Applied Behavioural Science Director

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Build the Backbone of a New Science Capability at JTI: Shaping Better Consumer Choices

As JTI accelerates its Reduced Risk Products (RRP) ambition, we are building a bold new science capability at the intersection of product, experience, and human understanding. This shift places science at the core of designing better consumer experiences, creating a unique opportunity to shape a future where science continues to directly inform innovation and supports the transition to less harmful choices – always in a way that’s consistent with our Core Principles.

Delivering on this ambition requires moving beyond traditional scientific approaches. We are combining multiple scientific lenses to more deeply understand how adult consumers perceive, experience, evaluate and adopt products and experiences, and to translate that scientific understanding into meaningful, engaging, and relevant propositions with real-world relevance.

This newly established, forward-looking capability is designed to bring enhanced scientific depth and rigor into how new product and experience concepts are shaped, tested and implemented across JTI.

It draws from and integrates multiple scientific disciplines, including neuroscience, behavioural, sensory perception and experience design sciences to build a coherent, science-led system that enables a robust and defensible understanding of product experience and consumer behaviour. 

It goes beyond surface-level consumer statements to understand the underlying mechanisms that shape attention, perception, emotion, memory, choice, and behaviour. This understanding will enable JTI to make further informed decisions about which products, propositions and experiences are more likely to create meaningful value for adult consumers and in turn realise harm reduction.

Why It Matters

Over time, this capability is intended to help JTI build more fulfilling product experiences and support lasting behaviour change toward less harmful choices. It does that by creating a systematic understanding of the mechanisms behind fulfilment, experience, and behaviour, and by turning that understanding into inputs for product design, validation, communication, and commercial execution across the value chain.

Why Join Now

This is a rare opportunity to build something from the ground up.

You will help define scientific methods, standards, partnerships, and portfolio of strategic projects, while working across functions to shape how science informs product, experience, and commercial decisions across the business through a deeper consumer understanding.

If you are driven by innovation, grounded in science, and motivated to shape the future of our industry, consumer choice and a shift toward a portfolio of less harmful nicotine products, this is where you can make a defining impact.

Applied Behavioural Science Director

The Role

As our global Applied Behavioural Science Director, you will be at the forefront of embedding behavioural science into how JTI designs products, experiences and influences real-world adult consumer behaviour for reduced risk products. Your mission, in this newly created role, is to translate behavioural science into practical, scalable solutions that shape how adult consumers decide, form less harmful behaviours, and sustain a switch away from combustible products to non-combustible reduced risk alternatives.

You will build and lead applied behavioural science as a new strategic capability, moving beyond stated preferences to understand how behaviour is formed in context. By applying behavioural theory and evidence to moments of choice, you will help design propositions, experiences, and communications that reflect how consumers actually interpret, decide and act.

Working across R&D, Innovation, Strategic Insights, Marketing, Commercial and Digital, you will act as both a subject matter expert and delivery leader. You will advise teams on behavioural science questions and theory, lead and oversee behavioural science research projects and experiments, and ensure behavioural thinking is embedded from early design through to in-market execution.

You will also play a critical role in connecting scientific rigor with real-world execution, building a culture where decisions are grounded in observed behaviour, experimentation, and causal evidence. In a highly regulated environment, you will ensure all behavioural approaches are applied responsibly, strengthening both decision quality and consumer trust.

In this role, you will:

• Define and lead JTI’s applied behavioural science strategy, embedding behavioural science thinking into reduced risk proposition design, communication and commercialisation

• Lead and oversee a portfolio of behavioural science projects, including applied projects with immediate business relevance and fundamental projects that deepen category-specific understanding of switching behaviours, behaviour formation, persistence, and consumer decision-making

• Leverage advances in behavioural science to diagnose the behavioural drivers of reduced risk choice, behaviour formation, switching and loyalty, identifying mechanisms such as framing, defaults, social influence and friction
• Translate established and emerging behavioural science theory into clear, evidence-led inputs that shape reduced risk portfolio direction, innovation priorities and go-to-market strategy
• Design, lead and oversee real-life and digital experiments and embed behavioural interventions across propositions and experiences (both offline and online) to improve trial, adoption and long-term engagement for reduced risk propositions thereby contributing to harm reduction outcomes
• Leverage science to inform behavioural communication strategy and choice architecture for reduced risk propositions, ensuring messaging, activation and touchpoints reflect how consumers interpret and respond in real contexts

• Act as the functional applied behavioural science subject matter expert, while establishing frameworks, tools and standards that enable cross functional teams to apply behavioural science consistently and effectively

• Partner with Legal and Regulatory Affairs to ensure behavioural approaches meet the highest standards of rigor, ethics and credibility

Who You Are

You are an applied behavioural science expert who knows how to turn theory into action and evidence into impact. You are comfortable operating at the intersection of science, business, and execution, and you bring the ability to connect abstract behavioural principles to real-world consumer outcomes.

You combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution, and are equally comfortable designing behavioural interventions, running experiments, interpreting evidence, and influencing senior stakeholders. You are an excellent communicator of behavioural science, able to translate complex theories and principles into clear, engaging language for non-specialist audiences. You are motivated and energised by the opportunity to define, build and embed new capabilities at scale across a global business, and are confident in shaping and deploying a clear, forward looking strategic vision.

You are likely to have:

• • 10–12+ years of relevant professional experience

  • Postgraduate degree (PhD/MSc) in applied behavioural science, behavioural economics, psychology or a related field

  • Deep expertise in theoretical and applied behavioural science, behavioural economics, psychology or decision sciences, with strong applied experience in industry or consultancy

  • A proven ability to translate behavioural theories and insights into commercial, innovation, and communication outcomes, not just research outputs
  • Strong experience designing and running in market experiments, including A/B testing, RCTs and causal inference approache
  • A deep understanding of behavioural mechanisms such as choice architecture, behaviour formation, and social influence
  • Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence across scientific, commercial and innovation teams
  • A pragmatic, impact focused mindset, with a strong commitment to scientific rigor, ethics and real-world applicability
  • Previous experience in team leadership and establishing and delivering a strategic team vision

Are you ready to join us? Build your success story at JTI. Apply now!

Next Steps:

After applying, if selected, please anticipate the following within 1-3 weeks of the job posting closure: Phone screening with Talent Advisor > Assessment tests > Interviews > Offer. Each step is eliminatory and may vary by role type.

At JTI, we strive to create a diverse and inclusive work environment. As an equal-opportunity employer, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If you need any specific support, alternative formats, or have other access requirements, please let us know.