Senior Director, EMEA Process & Operations, GDI

Our EMEA 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 lead diverse teams with deep product development expertise to deliver a strong and balanced portfolio of meaningful innovation — accelerating growth and shaping the future of the organization. 

Scope & Impact  

As Director Operations & Process, you will lead a team of 18-20 members responsible for the pilot plant, the stability, analytics, quality and micro assessment for every new product or reformulation for Europe, Africa,  Eurasia and Middle East. You will ensure that optimum pilot plant infrastructure, capabilities and operational execution are in place to support current and future product innovation pipeline of the EMEA Innovation Center.  You will provide technical leadership on analytics, microbiology, stability  and food safety for the development of new beverages, packages, dispensing equipment and processing technologies.   

This role is a member of the EMEA GDI Center Leadership Team. 

Focus Areas  

Key areas of focus of this role can be summarized as follows 

Process & Stability 

Lead and guide the Process & Stability team accountable  for 

• Physical, sensorial stability evaluation of new formulations/ prototypes or reformulation   

• Evaluating & reviewing recommendation on product stability / shelf-life before PAR submission. Propose alternative solutions in case of stability issues and provide relevant benchmarking.  

• Identifying and implementing operating process improvement. Propose & implement appropriate capital investment. Manage and develop if necessary appropriate and efficient working environment  

•  Organizing & managing applied research in food science. Identification of the driving factors limiting the shelf-life including definition, planning and execution of research projects. Create a source of knowledge regarding product stability.  

• Digitalizing data and identifying improvements and future requirements and work with IT team 

• Ensuring functionality and organization of the MSDS laboratory and testing/reporting are delivered according to agreed SLA 

• Researching and evaluating patents, new technologies, methodologies, process to improve system’s capabilities and profitability.  

• Working in close cooperation with colleagues in Global Process Technology Team to ensure projects continuity and knowledge transfer.  

• Creative development and smart applications to deliver consistent science based feasible solutions related to processing, identifying key technical barriers and ways to overcome them.   

• Planning and executing technology development experiments and trials at Brussels pilot plant and at outside facilities to prove and validate concepts prior to scaling up  

• Developing application technologies for novel ingredients  

• Taking accountability for projects delivery (Feasibility, Time, Costs)  

• Participating in Brussels R&D capability expansion projects.  

 Pilot Plant & QSE 

Lead and guide the Pilot Plant and QSE team accountable  for 

• Ensure efficient daily operation of the pilot plant according to TCCC quality standards.  

• Manage Resource and equipment planning, and coordinate weekly process and product trials according to project priorities and agreed timing.  

• Demonstrated ability to anticipate, prioritize, and adapt to changing workload situations.  

• Implement and maintain World Class Manufacturing standards including, 5S, preventative maintenance, accurate ingredient inventory management.  

• Establish, maintain and execute material ordering and stock management procedures for all ingredients, packaging materials, consumables and spare parts.  

• Manage the development and organization of maintenance and calibration practices, procedures, and documentation  

• Identify, develop, and lead continuous improvement effort for equipment reliability, and product quality. Enhance safety, efficiency and quality attributes of manufacturing operations  

• Develop and maintain procedures and documentation system including quality and process management, clear Standard Operation procedure, to support the accreditation and audit program.  

• Supervise the shipping of samples to regions and divisions in Europe, Eurasia and Africa.  

• Responsible for the training of new R&D personnel on how to work in the pilot plant and use the different equipments.  

• Ensure good understanding and linkage with bottler manufacturing capabilities in order to allow good transition of new products from pilot plant to bottling plants.  

• Identify, evaluate, and implement process and equipment innovations. Develop an investment plan to ensure that the capacity and capability are in line with the demand created by the short term and long term R&D innovation pipeline.  

• Manage Pilot plant Opex and Capex budget  

• Management of daily production and quality assurance 

• Development and execution of total quality program  

• Supervision of Pilot Plant Production Team  

• Development and execution of Technical Audit Programs  

Analytics & Micro 

Lead and guide the Analytics and Micro team accountable  for 

• Creating Quality, Safety and Environmental requirements related to micro risk assessment.  

• Developing academic and external network, managing key expert contacts and representations in scientific organizations, official bodies, professional associations  

• Strategy planning to deliver long-term capabilities  

• Ensure all relevant policies and requirements related to micro are followed during the development process  

• Manage the end-to-end micro Risk assessments for innovation and business continuity projects (Ingredient risk assessments, Planning and execution of challenge studies during development phase , Review, categorize and sign-off of Micro Risk Assessment, Creation of micro testing protocol, management of micro testing and establishment of release criteria for consumer study) 

• Provide SME support for the development of manufacturing process requirements  

• Develop protocols for food service equipment validation  

• Manage relationships and prioritize work with 3rd party micro labs and Process Authority  

• Design and optimize micro testing processes including potential automation  

• Provide SME support for Pilot Plant registrations, certifications, and process qualifications  

• Establish and manage food safety training programs for R&D  

• Conduct microbiological analysis and testing as needed  

• Embed Quality by Design principles into analytical strategy to drive innovation, robust science, and operational efficiency across R&D programs. 

• Support the development and application of advanced analytical methodologies to proactively ensure product quality, safety, and regulatory compliance, enabling rightfirsttime formulation and scaleup. 

• Partner crossfunctionally with Product Development, Quality, RtE, CPS, and ASL to translate analytical insights into strong design spaces, effective troubleshooting, and sustainable quality solutions throughout the product lifecycle. 

• Champion digital transformation, including database development, advanced data analytics, and strategic external partnerships, to strengthen analytical robustness, accelerate innovation, and improve predictability of outcomes 

 
Key Responsibilities:  

People Leadership:  

• Build and develop a highly engaged Category GDI network as well as leading a direct team (team size estimate 18-20 employees). 

• Manage resources effectively, including leading the allocation and prioritization of activities, budget requirements, performance management and assessing development needs. 

• Lead development of clear case for change, desired outcomes, accurate scope, clear roles and decision-making, and effective communication of the change supporting EMEA Innovation Center leader on change managing and new ways of working. 

Stakeholder Management:  

• Build relationships and networks with key stakeholders across the organization. 

• Facilitate the identification of timelines, dashboards, and financial scorecards for each initiative to keep Global Category Leadership current on progress and potential red flags. 

• Ensure effective and efficient information flow between Global Category Leaders and the R&D peers. 

Technical Leadership:  

• As a key member of EMEA Innovation Center LT, develop and implement long-term and annual business plans and ensure successful achievement of them. 

• Play a key role as a leadership member to ensure the Technical Community provides optimal thought leadership, strong business value and deliver on our commitments to the business from our functional responsibilities. 

• Partner in the ownership of key technical talent progress and their development. 

• Control and deploy resources appropriately, making sure the category budget is well managed and we deliver against the objectives. 

Communication Focus: 

• This role communicates internally with the GDI network, OU teams, and Global TI&SC teams. External communication with Bottlers, and suppliers. 

• Communication and engagement with multiple key stakeholders to gain agreement on the short- and long-term category strategies for TCCC. 

• Proactive and clear communication and engagement with all key stakeholders connected with Category R&D agenda. 

• Advanced influence and negotiation skills to ensure clear articulation and alignment with stakeholders at senior levels internally and externally for the company category innovation agenda across the globe. 

​Education Requirements: 

• BS/MS in Food Science/Engineering - 15+ yrs 

• Experience of 10+ years in production and/or QA 

• Product Design Thinking certificate a plus 

• Business and/or Finance certificate/experience a plus