Director, Technical Operations & Commercialization - Japan

Innovation is a key pillar in driving Coca-Cola Japan's strategy for sustainable system growth. The Technical Operations & Commercialization function spearheads innovation projects (including both product and package) end to end from concept to market execution with close collaboration with various stakeholders including corporate functions, GDI, CPS, Procurement, Technical, Marketing, Commercial Operations, Finance, Suppliers, Bottler Supply Chain, and Bottler Commercial teams to set the specifications, validate and apply governance with a system mindset.

This role leads complex innovation, reformulation, and supply continuity initiatives from concept to market execution, ensuring alignment with Coca-Cola global standards while balancing speed, cost, quality, safety, and long-term system sustainability. The role is expected to serve as Technical SME in external industry representative for the Coca-Cola Japan System.

Key Focus Areas and Responsibilities:

The Director, Technical operations and commercialization role operates at the JSK OU level. The role will lead the OU innovation initiatives implementation with the OU and the 5 bottling partners in the OU. The role will engage GDI, Marketing, Finance, other OU functions and the bottling partners to drive the implementation of the innovation pipeline, focusing on product and packaging innovation.

The Technical operations and commercialization role operates across the entire supply chain, and the innovation pipeline implementation will have to cover value chain creation and optimization, formula or packaging optimization, harmonization across the portfolio and bottlers, supply chain model definition and optimization, supplier selection in collaboration with the supplier team, costing and trials.

In addition to supporting the OU growth plans through innovation, the role is the owner and driver of the innovation discipline, develop and communicate reports and metrics, drive innovation effectiveness and increase the scale and impact from innovation.

What You'll Do for Us

Leadership

• Provide strategic leadership and technical governance for product and packaging commercialization across the Japan KO System.
• Serve as the senior technical escalation point for high-risk, high-impact commercialization and quality issues.
• Apply an enterprise and system mindset to guide critical technical and business decisions across functions and bottlers.
• Represent Coca-Cola Japan as a Technical SME in external industry councils, consortiums, and regulatory forums.
• Co-lead JSK OU and APAC GDI technical communities and support broader OU and regional initiatives.
• Support the development and lead the execution of the innovation and packaging strategy.

Commercialization and Technical Operations

• Lead the innovation pipeline commercialization, ensure smooth execution for the new product launches by working collaboratively and networking with all the necessary functions while ensuring compliance with KO standards and policies / local regulations for JSK OU
• Manage and co-ordinate interactions among several entities (GDI, CPS, Procurement, marketing, finance, technical and Bottling partners) in order to ensure effective process in place to deliver new product development and commercialization as agreed standard and timelines.
• Lead planning and execution of product development, cost saving and commercialization of all product categories and packaging (as necessary)
• Lead relevant partners by taking necessary actions to avoid write off risks in concentrate and raw materials. Communicate exposure risks timely to Operations, marketing, bottler & CPS.
• Provide technical support and expertise to the marketing department during preparation of marketing strategies and plans.
• Provide support to bottlers for implementation of NPD.
• Lead troubleshooting product formula related problems / Problem solving during IMCR cases.
• Ensure that the performance of the delivered development meets the quality specifications defined in design phase, new products development is fully assessed by other technical functions against the local regulatory framework and Corporate Reputation strategy.
• Ensure formula management process and approvals in place, following Corporate Policies.
• Ensure supply plan of new launches with clear action and timeline between CPS and Bottling Partners
• Ensure manufacturing capabilities are available at bottler's facilities or in the co-packers and/or study suitable alternative options.
• Coordinate and manage PAR process of leading commercialization projects.
• Provide technical support to Marketing departments, bottling partners and suppliers starting from idea creation to production and performance monitoring in the market.
• Provide support to trouble shooting of product formula related problems.
• Keep up to date with the new technological developments and potential application to local business strategies.
• Work requires the identification and resolution of important operational problems requiring cross-functional collaboration and creativity to develop innovative solutions.
• Work requires to be accountable to solve communication problems and conflict among several entities/functions by giving clear process direction and by prioritizing goals and actions to ensure that process flows accurately.

Risk Management, Business Continuity, Advanced trouble shooting and QMS

• Own technical risk management for commercialization activities, including identification, mitigation, and escalation of risks.
• Establish and maintain robust business continuity plans addressing raw material availability, regulatory changes, and supply disruptions.
• Support scenario planning and contingency strategies in collaboration with Supply Chain, QSE, CPS, Procurement, and Bottlers.
• Establish escalation framework, decision criteria to manage high risk
• Lead complex, cross-system troubleshooting for critical quality, line performance, and supply issues for NPI and packages.

• Drive root cause analysis and approve strategic corrective and preventive actions related to commercialization.
• Lead the technical solutions for non-standard solutions and controlled deviations when necessary for commercialization.

• Ensure full QMS compliance and effectiveness for all commercialization and technical change activities.

Team Capability lead

• Identify the capability for TOC team, assess the gap and plan for team wide training across both Japan and Korea TOC team.
• Support and foster a culture of ownership, learning, and continuous improvement and organizing team building.

Qualifications & Requirements:

• Experience: 15+ years in Technical Operations, Commercialization, or Supply Chain Management within the FMCG or beverage industry.
• Education: Advanced degree in Engineering (Materials Science, Chemical, or Industrial), Food Science, or a related technical field.
• Extensive experience in technical operations, product and package commercialization, or related fields within FMCG or beverage industry.
• Proven leadership in complex, cross-functional, and system-wide initiatives.
• Deep expertise in risk management and advanced technical problem solving.
• Strong ability to influence internal and external stakeholders at senior levels.
• Project Management: Ability to manage multiple cross-functional projects effectively. Proficiency in using common project management tools such as Wo and Workfront, PICASSO.
• Product Development: of the product development process, including development timelines and beverage functions
• Supply Chain: Knowledge of package, ingredient and concentrate/BB supply issues, value chain, and financial modeling of COGS, sourcing, beverage base manufacturing, and supply.
• Regulatory Affairs: Familiarity with Japan Food Law and regulatory issues related to packaging and equipment, including local food laws, ingredient regulations, and labeling requirements.
• Bottling Processes: Developed knowledge of various filling processes (sparkling, post-mix, pasteurization, retort, preserved cold fill, aseptic) and their implications (equipment investment, quality issues).
• Quality Assurance: Understanding of quality implications of different product/package/process combinations, including line validation and processing requirements, in-market issues (shelf life, product stability, handling requirements).
• Packaging: Understanding of available packaging technologies and related product and process implications, packaging development processes, and their impacts on the commercialization process.
• Basic IT skills (Advanced knowledge preferred).
• Communication skills.
• Demonstrated growth behaviors. Set the agenda, be a role model, and apply enterprise mindset.

Communication, Continual Improvement Process, Critical Control Points, Food Chemistry, Food Safety and Sanitation (Inactive), Global Collaborations, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Lean Six Sigma (LSS), Microsoft Office, Packaging, Process Control, Process Engineering, Product Specifications, Quality Assurance Systems, Quality Inspections, Quality Metrics, Quality Reporting, Shipping, Statistical Process Control (SPC), Supply Chain, Waterfall Model

Location(s):
Japan

City/Cities:
Tokyo

Travel Required:
00% - 25%

Relocation Provided:
Yes

Job Posting End Date:
September 29, 2026

Our Purpose and Growth Culture:

We are taking deliberate action to nurture an inclusive culture that is grounded in our company purpose, to refresh the world and make a difference. We act with a growth mindset, take an expansive approach to what's possible and believe in continuous learning to improve our business and ourselves. We focus on four key behaviors - curious, empowered, inclusive and agile - and value how we work as much as what we achieve. We believe that our culture is one of the reasons our company continues to thrive after 130+ years. Visit Our Purpose and Vision to learn more about these behaviors and how you can bring them to life in your next role at Coca-Cola.

Annual Incentive Reference Value Percentage:30
Annual Incentive reference value is a market-based competitive value for your role. It falls in the middle of the range for your role, indicating performance at target.