Senior Consumer Scientist, R&D Consultant - Remote

Spectrum Brands; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Part time

Job summary

Spectrum Brands is seeking an experienced Consumer Science Leader to build and run an R&D focused consumer learning program for Home & Garden products. You will translate consumer insights into actionable product performance improvements and partner with Marketing, Insights, and Development teams to de-risk decisions.

You will design scalable processes for IHUTs, CLTs, and benchmarking, establish standards for evaluating product experience, and lead external research partnerships.

Qualifications

• BS in science or engineering; MS preferred.
• 10+ years in FMCG R&D or Consumer Science.
• Experience in CPG, household, cleaning, pest control, lawn & garden products preferred.
• Proven ability to translate consumer understanding into product propositions.
• Experience with Front End innovation and NPD preferred.
• Experience designing IHUTs, CLTs, qualitative research, and product evaluations.
• Strong analytical skills to convert findings into technical recommendations.
• Experience managing external research suppliers and budgets.
• Behavior science experience preferred.
• Role not eligible for sponsorship.

Responsibilities

• Develop an R&D consumer science strategy focusing on product performance and technical decisions.
• Lead validation of consumer usage experience and confirm solutions meet defined objectives.
• Create standardized approaches to understand how consumers use and experience product performance.
• Translate consumer observations into actionable technical recommendations for formulation and development teams.
• Ensure performance gaps and unmet needs translate into R&D opportunities.
• Design and execute benchmarking studies to identify differences and opportunities to improve performance.
• Develop standardized benchmarking protocols for key product categories.
• Analyze competitive product claims, performance characteristics, and consumer evaluations.
• Build a library of validated consumer testing protocols and a learning database accessible to R&D.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Insights to analyze ratings, reviews, and identify dissatisfiers.
• Provide recurring insight reports to R&D leadership and project teams.
• Oversee IHUTs, CLTs, qualitative studies, and product evaluations within consumer research program.

Skills

Communication

Project management

Critical thinking

Curiosity

Education

BS in science or engineering

MS preferred

Job description

Division Information

The Home & Garden business unit of Spectrum Brands is based in St. Louis, Missouri with distribution, manufacturing and sales offices throughout the US and globe. We are a leading supplier of consumer products nationally for the home, lawn and garden, insect and weed control markets. We deliver groundbreaking products of exceptional value and top-notch quality to consumers with our well-recognized brands including Spectracide, Hot Shot, Cutter, Repel, Black Flag, Garden Safe, EcoLogic and Liquid Fence.

Job Summary

• This is a limited-term employment opportunity with the potential to convert to a full-time, permanent position. Please note that conversion to a full-time, permanent position is not guaranteed.
• We are anticipating this role will last 5 to 6 months (40 hrs/week).
• Travel Expectation: This role is expected to travel up to 3 days every 2 to 4 weeks to our Earth City, MO corporate office.

The Consumer Science & Product Research consultant will establish and lead the creation of an R&D-focused consumer science capability that enables the Global Home Care organization to make faster, more confident product development decisions.

This role sits within Research & Development and is focused on applying consumer learning to product formulation, performance validation, prototype development, benchmarking, and technical decision making. The role is not intended to duplicate Marketing or Consumer Insights functions such as brand strategy, segmentation, communications testing, or market assessment. Instead, it focuses on understanding how consumers experience products, identifying performance gaps, validating product solutions, and translating consumer feedback into actionable product development recommendations.

The successful candidate will build scalable processes that allow R&D teams to continuously incorporate consumer learning throughout the product development process, reducing technical risk and increasing the likelihood of product success.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

What You Will Build - Consumer Science Leadership

Consumer Understanding

• Develop an R&D consumer science strategy that complements Marketing and Consumer Insights activities while focusing specifically on product performance and technical decision making.
• Lead validation of Consumer usage experience, confirming product solutions deliver against expectations, as defined through validated concepts to meet the 3-year IMP and QIR.
• Build standardized approaches for understanding how consumers use, evaluate, and experience product performance throughout development.
• Translate consumer observations into actionable technical recommendations for formulation and product development teams.
• Ensure product performance gaps, usage barriers, and unmet functional needs are translated into actionable R&D opportunities.

Benchmarking & Competitive Intelligence

• Design and execute comprehensive competitive product benchmarking studies to identify points of difference and opportunities to improve performance.
• Develop standardized benchmarking protocols across key product categories.
• Analyze competitive product claims, performance characteristics, usage experience, and consumer product evaluations.
• Generate technical insights from competitive products that influence R&D priorities.
• Partner with Marketing and Insights to analyze ratings and reviews, identifying consumer dissatisfiers, unmet needs and opportunity areas for product performance.
• Identify recurring product performance complaints, usage frustrations, and improvement opportunities.
• Provide recurring insight reports to R&D leadership and project teams.

Consumer Research

Develop and manage an R&D-focused consumer research program including:

• In-Home Use Tests (IHUTs)
• Central Location Tests (CLTs)
• Product concept feasibility assessments, prototype evaluations, and product experience validation
• Qualitative product use and product experience studies
• Consumer use-observation and human factors studies focused on product interaction and performance evaluation
• Product performance validation and Second Moment of Truth confirmation studies
• Partner with external research suppliers to ensure studies generate technically actionable learning

What You Will Build

• Standardized benchmarking process
• Preferred consumer research suppliers and methodologies
• Library of validated consumer testing protocols
• Product experience and consumer learning database accessible by R&D teams
• Best practices for integrating consumer learning into Stage Gate decisions

Education and Experience Profile

• BS Degree in Science or Engineering field. MS preferred.
• 10+ years of experience in fast moving consumer goods R&D, Consumer Science or Products Research.
• Experience in Consumer Packaged Goods, Household Products, Cleaning Products, Pest Control, Lawn & Garden, Consumer Durables preferred
• Successful experience converting consumer understanding into product propositions; launching to market.
• Experience in Front End innovation and NPD preferred.
• Experience designing and managing IHUTs, CLTs, qualitative consumer research, and product evaluation studies.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to convert qualitative and quantitative findings into technical recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to manage external research suppliers and research budgets.
• Behavior science experience preferred.
• Role not eligible for sponsorship.

Required Skills

• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Strong project management and organizational capabilities.
• Curiosity, critical thinking, and passion for understanding consumer behavior.

Work Environment

The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this job/classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.

Spectrum Brands is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

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