Assistant Scientist, Product Development, R&D

Job Description Summary:

Please note: The selected candidate will need to be based in Tokyo, Japan. This is an Individual Contributor position.

Our Tokyo 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.

As Assistant Scientist, Product Development, you will bring concepts to life through hands-on formulation, testing, and commercialization. You’ll work directly on local and regional projects, applying market insights, and using digital tools to ensure products meet consumer expectations, quality, regulatory requirements, and manufacturing realities. This is an execution-focused role for a technically curious problem-solver who wants to build expertise while contributing to high-impact beverage launches. You will support the development of RTD coffee beverages from concept through commercialization. Working closely with scientists/ managers and cross-functional partners, you will conduct laboratory experiments, prepare prototypes, collect and analyze data, and help ensure products meet quality, regulatory, and consumer expectations. This role is ideal for an early-career technical professional who enjoys hands-on experimentation, continuous learning, and working in a collaborative global environment.

What You’ll Do for Us:

• Create Prototypes & Formulations – Develop lab-scale recipes driven by consumer insights and technical/supply chain requirements, following GMP and company protocols.

• Test, Learn, improve – Conduct sensory, analytical, and shelf-life testing together with the Micro and stability teams.

• Scale Up for Market – Support pilot and commercial production trials, ensuring processes and packaging compatibility.

• Collaborate Broadly - Partner with Marketing, SRA, Supply Chain, Packaging, and Quality for seamless delivery under manager supervision; 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 We’re Looking For:

• Bachelor’s/ Master’s in Food Science, Chemistry, Nutrition, Chemical Engineering, or similar.

• 1–3 years in product development in food or beverages

• Knowledge of beverage formulation, ingredient functionality, and processing basics. 

• Familiarity with sensory evaluation, analytical testing, and basic experimental design. 

• Ability to

  • Connect daily work to project and business goals; anticipates next steps.

  • Understand the insights of target consumer/customer and direct competitors.           

  • Generate new ideas by questioning assumptions and exploring alternatives.

  • Apply solid technical expertise to deliver high-quality work independently.

  • Analyse problems independently and proposes practical solutions.

  • Lead by example and may mentor others informally.  

  • Make timely decisions within scope, balancing speed, and quality.

• Fluent in English; regional languages a plus.

• Regional travel up to 10–15%.

Why Join Global Coffee?

• Work on globally recognized coffee brands and innovations.

• Learn from world-class scientists and technical experts.

• Gain hands-on experience from concept development to commercialization.

• Build a strong foundation for a career in product innovation.

• Contribute to products enjoyed by consumers around the world.

What can help you to be successful in the role?

Growth Behavior:

• Growth Mindset: Demonstrates Curiosity. Welcomes failure as a learning opportunity.

• Smart Risk: Makes bold decisions/recommendations.

• Externally Focused: Understands the upstream and downstream implications of his/her work.

• Performance Driven & Accountable: Has high performance standards. Outperforms her/his peers.

• Fast/Agile: Removes barriers to move faster. Experiments and adapts. Thrives under pressure and fast pace.

• Empowered: Brings solutions instead of problems. Challenges the status quo. Has the courage to take an unpopular stance.

Leadership Behavior

• Act Like an Owner: Deliver results, creating value for our brands, our System, our customers and key stakeholders.

• Collaborate with the System, Customers and Key Stakeholders

• Develops Self and Others: Develop self and support others' development to achieve their full potential.

• Drive Innovation: Generate new or unique solutions and embrace new ideas that help sustain our business.

What We Can Do For You 

• Career growth and development: Leveraging our boundaryless network, we provide access to educational platforms and provide coaching, mentoring and feedback, as a part of our Leadership & Development process.

• Diverse and inclusive culture: You’ll be embraced for who you are and empowered to use your voice to help others find theirs. We want to make our culture inevitable.

• International Experience: Become part of international projects and work along multicultural teams, through our global network.

Skills:

Location(s):

City/Cities:

Travel Required:

Relocation Provided:

Job Posting End Date:

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.