you opportunities to explore and grow in a truly global environment.
About the role
Lead the LATAM Sensory Insights function, translating category sensory understanding into actionable insights that accelerate growth in Taste, support innovation, guide product and portfolio decisions, strengthen customer engagement, and create measurable business value. The role sets the regional direction, provides technical governance, ensures delivery through the Sensory team, builds organizational capability, and connects sensory science with RD&A, Marketing, Commercial, and global priorities.
Key responsibilities
- 1. Set Regional Sensory Strategy and Priorities
Define and lead the LATAM Sensory Insights strategy, priorities, and capability roadmap in alignment with growth ambitions, priority categories, customer needs, RD&A and Commercial agendas, and global Sensory priorities. Establish where Sensory can create the greatest business value and translate regional needs into clear functional priorities and investment choices.
- 2. Generate Category, Product and Portfolio Insights
Translate sensory understanding of priority categories, products, competitors, markets, and portfolios into clear opportunities and recommendations. Use sensory, consumer, and market evidence to guide innovation, renovation, portfolio, and customer decisions.
- 3. Lead Sensory Integration Across Innovation and Product Development
Integrate Sensory throughout innovation and product development, from the brief through optimization, benchmarking, validation, and commercialization. Work with Flavor Creation, Applications, RD&A, Marketing, Consumer Insights, and Commercial teams to define learning needs and guide product decisions.
- 4. Own Technical Governance, Methodologies and Panel Standards
Set regional standards for sensory and product-focused consumer research. Approve fit-for-purpose methodologies, experimental designs, and analytical approaches for strategic or complex work; ensure data quality, sound interpretation, and alignment with global best practices. Lead sensory panel recruitment, training, calibration, and management, including lexicons and attribute standards.
- 5. Shape Strategic Customer Engagements and Business Decisions
Use sensory evidence to strengthen priority customer opportunities, value propositions, workshops, and technical discussions. Turn findings into clear recommendations for customers, Commercial, RD&A, Marketing, and senior leaders.
- 6. Manage the Sensory Portfolio, Resources and Delivery
Establish transparent intake and prioritization criteria for the regional Sensory portfolio, allocating team capacity, budget, panels, tools, and external partners to the highest-value work. Ensure priority studies are delivered to agreed scope, quality, timing, and cost; proactively manage risks, dependencies, and capacity constraints; and stop, redirect, or deprioritize activity that does not support agreed business priorities.
- 7. Lead, Develop and Empower the Sensory Team
Set clear objectives, roles, and accountability for the regional Sensory team. Coach and develop talent, strengthen technical and business capability, build succession plans, and enable effective ownership and collaboration across markets.
- 8. Build Future-Ready Capability and Global Connectivity
Build future-ready Sensory capability through improved methods, digital tools, automation, data practices, and knowledge sharing. Connect LATAM with the global Sensory community to access expertise, apply common standards, share learning, and represent regional needs.
Qualifications and skills
- Bachelor’s degree in Sensory Science, Food Science, Statistics, Consumer Science or a related scientific discipline. Master’s degree or relevant postgraduate specialization is advantageous.
- 8–10+ years of relevant experience in sensory, product research or applied research, including significant experience in the food and beverage industry.
- Demonstrated experience leading people or complex technical programs across multiple markets, including portfolio prioritization, resource and budget management, external partners, sensory panels, quality, and delivery.
- Proven experience influencing in a matrix organization and leading customer-facing technical engagements.
- Professional fluency in English. Ability to operate across LATAM cultures; the third regional language is advantageous.