Senior Manager, Product, GDI

Job Description Summary:

Location: Atlanta

Our North America Innovation Center sits at the heart of The Coca-Cola Company’s next chapter of growth. We are committed to transforming and evolving our organization and ambitions — bringing our people closer to the consumer, continuously raising the bar, and embracing digitalization to enable sustainable growth.

We are looking for a highly driven individual contributor who thrives on ownership and impact, and who fuels the innovation pipeline with bold ideas that translate into real-world results. This role is not about maintaining the status quo; it is about challenging assumptions, unlocking opportunity, and personally driving valuable breakthrough innovation.

You will apply deep product development expertise to lead ideas from concept to execution, contributing to a strong and diverse portfolio of meaningful innovation — accelerating growth and helping shape the future of the organization.

Job Purpose Summary

As a Senior Manager, Product Development, you will lead the execution of the most impactful product development initiatives to accelerate bottom- and top-line growth, bringing concepts to life through advanced formulation, testing, and commercialization. As the most senior individual contributor on the team, you will support the team lead by coaching and guiding scientists, sharing deep technical expertise, and helping shape team strategy and ways of working. You will partner closely with cross-functional stakeholders to drive local and regional projects, applying strong technical judgment, market insights, and digital tools to ensure products meet consumer expectations, quality standards, regulatory requirements, and manufacturing realities. This is a highly hands-on role for a trusted technical leader who influences through expertise, mentorship, and collaboration while delivering high-impact beverage innovations.

What You’ll Do

• Product Design - Work as part of functional team to align on objective (new product launch, superiority, tax and regulation, productivity) and success criteria’s with OU Innovation Hub, OU TISC and Global category Leads
• Create Prototypes & Formulations – Coach scientists and develop lab-scale recipes driven by consumer insights and technical/supply chain requirements, following GMP and company protocols. Incorporate local insights, new ingredients, and regulatory needs into final product design.
• Test, Learn, Improve – Conduct sensory, analytical, and shelf-life testing together with the Micro and stability teams; use data and basic statistics to guide optimization.
• Scale Up for Market – Lead support from GDI for pilot and commercial production trials, ensuring processes and packaging compatibility.
• Collaborate Broadly - Partner with Marketing, SRA, Supply Chain, Packaging, and Quality for seamless delivery; connect with global technical experts to import best practices.
• Maintain Excellence – Over the full process, keep lab equipment in top condition; follow safety, compliance, and documentation standards.

What You’ll Need

• Bachelor’s/Master’s in Food Science, Chemistry, Nutrition, Chemical Engineering, or similar.
• 8-10 years in product development for beverages/food
• Strong knowledge of the protein and dairy space
• Strong technical understanding of ingredient functionality within beverage systems.
• Experience managing multiple projects from ideation to launch in fast-paced environments.
• Familiarity with sensory evaluation, consumer testing, and data interpretation for decision-making.
• Ability to:
  • Think end-to-end across initiatives and influences priorities aligned with strategy.
  • Understand and apply the technical domain trends/ new technology at work.
  • Encourage creativity within the team and removes barriers to idea generation.
  • Leverage internal and external resources smartly.
  • Act as a subject-matter expert and sets technical direction or standards.
  • Solve complex, ambiguous problems and anticipates downstream impacts.
  • Coach and supports others within and outside of the team, sharing expertise and constructive feedback. Cross functional influence
  • Make timely decisions with incomplete information while managing risk.
• Fluent in English; regional languages a plus.
• Regional travel up to 10–15%.

The Coca-Cola Company will not offer sponsorship for employment status (including, but not limited to, H1-B visa status and other employment-based nonimmigrant visas) for this position. Accordingly, all applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis and must not require The Coca-Cola Company's sponsorship to continue to work legally in the United States.

Skills:

Chemistry, Communication, Continual Improvement Process, Data Compilation, Environmental Science, Food Safety Management, Food Sciences, Food Technology, Green Solutions, Laboratory Testing, Leadership, Microbiology, Product Development, Quality Control (QC), Researching, Sensory Testing, Waterfall Model

Pay Range:

$131,000 - $153,000

Base pay offered may vary depending on geography, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. A full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position, is offered.

Annual Incentive Reference Value Percentage:

15

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.

Location(s):

United States of America

City/Cities:

Atlanta

Travel Required:

00% - 25%

Relocation Provided:

No

Job Posting End Date:

May 3, 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.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class. When we collect your personal information as part of a job application or offer of employment, we do so in accordance with industry standards and best practices and in compliance with applicable privacy laws.