Vacancy At Coca Cola Nigeria

Job Title: Product Design & Innovation Manager
Job ID: 38556
Location: Lagos, Nigeria

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Assumes overall responsibility for product formulation, optimization and compliance initiatives for the Business Unit (BU).
• Responsible for crafting product development brief in liaison with respective Strategic Marketing Managers
• Acts as the principal sole point of contact between BU and designated Research & Development facilities working on new formulation development for all BU NPD projects
• Drives formulation prototype design, manufacture and screening in conjunction with R&D and in compliance with BU and company research protocols.
• Manage the communication and effective flow of information and approval systems associated with the Technical Commercialization Process.
• Establish, communicate and enforce policies and processes regarding formula and regulatory issues, thereby ensuring efficient stewardship of all product related activities including all Technical, Marketing and legal approvals.
• Develop, share and ensure effective use of Best Practice and Common Platforms relevant to Product Innovation.
• Explore and assess potential relationships with R&D and CPS partners (e.g. cross BU partners) for the purpose of sharing investment/risk, or enhancing business through new brands, technologies and processes.
• Is the PAR process owner in Picasso (the company’s formula database), coordinating the creation, submission, approval, issuing and maintenance of Formulas.
• Responsible for formula optimization initiatives, (COGs reduction, Ingredients standardization/substitution, Renew the Category Growth) in conjunction with Scientific Regulatory Affairs, Brand teams, Knowledge & Insights, R&D & CPS.
• Mapping BU technical capability and establishment of possible / optimal product formulations relating to this technical capability.
• Identifies new ingredients suppliers and takes them through the Approval process in conjunction with R&D, CPS and Procurement.

Communication Complexities:
Internal/External Contact:

• Corporate/ Global Juice Community
• Knowledge & Insights Manager
• Government Agencies/ Bodies (31 Countries)
• Professional Bodies
• Corporate Formula Governance Team
• Europe, Eurasia, Middle East & Africa R&D and CPS
• Strategic Marketing Managers

Nature and Purpose of Communication:

• Best Practice and Information sharing
• Providing Product Innovation expertise.
• Samples tests and trials supervision.
• Seeking advice on regulatory, technical and legal issues.
• Fast tracking of Product Innovation work stream.

Analysis:

• A vast geography (31 Markets, 55 Bottling Plants, 4 International languages – English, French, Portuguese, Spanish)
• Advanced Regulatory Knowledge – expertise on regulatory and political landscape affecting foods and beverages
• Cross cultural and language barriers
• Technical Communication to Non-technical Audience

Judgement and Decision Making:

• Understands the external environment (competitive and market) and identifies new sources of opportunity.
• Anticipates future trends to engage and delight consumers
• Joint responsibility with Team members to create and execute projects as set in Annual Business Plan
• See key duties/responsibilities
• Interrogates data to identify core business levers.
• Balances facts with intuition to distil complex opportunities into compelling business cases.
• Leverages analytical rigor to prioritize and allocate resources effectively.

Innovations:

• Come up with new processes by challenging the status quo.
• Pursues innovation and change with a mind-set of continuous improvement
• New Packaging development, approval and execution
• New formula creation, approval and issuing and CPS management
• Evaluate feasibility of new products by pre-product testing
• Validation of key product/pack/price innovations across channels
• Crafts a vision for what the brand/category/market could be
• Demonstrates judgement to define a compelling core creative idea

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Direct Reports ( Position Titles, not names): N/A
• Supporting Service: BU and Franchise Technical & Marketing Teams

Qualifications / Competencies / Skills

• Leader of Self

Technical Skills:

• Project Management
• Commercialization Process, CIF, CokeWorks
• New Product Development Procedures
• Strategic Innovation Planning
• Packaging and Print Technology
• Innovation Business cases
• Brand and Portfolio Strategy
• System and Bottler Economics
• Production Planning and Control
• Juice & Carbonated Soft Drinks Manufacture
• Understanding Brand Essentials
• System and Bottler Economics
• Concentrate Plant Supply Processes
• Regulatory Stewardship
• Research and Development

Generic Competencies:

• Act like an Owner
• Collaborative with the system, Customers and Key Stakeholders
• Drive Innovation
• Inspire Others
• Develop Self and Others

Required Experience

• 8-10 years’ experience in Product Development, exposure to beverage manufacturing will be an advantage
• Bilingual skills (English & French)

Educational Requirements
Education required:

• University/Bachelor’s degree

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree (Chemistry, Biology, Food Science, etc.). Professional certifications in Beverage Product R&D and/or Commercialization expertise will be an added advantage.

Cultural Diversity:

• Need to understand cultural differences in different markets to translate data into meaningful business insights. Has worked most of his/her career in a collaborative working situation, in which different viewpoints from a range of stakeholders needed to be taken into account to arrive at a productive solution.
• Has worked most of his/her career in a collaborative working situation, in which different viewpoints from a range of stakeholders needed to be taken into account to arrive at a productive solution

Working Conditions:

• As per the assigned geography.

Travel Requirements:

• Significant travel may be required within and outside the BU – 50%

Additional Information

• West Africa Business Unit (WABU) is a multi-Country Business Unit with a myriad of projects constantly running.
• Due to the sheer size of the BU and the peculiarities of each market, substantive travel and use of alternative communication technology is required.
• This role, reporting into the BU Commercialization & Innovations Manager, will be key in ensuring Innovations delivery within time and cost constraints.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply