Director, Commercial Strategy and Operations, Innovation Lead
About The Position
Advanced Hydration is a dynamic, fast‑paced business unit at The Coca‑Cola Company where teams come together to lead what’s next in hydration. With a portfolio that includes BODYARMOR Sports Drink, Powerade, vitaminwater, and smartwater, the group is driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, strong collaboration, and shared ambition. This is a place for people who think differently, move with agility, challenge the status quo, and thrive in an ever‑changing category. Joining the team means helping shape the future of hydration alongside passionate, collaborative teams committed to winning. The Director, Commercial Strategy & Operations - Innovation Lead for the Advanced Hydration division owns the end-to-end commercial enablement of innovation across the Sports portfolio. This role is accountable for translating innovation ideas into executable commercial plans - leading business case development, managing early-stage projects, aligning cross-functionally, and ensuring launches are performance-tracked and system-ready. Success requires strong commercial judgment, operational discipline, and the ability to lead complex work across Brand, Finance, Supply Chain, Customer, and Franchise teams.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or other graduate degree preferred
- 7+ years of experience in strategic leadership within consumer goods management, finance, or commercial strategy required
- Demonstrated ability to lead and influence across all organizational levels
- Advanced analytical capability, including development of forecast models and performance dashboards
- Deep experience working with syndicated data (Nielsen, IRI, Circana, Numerator)
- Exceptional storytelling and PowerPoint skills; experience presenting complex ideas to senior leaders
- Proven success operating in fast-paced, evolving, matrixed organizations
Responsibilities
- Lead commercial innovation through the Stages & Gates project management process including Business case development in partnership with Finance, Brand, and Supply Chain
- Managing projects through Gate 2 until assignment of a dedicated Project Manager
- Participating in all project calls once a PM is assigned to ensure commercial continuity
- Coordinating with Supply Chain on feasibility as ideas are developed
- Partner with the CSO Base Lead to ensure innovation concepts are aligned with the overall Advanced Hydration commercial strategy
- Own performance tracking for all Sports innovation through the first 13 weeks post-launch, including bottler attainment, depletions tracking, syndicated data & consumption trends
- Identify early risks and opportunities, escalating insights and recommended actions to leadership
- Develop the Innovation Operating Plan through cross-functional alignment
- Deploy innovation materials across teams to ensure integration into broader customer and bottler plans
- Steward commercial innovation strategy to the franchise teams, including follow-ups, materials, and information requests as needed
- Represent CSO as the innovation subject matter expert for BODYARMOR & Powerade across North America routines, including System Readiness and supply chain forums
- Lead NAOU calibration for BODYARMOR & Powerade related to PSA and final forecasting, ensuring volume alignment across internal supply plans and the bottling network
- Manage the full INCAST process for all Sports innovation, including customer team alignment and follow-ups
- Coordinate and manage the innovation sampling process across cross-functional stakeholders
- Partner with Brand teams to monitor competitive innovation and category dynamics, assessing implications for the Sports business
- Leverage AI tools and knowledge of internal ways of working to create efficiencies while optimizing process workflow
- Own projects to completion from initial framing to decision support and executional follow through
- Balance brand-level needs with system-wide priorities, ensuring alignment across North America, channels, and the bottler system
- Establish and steward clear planning cycles, governance forums, and communication cadences that enable fast, informed decisions
- Translate complex data, strategies, and trade-offs into clear points of view and executive-ready narratives
- Actively leverage AI tools, analytics platforms, and internal ways of working to reduce friction, eliminate rework, and improve speed to impact
- Lead through influence rather than authority, building alignment across diverse stakeholders with competing priorities
- Move work forward in imperfect environments by driving decisions, structuring trade-offs, and maintaining momentum
Benefits
- A full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position, is offered.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
