Sensory Food Science Senior Specialist

How We Work At Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A,  Inc. ('Chick-fil-A' or 'the Company') Staff members play a vital role in achieving our strategic goals by developing their skills,  fostering inclusive teamwork,  and embracing innovation. All Staff are expected to contribute to a compelling future by inspiring and motivating those around them. Growth and development are essential at Chick-fil-A. We want Staff to seek new perspectives and adopt new methods to drive continuous improvement and adaptation to evolving business needs. Lastly,  we ask Staff to seek wisdom,  expect the best,  accept responsibility,  respond with courage,  and think others first. Our Flexible Futures Model offers a healthy mix of working in person (currently a minimum of 8-10 days per month) and virtually,  strengthening key elements of the Chick-fil-A culture by fostering collaboration and community.

Overview

This individual will be responsible for leading, coordinating, and executing sensory activities on and off-site. The successful candidate will be responsible for developing the recommended learning plans in addition to operation, maintenance, organization, and cleanliness of all sensory panel activities. This includes working with project owners and third-party groups to design the testing needed, identify all resources, interpret test results, and report key stakeholders across the organization. This role would collaborate with the Insights (CMI) team to develop consumer learning plans that integrate sensory with customer assessments as needed for a project.

This individual will have the ability to build strong relationships and provide leadership to internal partners to facilitate the execution of the sensory program. This individual must have the ability to plan, organize, and execute multiple sensory initiatives and may also provide training support as needed.

The Sensory Sr. Specialist, Menu Services will report to the Sr. Team Leader of Menu Services.

This role needs to have the ability to lead collaborative support teams to execute sensory. 

Responsibilities

Lead Sensory related activities including: 

• Lead, coordinate, and execute the design of sensory testing including descriptive & discrimination methodology
• Interpret sensory data for organizational projects 
• Develop and maintain budgetary discipline for Sensory resources; staffing, inventory and equipment 
• Ensures all Sensory tasks meet project timelines and cost targets
• Schedule and coordinate contractor teams needed to accomplish effective operation of Sensory projects
• Ensure all contractor team members are practicing Chick-fil-A procedural compliance and following food safety best practices
• Maintain Sensory inventories including reference library items
• Manage sensory testing schedule with internal and external partners

Lead Discrimination Panel Execution

• Manage, grow, and maintain panel
• Supervises and manages scheduling of support team
• Utilize sensory software to program and execute test methods
• Reviews results and report findings 

Identify, develop, strengthen, and maintain vendor relationships 

Collaborate and strengthen integration with Customer Market Insights as needed for customer testing 

Assist Training as needed to convert work methods into training materials of various formats 

Participate in project teams as Menu Services Sensory SME as needed. 

Required Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities)

• 3+ years in an industry Sensory role 
• Proven track record of excellence in leadership, problem solving, and analytical skills 
• Excellent communicator of technical information to non-technical audiences.
• High attention to quality & detail
• In-depth project management experience 
• Experience in designing experiments, process and testing 
• A versatile mind and proven ability to influence key stakeholders along the project decision track and across multiple areas of the organization 
• Ability to raise, manage, and mitigate project issues and risks 
• Proven success in multi-tasking and managing multiple project deadlines simultaneously while quickly adapting and re-prioritizing work based on the needs of the business
• Experience in supporting the work of multiple leaders 
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and/or Apple computer software applications 
• Proficiency in math and statistics 
• Maintains highest level of confidentiality • Restaurant experience
• Training in sensory science 
• Training in statistical process control 
• ServSafe Certified 
• Experience managing a trained panel
• Experience integrating sensory and consumer insights data in order to make business decisions
• Experience using sensory testing software (such as SIMS, RedJade, Compusense)

Skills and abilities:

• People: Personable and approachable. Exhibits strong interpersonal skills that encourage team cooperation, promote enthusiasm, and motivate relationship-building.
• Excellence: Gives personal best every day; demonstrates positive attitude and confidence; sets high standards and meets self- expectations; pursues everything with energy, drive, and a need to finish; is committed to and works actively to growing and developing capabilities and capacity; seeks feedback on performance and acts upon feedback received; practices accountability.
• Collaborator: The ability to bring diverse groups across internal and external teams together to work across multiple disciplines and successfully lead those SMEs toward a common outcome.
• Passion: Go-getter with the relentless pursuit of excellence in a competitive, changing landscape.
• Communication Skills: Is able to write clearly and succinctly in a variety of communication settings and styles; can get messages across that have the desired effect.
• Creativity: Thinks across disciplinary lines; uses the insights or techniques from one discipline to take on the challenges of another. Passionately curious. Thinks and learns and practices their craft all the time. 
• Making Complex Decisions: Can solve even the toughest and most complex of problems; is a quick study of the new and different; adds personal wisdom and experience to come to the best conclusion and solution, given the situation.

Preferred Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities)

• Restaurant experience
• Training in sensory science 
• Training in statistical process control 
• ServSafe Certified 
• Experience managing a trained panel
• Experience integrating sensory and consumer insights data in order to make business decisions

Required Years of Experience

3

Travel Requirements

20%

Required Level of Education

Bachelor's Degree

Preferred Level of Education

Master's Degree

Major/Concentration

Food Science, Sensory Science, or other technical discipline

Preferred Major/Concentration

Food Science, Sensory Science, or other technical discipline