Director, LATAM Packaging, GDI - LA OU

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 Director, Packaging Development is responsible for translating enterprise and Operating Unit packaging strategies into clear, actionable priorities and delivering a robust innovation and sustainability pipeline that supports both near-term and long-term business growth. Operating within the Latinoamerica GDI organization, this role plays a pivotal part in shaping future-back packaging innovation, ensuring that long-range strategic possibilities inform today's development decisions.

• Translate enterprise and Operating Unit packaging strategies into actionable development priorities and a coherent innovation pipeline that delivers both short-term value and long-term strategic advantage.
• Drive future-back innovation by anticipating long-term trends, envisioning future consumer and system needs, and integrating these insights into today's packaging roadmap.
• Inspire innovative thinking across teams by framing bold possibilities, challenging assumptions, and promoting outside-in and future-oriented exploration of materials, formats, technologies, and systems.

• Provide expert technical direction for the development of new packaging designs, materials, and technologies from concept through commercialization, ensuring strong technical rigor and scalable solutions.
• Guide teams and partner organizations on complex material, equipment, and system interface challenges to enable seamless progression from lab to pilot to commercial scale.
• Anticipate industry developments, future regulatory environments, and evolving system needs to ensure packaging solutions remain competitive and future-ready.

• Proactively connect with the global packaging GDI network, suppliers, universities, research institutes, and design/technology partners to identify and bring forward high-value innovations.
• Evaluate and integrate external technologies, emerging material platforms, and enabling systems that strengthen the Operating Unit's packaging competitiveness.
• Serve as a recognized expert and system-wide technical point of contact for advanced packaging topics.

• Drive alignment on major packaging programs by building strong cross-functional relationships and influencing decision-making across marketing, TISC (Technical Innovation & Supply Chain), quality, regulatory, procurement, and Bottling Partners.
• Develop robust business cases for new packaging opportunities, integrating technical, consumer, sustainability, and commercial evidence.
• Establish clear requirements, success metrics, risk frameworks, and governance for major packaging initiatives.
• Connect and Leverage global GDI packaging network to accelerate innovations

• Ensure packaging designs are compatible with manufacturing, dispensing, vending, and distribution systems - leveraging existing assets, identifying required upgrades, and enabling future-proof solutions.
• Collaborate closely with RtE, TISC on technology transfer, qualification, and commercialization, ensuring smooth handover and alignment with initial briefs and objectives.
• Support bottler and system partners with technical guidance, troubleshooting, and capability enablement as needed.

• Be part of a high-performing team of technical packaging experts, providing clear direction, coaching, and continuous development to strengthen both individual and team capabilities.
• Foster a culture of curiosity, experimentation, and disciplined execution, setting expectations and behaviors that drive technical excellence and innovative thinking across the team and broader packaging community.
• Provide expert guidance, frameworks, tools, and best practices to elevate packaging capability across the Operating Unit and global network.
• Act as a senior technical mentor and thought partner to managers, engineers, and cross-functional colleagues, supporting their growth and enabling stronger decision-making across the system.
• Promote a learning culture by encouraging knowledge sharing, connecting teams with global resources, and championing adoption of new technologies and modern ways of working.
• Translates packaging innovation strategy into clear priorities and executable plans.
• Guides the team project through complex problem-solving and trade-off decisions.

• Ensure all packaging initiatives comply with safety, quality, and regulatory requirements across relevant geographies.
• Maintain awareness of intellectual property considerations, enabling protection of innovations and freedom-to-operate for new technologies.

• Oversee the packaging development portfolio budget, prioritizing eforts across high-impact initiatives and ensuring efficient allocation aligned with strategic objectives.
• Monitor program performance, risk, and value delivery, providing timely visibility and recommendations to senior leadership.

• Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in Packaging Engineering, Materials/Polymer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related field.
• 10+ years of relevant experience, with 3+ years leading projects or teams, preferably with global or regional packaging development responsibilities.
• Strong leadership and team-building skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Demonstrated ability to innovate and think strategically.
• Excellent communication skills and a global mindset.
• Basic understanding of safety and regulatory affairs.
• Clear understanding of intellectual property laws and patent interpretation.
• Language proficiency: Spanish, Business fluency in English, Portuguese is a plus.

• 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: 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.

• 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.

• 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.