Sr Manager, Sensory & Consumer Insights

Panera LLC; United States; On-site; USD 155,000 - 177,000; Full time

Job summary

Panera LLC is seeking a Sr Manager, Sensory & Consumer Insights to shape the future of the brand's food and beverage portfolio through deep consumer understanding. You will guide menu strategy, innovation pipelines, and long-term growth opportunities, ensuring guest needs inform product development and brand experiences.

You will lead a team to translate insights into actionable product briefs and collaborate with Culinary and Marketing to drive a robust innovation pipeline, with direct impact

Qualifications

• 4 to 7+ years of consumer insights, focusing on menu/product development and innovation, sensory experience in a restaurant context.
• Proven track record of influencing product development and innovation decisions.
• Experience managing direct reports and leading teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end insights agenda for menu strategy, culinary innovation, and new product development.
• Translate consumer, category, and competitive insights into actionable recommendations for cross-functional partners.
• Build and manage a learning roadmap integrating qualitative, quantitative, syndicated, and behavioral data sources.
• Oversee concept testing, sensory testing, and translate results into higher sales and traffic.
• Collaborate with Culinary and Marketing to shape long-term menu vision and innovation pipeline.
• Identify whitespace opportunities and emerging trends to fuel future concepts.
• Present insights and strategic recommendations to leadership with clarity and influence.

Skills

Consumer Insights

Menu Innovation

Leadership

Cross-functional Collaboration

Storytelling & Communication

Analytical Rigor

Job description

Sr Manager, Sensory & Consumer Insights Position Overview

The Menu & Innovation Consumer Insights Senior Manager is a strategic leader responsible for shaping the future of the brand’s food and beverage portfolio through deep consumer understanding. This role blends research expertise, culinary curiosity, and business acumen to guide menu strategy, innovation pipelines, and long‑term growth opportunities. The Senior Manager ensures that guest needs, behaviors, and emerging trends directly inform product development and brand experience decisions. This position will have 1 direct report.

Scope of Responsibilities

• Consumer Insights Leadership
  • Lead the end‑to‑end insights agenda for menu strategy, culinary innovation, and new product development.
  • Translate complex consumer, category, and competitive insights into clear, actionable recommendations for cross‑functional partners.
  • Build and manage a learning roadmap that integrates qualitative, quantitative, syndicated, and behavioral data sources.
• Menu & Innovation Strategy
  • Oversee and conduct concept testing and sensory testing and ensuring methodologies translate into higher sales and traffic.
  • Partner closely with Culinary and Marketing to shape the long‑term menu vision and innovation pipeline.
  • Identify whitespace opportunities, emerging food trends, and unmet guest needs to fuel future product concepts.
  • Evaluate menu performance and guest satisfaction to inform optimization, renovation, and rationalization decisions.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration
  • Work hand‑in‑hand with culinary to translate insights into product briefs, prototypes, and optimizing products.
  • Present insights and strategic recommendations to culinary and marketing leadership with clarity and influence.
• Research Excellence & Methodology
  • Most of our testing is conducted in‑house, requiring you and your team member to be fully capable of executing the work themselves and collaborating effectively throughout the process.
  • Design and oversee custom research using a mix of qualitative and quantitative.
  • Leverage advanced analytics, segmentation, and need‑state frameworks to deepen understanding of guest motivations.
  • Manage external research partners, ensuring high‑quality deliverables and efficient use of budget.

Qualifications

• Experience & Expertise
  • 4 to 7+ years of consumer insights, focusing on menu/product development and innovation, sensory—ideally within the restaurant industry.
  • Proven track record of influencing product development and innovation decisions.
  • Have managed direct reports.
  • Strong understanding of culinary trends, guest behavior, and the restaurant competitive landscape.
  • Experience leading complex research programs and synthesizing insights into strategic direction.
• Skills & Competencies
  • Comfort working in a very fast‑paced, iterative environment.
  • Exceptional storytelling and communication skills.
  • Ability to translate data into compelling narratives and business recommendations.
  • Strong cross‑functional leadership and relationship‑building abilities.
  • Analytical rigor paired with creative, guest‑centric thinking.
• Performance & Success Measures
  • A menu rooted in deep guest understanding that translates into improved performance.
  • A robust innovation pipeline aligned with RISE strategy.
  • Clear, influential insights that shape decisions across culinary and marketing.

Competitive Pay

Competitive Pay $155,477 to $177,243 annually, The actual pay offered will be determined by multiple factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s relevant experience, job‑related knowledge, skills, and geographical location. Individual compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.

Newton Support Center

With more than 2,000 Panera LLC and independent franchise bakery-cafes in the Panera Bread® family, and more locations opening all the time, it’s no wonder our company has been an excellent source of career and personal growth opportunities for more than 25 years. In neighborhoods across the U.S. and Canada, customers enjoy flavorful, handcrafted meals centered around freshly baked artisan bread. To us, that means serving food like we serve our own families – free of any of the items on our ‘No No’ List. Along the way, we also like to give back to our community. We enjoy working together, shoulder to shoulder with our customers, to confront a serious problem plaguing communities across this country – Hunger. Through our Panera Cares community cafes, we offer a dignified dining experience in an uplifting environment. In addition, we support our communities through day-end donations at our bakery-cafe locations and partner with local non-profit organizations. It’s this warmth that you’ll find when you join Panera Bread. From our competitive compensation and benefits packages to our unique cultural values, we’re confident you’ll find us a rewarding and fun place to work.