Sr Scientist – Innovation Chef

You will play a critical role in fueling KFC US’ pipeline of finger lickin’ good innovations by helping develop new menu items that deliver crave-worthy, guest-delighting experiences. Your mission is to support and lead portions of the innovation process—from early concept development to testing and validation—by contributing technical expertise, coordinating cross-functional input, and advancing new products toward commercialization. You will help ensure that every new menu item meets KFC’s high standards for taste, quality, operational ease, and brand relevance.

• Advance menu and ingredient innovation by leading hands-on product development, structured testing, data analysis, and sensory evaluation to ensure flavors perform from kitchen to restaurant.
• Enable strong supplier partnerships by gathering and translating technical inputs, validating compliance to specs, and coordinating ingredients to support scalable, craveable, commercially viable solutions.
• Evaluate consumer, operational, and cost data to identify opportunities that improve product quality, consistency, executional ease, and overall value.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Marketing, Ops, QA, Supply Chain, and Finance; synthesize findings into clear recommendations, trial readouts, and storytelling materials that support decision-making.
• Track culinary, menu, and ingredient trends—both within QSR and adjacent segments—to inform forward-looking menu evolution and ingredient strategy.
• Represent the FIT team as a culinary subject-matter expert in cross-functional forums by sharing progress, surfacing risks, resolving roadblocks, and guiding solutions.
• Drive transformative impact for KFC US by owning end-to-end innovation workstreams—from concept ideation through initial commercialization—ensuring ideas translate into real, executable menu wins.