Senior Director, Hydration & Advanced Hydration, Global Development & Innovation

The Coca-Cola Company•Atlanta, GA

3d•$194,000 - $228,000•Onsite

About The Position

This role leads the top and bottom-line growth agenda for multiple fast-growing, highly segmented, and complex Hydration and Advanced Hydration global categories and brands. The position is responsible for building and driving a robust 3-5-year innovation pipeline of global and regional reach in partnership with various cross-functional teams. The Global Category Pipelines are expected to deliver significant incremental KO GP impact from innovation. This category is a major contributor to the company's revenue and profits, with substantial projected industry growth, particularly in the functional space. The leader will be accountable for competitive benchmarking of the category's product, package, and equipment in the top markets, ensuring the portfolio remains highly competitive. This role orchestrates multiple subject matter experts and leaders across various functions to identify fit-for-purpose concepts deployable through viable, scalable solutions. The leader will also support the NA Innovation Center leader in shaping the future innovation hub and is a member of the North America Innovation Center Leadership Team.

Requirements

BS/MS in Food Science/Engineering - 15+ yrs
Human Nutrition; Health and Exercise Sciences degree/certificate a plus
Product Design Thinking certificate a plus
Business and/or Finance certificate/experience a plus
Cross-Departmental Collaboration
Experimentation
Risk Management
Strategic Leadership
Waterfall Model
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.

Nice To Haves

Human Nutrition; Health and Exercise Sciences degree/certificate
Product Design Thinking certificate
Business and/or Finance certificate/experience

Responsibilities

Develop innovation strategies (product, package, and equipment) to deliver 3-5-year pipeline for growth plans for Hydration and Advanced Hydration category.
Collaborate closely with Research to Experimentation (RtE) team to design and develop scalable solutions for next-generation category products via rigorous due diligence (clinical trials, consumer research, and other scientific studies).
Identify and enable the execution of the next RtE pipeline that can significantly drive category growth.
Collaborate deeply with global and regional SRA teams to get ahead of novel ingredients approval through appropriate agencies (FDA, EFSA etc.) and bring bolder competitive claims.
Deliver impactful programs to achieve Category Strategy in long-range plans and beyond.
Partner with Innovation Center peers to leverage project management routines to deliver global innovations with local consumer relevance.
Ensure technical efforts on the category are informed by consumer insights, business models, and important technology trends to deliver advantaged solutions.
Establish and maintain processes and routines for cross-functional inclusion in technical innovation strategy development, planning, and project execution.
Monitor the external environment to identify and action threats and opportunities for the category.
Define and orchestrate the network for optimal people resourcing to deliver global pipelines.
Lead and direct a multi-functional technical team (6-8 people) focused on the Global pipeline for the Global Hydration and Advanced Hydration category.
Drive Category Big Bets to deliver against innovation metrics.
Lead the design and front-end development of global Big Bets and partner with Innovation Center peers for regional solutions as appropriate, to ensure full value of initiatives is captured across the enterprise.
Provide inspirational thought leadership and enable implementation of Category providing 3-5-year pipelines for competitive advantage.
Leverage routines to ensure early engagement and inclusion of other TI&SC functions.
Ensure organizational alignment in the design and execution of Big Bets.
Maintain value-added relationships with multiple constituencies including Coca-Cola system leaders and associates; bottlers; customers; suppliers; external stakeholders at multiple levels and on a global basis.
Partner with R&D peers, ensuring external connection with Bottlers and suppliers to understand needs and share plans, to fully leverage their capability and support internal stakeholders in trade associations to address industry challenges.
Lead and accelerate Category Development on Functional space (size > $10Bn, with high growth across markets), driving transformational change into the Hydration & Advanced Hydration category.
Active contributor to Shape the Future Innovation Hub together with the NA R&D leader to deliver against Innovation Hub metrics.
Build and develop a highly engaged Category GDI network as well as leading a direct team (team size estimate 6-8 employees).
Manage resources effectively, including leading the allocation and prioritization of activities, budget requirements, performance management, and assessing development needs.
Lead development of clear case for change, desired outcomes, accurate scope, clear roles and decision-making, and effective communication of the change supporting NA Innovation Center leader on change managing and new ways of working.
Build relationships and networks with key stakeholders across the organization.
Facilitate the identification of timelines, dashboards, and financial scorecards for each initiative to keep Global Category Leadership current on progress and potential red flags.
Ensure effective and efficient information flow between Global Category Leaders and R&D peers.
As a key member of NA GDI LT, develop and implement long-term and annual business plans and ensure successful achievement of them.
Play a key role as a leadership member to ensure the Technical Community provides optimal thought leadership, strong business value, and delivers on commitments to the business from functional responsibilities.
Partner in the ownership of key technical talent progress and their development.
Control and deploy resources appropriately, making sure the category budget is well managed and objectives are delivered against.
Communicate internally with the GDI network, Global Category Marketing, OU teams, and Global TI&SC teams.
Communicate externally with Bottlers, suppliers, and trade associations.
Communicate and engage with multiple key stakeholders to gain agreement on short- and long-term category strategies for TCCC.
Proactive and clear communication and engagement with all key stakeholders connected with the Category R&D agenda.
Utilize advanced influence and negotiation skills to ensure clear articulation and alignment with stakeholders at senior levels internally and externally for the company category innovation agenda across the globe.