Senior Director, Product Development - Global Tea

Job Description Summary:

Location: Singapore  

Role Type: People Leader/ Manager

At The Coca-Cola Company, innovation is at the heart of everything we do. As part of our APAC Innovation Center, you'll have the opportunity to influence the future of one of the world's most dynamic beverage categories. We are looking for an experienced and visionary Senior Director, Product Development – Global Tea leader to drive product innovation for our Global Tea portfolio. This is a high-impact role for someone who thrives at the intersection of consumer insights, science, technology, and business strategy. You will lead a team of talented product developers, build a strong innovation pipeline, and bring breakthrough ideas to life, from concept to commercial launch.

What You’ll Do for Us

Lead Global Tea Innovation Strategy

• Define and drive the 3 to 5-year product innovation roadmap for the Global Tea category.

• Identify future growth opportunities through consumer trends, emerging technologies, and market insights.

• Partner closely with Global Marketing, Research & Development, Supply Chain, and Innovation Centers worldwide to create scalable innovation platforms.

• Drive breakthrough innovation opportunities that accelerate category growth and strengthen competitive advantage.

• Build strong partnerships with regulatory and scientific affairs teams to unlock new ingredients and technologies.

Deliver Winning Products

• Translate global innovation strategies into products and solutions that resonate with local consumers.

• Lead the development of beverages that deliver strong consumer appeal, scalability, quality, and profitability.

• Ensure projects move efficiently through the innovation process while meeting quality, regulatory, and operational requirements.

• Anticipate risks early and implement solutions that support successful market launches.

• Capture key learnings and continuously improve innovation execution.

Build High-Performing Teams

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of product development leaders and technical experts.

• Foster a culture of curiosity, innovation, speed, accountability, and collaboration.

• Prioritize resources and investment against the most impactful opportunities.

• Create an environment where diverse perspectives drive better decisions and stronger business outcomes.

Drive Cross-Functional Excellence

• Influence and align senior stakeholders across multiple functions, regions, and operating units.

• Ensure innovation decisions balance consumer needs, technical feasibility, business objectives, and manufacturing readiness.

• Leverage digital tools and modern ways of working to improve speed, efficiency, and quality.

What We’re Looking For

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

• 15+ years delivering successful product innovation in FMCG/beverage/food, including senior leadership experience.

• Proven track record of turning insights into market-leading products.

• Strategic thinker with strong cross-cultural leadership, stakeholder influence, and commercial acumen.

• Ability to:

  • Set up strategy and translate strategy into clear team priorities and executable plans.

  • Stay on top of technical, consumer and competitive trends and insights.

  • Encourage creativity within the team and removes barriers to idea generation. Build 'out-side in" capability in the team.

  • Ensure the team applies the right expertise to deliver strong outcomes.           

  • Lead the team through complex problem-solving and trade-off decisions.

  • Lead, motivate, and develop a team to deliver consistent results. High level X- functional leadership        

  • Make people and business decisions impacting team performance and business delivery (High Global impact and multi-year)

• Fluent in English; regional languages a plus.

• Global travel up to 25%.

What Success Looks Like

 In this role, you will:

• Build a robust pipeline of future-ready tea innovations.

• Deliver products that consumers love and markets can scale.

• Lead high-performing teams capable of shaping the future of the category.

• Influence strategic decisions that drive long-term business growth.

• Strengthen Coca-Cola's leadership position within the global tea industry.

The Leadership Mindset We Value

Our most successful leaders demonstrate four core growth behaviors:

• Curious: Continuously learn, challenge assumptions, and seek new possibilities.

• Empowered: Take ownership, make decisions, and drive action.

• Agile: Move quickly, learn from experimentation, and adapt when needed.

• Inclusive: Value diverse perspectives and create an environment where everyone can contribute and thrive.

Functional Skills

• Beverage Product Development or strong food product development with global supply chain advantages, competitive edge and IP protection incorporated.

• Front end innovation

• Innovation Portfolio creation and management

• End to end innovation delivery

Why join The Coca-Cola Company?

• Influence products enjoyed by millions of consumers worldwide.

• Lead innovation within one of the world's most recognized brands.

• Work alongside global experts across research, technology, manufacturing, and marketing.

• Access world-class development opportunities and international career pathways.

• Help shape the future of beverages through science, creativity, and consumer insight.

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.

• Commercially 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:

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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.