PepsiCo hiring 150 in Dallas for new ‘digital hub’ leveraging AI and machine learning

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Frito-Lay’s parent company, based in Plano, PepsiCo, is building a global high-tech team of specialists, including 150 in a “digital hub” in Dallas, to optimize everything from shipping and warehouse operations to sales and marketing.

The New York-based company will add at least 550 people to the new team over the next three years, and the group will report to PepsiCo Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer Athina Kanioura.

The local workplaces will be in PepsiCo’s Dallas offices. We are looking for employees with skills in the field of user interface and user experience design, software engineers and product managers as well as experts in artificial intelligence and data analysis.

The new team, which the company calls its “digital hub,” will help provide real-time sales and inventory data for the company’s North American operations and forecasting tools to help them tackle complex tasks more efficiently.

PepsiCo has already used AI technology to refine Frito-Lay’s Cheetos production process to produce a perfectly consistent Cheeto every time, described by the company while reducing waste.

PepsiCo selected Dallas as the base for the team because Frito-Lay’s offices include the beverage and snack business and technicians.

Kanioura said Tesla’s recently announced move to Austin is also a factor as it signals a continued migration of tech talent to Texas. She hailed the Dallas startup scene and Texas universities as ideal institutions for attracting tech talent.

According to the trading group CompTIA, Dallas is consistently one of the top cities for job opportunities in information technology.

“Although there will be a talent war in Texas, we believe there will be a talent pipeline [wanting] to work for PepsiCo, ”said Kanioura. “From the point of view of the industry, we are the first to create such a dedicated hub.”

PepsiCo Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer Athina Kanioura.(PepsiCo)

The hub’s other 400 employees will be based in Barcelona, ​​Spain, where Kanioura said the company hopes to attract talent from a variety of backgrounds. The company already employs 500 people in Barcelona, ​​and recruitment for the local digital hub is “moving very quickly,” said Kanioura.

Without giving any numbers, Kanioura said the company plans to invest in new technology to tie the efforts together.

Just five years ago, Frito-Lay, PepsiCo’s snack food arm, had discussions with investors about how it would adapt its logistics operations to an increasingly e-commerce dominated US market

Now the company is facing different pressures and changing consumer habits – some perhaps changed forever by the COVID-19 pandemic. Disruptions in the supply chain as well as rising material, fuel and shipping costs have already caused companies such as Nestle and Procter & Gamble Co. to raise the prices for everyday goods.

Hugh Johnson, PepsiCo’s CFO, said the company had raised prices to accommodate inflation and will likely do so again in the first quarter of 2022. Still, the company’s earnings continue to exceed expectations.

PepsiCo – one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world – had sales of $ 20.2 billion for the quarter ended September, an increase of 11% over the same three-month period last year.

That summer, Frito-Lay announced it is investing $ 200 million in expanding a funyun and tortilla chip factory in Rosenberg, which when completed in 2023 will create 160 new jobs and will be used as a shipping center.

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