About this role
## About Kerry
Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Every day we partner with customers to create healthier, tastier and more sustainable products that are consumed by billions of people across the world. Our vision is to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition. A career with Kerry offers you an opportunity to shape the future of food while providing you opportunities to explore and grow in a truly global environment.
## About the role
We’re looking for a creative and commercially minded beverage leader to join our Foodservice Europe RD&A team in Naas. Leading a talented team of baristas and mixologists, you’ll lead innovative beverage campaigns for some of the world’s leading coffee, QSR and foodservice customers, taking ideas from early-stage innovation all the way through to successful menu launch.
This is a highly visible, customer-facing role where beverage craft meets science, consumer trends and commercial opportunity. You’ll influence innovation across Europe, inspire customers with what’s possible and help bring our beverage portfolio and brands to life.
## Key responsibilities
- Lead, coach and develop a team of experienced baristas and mixologists supporting customers across Europe.
- Drive high-quality beverage and menu development, combining technical expertise with exceptional beverage craftsmanship.
- Support the growth and expansion of the beverages brand through innovative, commercially relevant applications.
- Translate beverage trends, consumer insights and customer opportunities into compelling menu concepts.
- Lead beverage application projects from initial idea and concept development through to customer menu launch.
- Build trusted relationships with key customer stakeholders, becoming a valued technical and creative partner.
- Help mobilise and deliver the Foodservice Beverage innovation pipeline across Europe.
- Lead customer workshops, innovation sessions, demonstrations and technical presentations.
- Partner closely with Sales, Marketing and Business Development to unlock new opportunities and support customer growth.
- Collaborate across RD&A and the wider business to deliver differentiated Taste & Nutrition solutions.
## Why this role?
In this role, you will be relied upon to combine the worlds of RD&A, culinary creativity, beverage craft and customer innovation, influencing concepts that can ultimately appear on menus across Europe.
If you’re an experienced beverage applications professional who loves creating, experimenting and bringing new ideas to life, while also enjoying the commercial and customer-facing side of innovation, this could be an exciting next step.
## Qualifications and skills
We’re looking for someone who combines deep beverage knowledge with creativity, leadership and strong commercial awareness.
You’ll ideally bring
- Previous hands-on experience in beverage applications, ideally within a fast-moving commercial or corporate environment.
- Strong technical knowledge of beverage development and applications.
- A strong understanding of coffee chains, foodservice and/or QSR markets.
- Proven experience leading, coaching and developing people.
- A genuine passion for beverage innovation, menu development and emerging trends.
- Strong customer-facing and presentation skills, with the confidence to engage and influence key decision-makers.
- The ability to translate technical expertise and creative ideas into commercially relevant customer solutions.
Excellent cross-functional collaboration and project leadership skills