Manager, Product, GDI

Location(s):

India

City/Cities:

Gurugram

Travel Required:

00% - 25%

Relocation Provided:

No

Job Posting End Date:

March 27, 2026

Shift:

Job Description Summary:

Location: Gurugram, India  

Role Type: Individual Contributor

Please note: The selected candidate will need to be based in Gurugram, India. This is a Individual Contributor position.

Our India & Southwest Asia (INSWA) 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 a Manager, Product Development, you will lead the execution of complex and diverse product development initiatives to accelerate bottom- and top-line growth, bringing concepts to life through advanced formulation, testing, and commercialization. You will drive local and regional projects in close partnership with cross-functional teams, applying deep technical expertise, market insights, and digital tools to ensure products meet consumer expectations, quality standards, regulatory requirements, and manufacturing realities. This is a hands-on, individual contributor role for a seasoned problem-solver who thrives on technical ownership, cross-functional collaboration, and delivering high-impact beverage innovations.

What You’ll Do for Us:

• Product Design - Work as part of functional team to align on objective (new product launch, superiority, tax and regulation, productivity) and success criteria.

• Create Prototypes & Formulations – 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 We’re Looking For:

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

• 4–6 years in product development for beverages/food

• 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.

  • Apply and influence with insights from consumer and competitor.      

  • Drive original thinking and develops novel concepts with clear business value.            

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

  • Solve complex, ambiguous problems and anticipates downstream impacts.

  • Coach and support others, sharing expertise and constructive feedback.

  • Make timely decisions within scope, balancing speed, and quality, and in consideration of interdependence of other priorities.

• Fluent in English; regional languages a plus.

• Regional travel up to 10–15%.

What We Can Do for You:

Purpose With Impact

• We take a purpose‑driven approach that empowers our people to protect the environment, strengthen the communities we serve, and deliver safe, high‑quality products every day. Your work will contribute directly to creating positive changes.

Global Collaboration & Learning

• You’ll be part of a globally connected organization where ideas, expertise, and innovation flow freely across regions. This environment enables you to learn from others, accelerate your growth, and contribute to solutions that scale worldwide.

A Community of Belonging

• We foster a culture where people feel safe, valued, and empowered to bring their best selves to work. We believe that diverse perspectives and an inclusive environment drive better outcomes—for our people and our business.

Competitive Rewards & Benefits

• We offer a comprehensive and competitive compensation and benefits package, with core benefits beginning on your first day. We are committed to supporting your wellbeing, growth, and long‑term success.

Candidate Attributes:

Critical to our growth is the development and recruitment of modern technical leaders who will demonstrate specific growth behaviours. The key candidate attributes we will be seeking are:

• Curious — Keep seeking, never settle.

Staying curious about what is outside, and two steps ahead inspires us to challenge the status quo. Having the courage to look and leap is the way we grow. Because asking “what if?” pushes us to the next level as people and as a company. 

• Empowered — Make it happen.

True empowerment is the result of taking responsibility. This means giving yourself permission to see it, say it and do it, and owning the outcomes. Because we move forward faster when we all take action. 

• Agile — Push for progress, not perfection.

There are very few overnight successes. Greatness is borne of many little victories (and failures). Share v 1.0, test it, and make it better. Then create the next version. Because the moment we think something is perfect, it will be obsolete. 

• Inclusive — Include, value, and trust each other.

We are smart alone but together we are genius. This means being inclusive, giving the benefit of the doubt and being responsible for each other. Because, for our company to thrive for the next 100+ years, smart is not enough. We need genius. 

Why Join Us?

• Impact at Scale: Shape products enjoyed by millions across diverse APAC markets.

• Global Connectivity: Access world-class technical expertise, innovation labs, and global R&D networks.

• Digital Future: Lead with next-gen tools — from AI-driven formulation insights to virtual product design.

• Creative Freedom: Drive innovation that blends science, consumer desire, and brand vision.

• Legacy: Be part of a team building the future of beverages, with agility, ambition, and excellence.

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:

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

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.