Senior Director, General Manager, Tea Company

Job Description Summary:

The Coca-Cola Company, a global beverage leader with a rich history of 140 years and a portfolio of over 200 brands worldwide and TeaCo is a dedicated 'hothouse' tasked with step-change growth and disruptive innovation in the ready-to-drink tea category. Operating within a 'sandbox' (primarily Guangdong province, with initial focus on the Greater Guangzhou area), TeaCo is expected to:

• Test creative ideas and new business models at startup speed.
• Leverage the global scale of Coca-Cola and local execution strength of Swire
• Deliver validated concepts that can scale back into the core ATH system or launch as independent brands.
• Achieve +150M incremental unit cases over a 3-year horizon.

This is not a traditional internal functional leadership role. It requires entrepreneurial capability, commercial ownership, stakeholder management, and the ability to operate in ambiguity with pace. The position is legally hosted under Coca-Cola, reporting to the Synthetic Board, within a virtual entity structure where costs are shared proportionally between KO and Swire.

What You'll Do for Us:

Own the Innovation Agenda and Product Roadmap

• Define the innovation strategy, prioritize concepts, and manage the pipeline from ideation to pilot launch
• Lead consumer insight integration, concept development, and rapid prototyping
• Ensure innovation efforts protect and enhance the ATH master brand equity
• Build and test digitally enabled commercialization models, including digital consumer acquisition, O2O activation, DTC experimentation, social commerce, and platform partnerships.

Own Commercial and Financial Outcomes

• Full P&L ownership for TeaCo - accountable for revenue, cost, margin, and investment returns
• Build and refine the business model across incubation, early commercialization, and potential scale phases
• Deliver against +150M unit cases 3-year target

Build and Lead a High-Performance, Lean Team

• Recruit, develop, and retain a world-class, entrepreneurial team (1+4 structure).
• Foster a culture of speed, experimentation, accountability, and psychological safety.
• Attract talent willing to embrace a 60%+ failure rate on individual experiments (as a portfolio, the goal is success).

Manage Complex Stakeholder Ecosystem

• Internal: Navigate Coca-Cola (Shanghai HQ, GDI (Global Development and Innovation), Consumer Insights, KO Legal), Swire (TAC, S&M, Supply Chain), and XNode (external facilitator).
• External: Co-packers, ingredient suppliers, research agencies, advisory network.
• Governance: Manage Board engagement, prepare for Gate Reviews, and ensure transparent progress reporting

Drive Speed-to-Market and Consumer Validation

• Move from concept to consumer test in 90-day cycles where possible.
• Build rapid feedback loops with target consumers in the Guangzhou test market.
• Make "accelerate/ pivot/ pause/ stop" decisions with confidence and data.
• Use digital channels and consumer data to test propositions, acquire target consumers, and accelerate product-market fit validation.
• Run rapid experiments across digital targeting, product concepts, pricing, promotions, conversion pathways, and repeat purchase behavior.

Protect Brand Integrity and Ensure Governance Discipline

• Maintain a connection point with the BAU ATH brand team to monitor brand risks.
• Operate within KO compliance framework while pushing for speed.
• Ensure all innovation experiments do not inadvertently damage global brand equity.

Qualifications & Requirements:

• Industry: 10+ years in consumer goods; F&B strongly preferred.

• P&L Management: At least 2+ years independently managing a business unit P&L (scale flexible).

• Channel & Sales: Experience working with frontline sales teams and using digital channels to test and scale commercial models; understanding of convenience stores, traditional trade, e-commerce, O2O, DTC, social commerce, and platform-based consumer acquisition.

• Product Development: Led or participated in full-cycle product development from consumer insight to market launch.

• Innovation & Incubation: Track record of building or scaling something new within an established organization - or as a founder/early team member.

• Education: Bachelor's degree or above; MBA or management master's preferred.

• Language: Fluent Chinese; English as working language.

  Differentiators:

• Direct RTD tea or premium beverage experience in China.

• Founder/ early-stage operator or corporate incubation background.

• Board, Steering Committee, JV, or partnership governance exposure.

• Small-batch manufacturing, co-packing, agile production, or F&B regulatory familiarity.

• Strong China F&B ecosystem relationships.

• Demonstrated resilience through previous failure experience/ setbacks.

What We Can Do For You:

• Exposure to World Class Leaders: Availability to global technology leaders that will expand your network and exposure you to emerging technologies and techniques.

• Iconic Brand: Work on the most recognized brand in the world and be part of developing the brands next chapter.

• Learning Culture: Access to resources such as LinkedIn Learning and management programs that give you the resources to continually develop your skills and knowledge.

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.