Manager, Sensory

▶ Who we are

Imagine working in a place where continuous improvement and innovation is celebrated and rewarded; where fast-paced, high-impact teams come together to positively drive results for one of the largest & most iconic brands in the world.

As the only rapidly growing retailer, you may know us as your friendly neighborhood store. You probably know our familiar name, have seen our pervasive logo, and have tried our highly sought-after products, such as Slurpee® and Big Bite®. “Brain Freeze” is a 7-Eleven registered trademark for our 53-year old Slurpee® and with over 77,000 stores globally (more than any other retailer or food service provider), we sell over 14 million a month.

But there’s a lot more to our story and much more left to be written. We are transforming our business, ensuring we are customer obsessed and digitally enabled to seamlessly link our brick and mortar stores with digital products and services.

At 7-Eleven the entrepreneurial spirit is in our DNA and has been ever since our inception 90+ years ago. It’s what drove us to invent the convenience industry in 1927 by envisioning how a simple ice dock could provide household staples such as milk and eggs to better serve the needs of our customers.

Today we are redefining convenience and the customer experience in big ways...we are fundamentally changing our culture and we want talented, innovative, customer obsessed, and entrepreneurial people like you to come make history with us.

▶ How we lead

At 7-Eleven we are guided by our Leadership Principles.

1. Be Customer Obsessed
2. Be Courageous with Your Point of View
3. Challenge the Status Quo
4. Act Like an Entrepreneur
5. Have an “It Can Be Done” Attitude
6. Do the Right Thing
7. Be Accountable

Each principle has a defined set of behaviors which help guide the 7-Eleven team to Serve Customers and Support Stores.

▶ About This Opportunity

JOB SUMMARY:

Working in a fast paced and dynamic environment, the Sensory Testing manager will be responsible for overseeing the internal sensory testing process, database management, testing protocols and data analysis for consumer products at 7-Eleven.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITES:

• Provide daily management of sensory panels/evaluations for the 7-Eleven program across Fresh Foods, Restaurant, beverages and Private Brands divisions. This includes working with product developers and a sensory technician on test design, screeners, surveys, data compilation and writing reports which communicate results and the implication of results to product design/direction.
• Partner with Consumer Insights manager closely on focus groups and external consumer test execution.
• Explore and recommend alternative methodologies and testing protocols to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the sensory program. Evaluate and apply new and existing sensory research methods to provide custom solutions for specific product development concerns. Evolve from employee panel centric to customer centric both locally (DFW area) and nationally. Utilize DOE (design of experiments) and statistics to enhance result rigor.
• Build awareness and champion the use of sensory as a product development tool both within merchandising as well as throughout the company.
• Collaborate with Category Managers and Product Directors to have a clear vision of the category of longer term strategies and white spaces within product matrices.
• Embody the 7-Eleven leadership principles of Customer Obsession, Challenging the Status Quo, Courageous with Your Point of View, acting like an entrepreneur and having an ‘It Can be Done’ Attitude.

Qualifications:

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

EDUCATION: Bachelors/4 Yr Degree

YEARS OF RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE: 5+ years

YEARS OF MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE: NA

CERTIFICATIONS / LICENSES: BSc Food Science, Sensory Science

SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

You Are:

• A problem solver. You love to learn and ask the right questions to derive the best solution possible.
• An analyzer. You love to collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative information and are adept at helping others find clarity through analysis.
• Proven working knowledge of sensory testing protocols and concept development methodology and how to
• utilize efficiently and effectively.
• Strong interpersonal skills. You can build trust and form genuine relationships with a wide range of individuals quickly and enjoy supporting others to do what they do even better.
• Exceptional organizational skills and can keep everyone on track and on target. In addition, you constantly re-evaluate importance and urgency relative to company pivots and moving demands.
• Experience in creating processes and implementing new strategies and procedures that best serve the company.
• Strong research, writing, and oral communication skills.
• A test-and-learn mindset with a desire to leverage insights to improve your work.
• A deep knowledge and passion for food, cooking, flavors, ingredients and a keen ability to discern a wide variety of flavors and odors via sensitive taste buds and a descriptive vocabulary.