Product Design and Development Specialist, Beverages, India

JOB TITLE: Product Design and Development Specialist, India WORK LEVEL: 1B/1C LOCATION: Unilever R&D Bangalore, India About Unilever R&D: Unilever R&D is an exciting place to work for product, process, and packaging developers. With 6000+ scientists, researchers, product developers around the world, it offers the possibility for seamless global networking. Business Context and Main Purpose of the Job: Tea is the largest category in HUL Foods, with over €750 million in turnover and strong growth momentum. HUL leads the Indian tea market with iconic brands like Taj Mahal, Red Label, Lipton, Taaza, and 3 Roses. This role offers a great opportunity to contribute as a Product Design & Development Specialist, supporting innovation across Retail and out-of-home (OOH) tea formats, including vending. R&D plays a key role in driving category growth through differentiated, science-led innovations. If you're passionate about products and consumers, enjoy innovation, and thrive in collaborative environments — this role is for you. We’re seeking a passionate and proactive individual to develop breakthrough product solutions grounded in deep consumer insight and market foresight. Key expectations from the role are – CORE: • Key requirement of the role is to work on innovation / renovation / value improvement projects for both product & process development, and technology transfer. • The person should design and develop innovations, renovation and cost-saving projects for Tea (Black, Green, Instant), Coffee (R&G, Instant, Beans), and premixes formulations, aligned with business briefs. • Consumer understanding: Translate consumer habits and insights into product attributes, develop hypotheses, and validate through testing. • Conduct competition benchmarking and monitor market trends to identify gaps, opportunities, and areas for product differentiation. Use these insights for formulation, claims, and innovation strategy. • Characterize product attributes using existing or new measurement techniques. • Ensuring statutory regulatory & legal compliances for products & process. • Claims & Demo generation & substantiation: help developing competitive claims and demo along with substantiation to defend those claims • Conduct shelf-life studies and stability assessments for intermediate and finished products. • Drive value improvement through specification flexing and technology leverage. • Handling customer complaints (technical aspect) and appreciating their concerns. • Plan and execute experiments with scientific rigor; analyze data and draw conclusions. PROJECT EXECUTION & SCALE-UP: • Responsible for defining and aligning product specifications across formulation, process, packaging, and quality standards, ensuring they meet agreed technical requirements and are consistently enforced. • Responsible for establishing appropriate technology for manufacturing products to specification at lab-scale and pilot-scale. • Prepare technical dockets and transfer technology to factories with training support. • Conduct risk assessments and de-risk projects to ensure OTIF and FTR delivery. CROSS-FUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION • Build and maintain strong networks with cross functional (Brand, CMI, SC, CQA etc.) teams and the vending machine design team. • Co-partner relevant functions within R&D – Pkg, CTI, Nutrition, TTU, Processing for driving innovation/renovation and VIP projects. • Collaborations with external vendors / suppliers and equipment manufacturers to deliver new and improved designs across Beverages platforms. CAPABILITIES & SKILLS • A positive and growth-oriented attitude is key, as it fosters accountability, ownership, and continuous learning—critical for success in this role • Knowledge, experience and understanding of the formulation ingredients and their interactions for beverages range of products • Collaboration and Networking • Hold on Technical Specification • Creative thinking • Strong consumer insight application • Advanced experimental design skills • Proficiency in experimental design, data analysis, and interpretation • Effective cross-functional collaboration • Business and claims understanding • Innovative and agile execution • Excellent communication and influence EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Chemical Engineering, or related field. 3–5 years of relevant experience in Food/Beverage R&D. CRITICAL SOL (STANDARDS OF LEADERSHIP) BEHAVIORS: • Care Deeply: Commitment to consumers, products, and team collaboration. • Focus on What Counts: Prioritize high-impact work that drives product quality and business results. • Stay Three Steps Ahead: Anticipate trends and proactively shape future-ready product solutions. • Deliver with Excellence: Execute with precision, ensuring high standards in product development and delivery. OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION: Unilever embraces diversity and encourages applicants from all walks of life! This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.