Senior Manager, Packaging Development

Job Description Summary:

Our Latinoamerica 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 transformational leader to build, inspire, and empower high-performing teams that fuel the innovation pipeline with bold ideas and turn them into real-world impact. This role is not about maintaining the status quo; it is about setting direction, unlocking opportunity, and driving valuable breakthrough innovation at scale. You will work with diverse teams with deep expertise to deliver a strong and balanced portfolio of meaningful innovation; accelerating growth and shaping the future of the organization.

The Senior Manager, Packaging Development is responsible for translating enterprise and Operating Unit packaging strategies into clear, actionable priorities and executing a strong innovation and sustainability pipeline that supports near‑ to mid‑term business growth. Operating within the Latinoamerica GDI organization, this role plays a critical part in applying future‑relevant packaging insights to today’s development programs and ensuring robust technical execution.

The Senior Manager provides advanced technical leadership, leads complex packaging initiatives, and influences cross‑functional partners to ensure successful delivery of packaging programs. This role enables innovative thinking within project teams and partners by encouraging forward‑looking concepts, emerging technologies, and differentiated packaging solutions that enhance consumer experience and strengthen system performance.

What You’ll Do for Us:

Strategic Translation, Innovation Execution & Pipeline Contribution

• Translate enterprise and Operating Unit packaging strategies into clear development priorities and executable project plans that deliver near‑term results while supporting longer‑term strategic direction.

• Contribute to future‑back thinking by applying awareness of evolving consumer, system, and technology trends to current packaging roadmaps and development decisions.

• Encourage innovative thinking within teams by challenging assumptions, removing barriers to ideation, and supporting exploration of new materials, formats, technologies, and systems within defined project scopes.

Advanced Technical Leadership

• Provide strong technical leadership for the development of new packaging designs, materials, and technologies from concept through commercialization, ensuring sound technical rigor and feasible, scalable solutions.

• Act as a subject‑matter expert, guiding teams through complex material, equipment, and system interface challenges from lab to pilot to commercial implementation.

• Apply awareness of industry developments, regulatory trends, and system constraints to ensure packaging solutions are robust, compliant, and future‑ready.

External & Regional Ecosystem Engagement

• Connect with the broader packaging GDI network, suppliers, and external partners to identify and leverage relevant innovations and technical capabilities.

• Support evaluation and integration of external technologies and material platforms that enhance packaging performance and competitiveness within the Operating Unit.

• Serve as a trusted technical reference for packaging topics within regional and cross‑functional teams.

Cross‑Functional Alignment & Influence

• Drive alignment on packaging initiatives by building strong working relationships and influencing decision‑making across marketing, TISC (Technical Innovation & Supply Chain), quality, regulatory, procurement, and Bottling Partners.

• Contribute to the development of business cases for packaging initiatives, integrating technical, consumer, sustainability, and commercial considerations.

• Define clear technical requirements, success criteria, risk assessments, and project governance for assigned packaging programs.

• Leverage the global GDI packaging network to accelerate problem solving and implementation of proven solutions.

​System Readiness & Commercialization Enablement

• Ensure packaging designs are compatible with manufacturing, dispensing, vending, and distribution systems, leveraging existing assets and identifying required modifications or upgrades.

• Collaborate closely with RtE (Research and Experimentation) and TISC on technology transfer, qualification, and commercialization activities, ensuring alignment with initial briefs, timelines, and performance objectives.

• Provide technical support to bottlers and system partners during trials, start‑ups, and issue resolution as needed.

Capability Development

• Support the development of a high‑performing team of packaging professionals through coaching, knowledge sharing, and constructive feedback.

• Promote a culture of curiosity, disciplined execution, and continuous improvement within project teams and the broader packaging community.

• Share tools, best practices, and technical learnings to strengthen packaging capability across the Operating Unit.

• Act as a technical mentor and thought partner to engineers, project leaders, and cross‑functional collaborators, strengthening decision‑making quality and technical confidence.

• Encourage learning and adoption of new technologies and modern ways of working through access to global knowledge and resources.

• Translates packaging strategy into clear priorities and executable project plans.

• Leads project teams through complex problem‑solving and technical trade‑off decisions.

Compliance, Governance & IP Awareness

• Ensure packaging initiatives comply with applicable safety, quality, and regulatory requirements across relevant geographies.

• Maintain awareness of intellectual property considerations and support appropriate protection and freedom‑to‑operate for new packaging solutions.

Portfolio & Resource Management

• Manage assigned packaging projects and portions of the development portfolio, ensuring effective prioritization, resource use, and delivery against objectives.

• Monitor project performance, risks, and value delivery, escalating issues and recommendations appropriately.

What We’re Looking For:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Packaging Engineering, Materials/Polymer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related field.

• +8 years of relevant experience, with demonstrated leadership of complex packaging projects and cross‑functional teams; regional or global experience preferred (Beverage industry or related is a plus)

• Strong technical credibility with the ability to influence stakeholders across functions.

• Demonstrated problem‑solving capability in complex, ambiguous environments.

• Strong communication skills and a collaborative, global mindset.

• Working knowledge of safety and regulatory requirements.

• Basic understanding of intellectual property principles.

• Language proficiency: Spanish; business fluency in English; Portuguese is a plus.

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 behaviors. 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 Latinoamerica 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 design 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 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:

AI Adoption, AI Adoption, Application Packaging, Apply an Enterprise Mindset, Auto-CAD Design, Build Inclusion, Business Case Development, Communication, Data Analysis, Decision Models, ESG Literacy, Flexible Packaging, Food Processing, Food Production, Future Back Thinking, Influence Across the Network, Leadership, Lead Times, Make Courageous Choices, Microsoft Office, Negotiation, Negotiation Strategies, Packaging, Packaging Engineering, Packaging Industry {+ 19 more}

Location(s):

Mexico

City/Cities:

Ciudad de Mexico

Travel Required:

00% - 25%

Relocation Provided:

No

Job Posting End Date:

May 7, 2026

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.