Product Dev Associate Scientist

Overview

Pepsi Lipton is a joint venture between Unilever and Pepsi Co operating in the ready‑to‑drinks tea segment globally with three well‑established brands:
Lipton, Brisk, Pure Leaf and Yachak. Our global business is worth 3.0 billion USD today, growing in volume with a double‑digit increase in net revenues. We operate across complex and diverse regions spanning Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Latin America, with markets at different stages of development, different consumer habits and routes to market via a matrix of franchise, company‑owned and third‑party manufacturing operating models.

Innovation delivery is key to enable accelerated growth. We have an established global R&D function based in two centres:
Colworth UK and Valhalla, US. The Valhalla hub focuses on the North America and Latin America markets while supporting global programmes and some international markets. Colworth is our leading centre for tea expertise, bringing product and process development to meet a wide range of consumer benefits and needs. A role at Pepsi Lipton offers a unique experience to develop and add value to your career.

Although a joint venture, Pepsi Lipton operates independently with its own Board of Directors, backed by Unilever and Pepsi Co. Our entrepreneurial set‑up gives us real autonomy and high visibility, offering exposure to senior leadership and talented colleagues worldwide. We need to be impactful, smart influencers. We are looking for a Junior Product Developer (Associate Scientist) to join our team in Valhalla, NY.

Travel requirements include occasional short business trips within the U.S. (1–3 trips per year). To learn more, visit

• Design and carry out practical and lab‑based work programmes linked to assigned projects.
• Input into project timelines, risk analysis, and resource loading associated with assigned projects.
• Ingredient sourcing – first point of contact with relevant suppliers, link in with parent company Material Expert Teams (METs) or specification team, and ownership to drive quality integration into parent company systems and processes. Includes ingredient documentation, samples, ordering and specification builds.
• Generate all prototypes to support project requirements including liaison with pilot plant for production of larger scale and provision of key documentation and non‑standard ingredient ordering for pilot‑plant scheduling.
• Lead the provision of all relevant product‑related documentation linked to assigned projects, including documentation for consumer testing, registration, certification, or specific local business‑unit‑initiated requests.
• Own functional specification delivery and utilization of digital tools (e.g., specification systems) to ensure technical output for artwork and labelling delivered at agreed timescales, including liaison with specification experts, concentrate teams and QA team members for specification parameter alignment where required.
• Own any scale‑up trials required to confirm viability, including ownership of trial briefing and point of contact with structural‑complexity & technical contact managers (TCM) and quality along with suppliers.
• Act as liaison with Consumer Technical Insights (CTI), Sensory Product Consumer Insights, and brand insights to support relevant prototype, panel or consumer tastings.
• Manage prototype sample shipment process to consumer test locations, stakeholders, teams and event locations.
• Initiate and maintain formal lab notes, trial reports, experimental write‑ups, handover documents and presentation cascades as required to capture key technical updates.
• Link in with regulatory and local deployment partners where relevant to ensure prototype development and ingredient selection complies with local requirements; collate and cascade output to relevant stakeholders.
• Serve as the point of contact for product and ingredient‑related queries for formulations developed.
• Support wider technical activities, business‑unit‑initiated requests and broader R&D team requirements where required.
• Have awareness of competitor landscape, commercial products, supply‑chain model and project‑management…