Scientist, Product Development

Location: Gurugram, India  

Role Type: Individual Contributor

Please note: This role is not a fully remote position. The selected candidate will need to be based in Gurugram, India and follow our hybrid work setup —3 days onsite and 2 days working from home each week. This is an Individual Contributor position.

As Scientist, Product Development, you will bring concepts to life through hands-on formulation, testing, and commercialization. You’ll work directly on local and regional projects — adapting global innovations, applying market insights, and using digital tools to ensure products meet consumer expectations, regulatory requirements, and manufacturing realities. This is an execution-focused role for a technically curious problem-solver who wants to build expertise while contributing to high-impact beverage launches.

What You’ll Do

• Create Prototypes & Formulations – Develop lab-scale recipes following GMP and company protocols; adapt global specifications to suit local consumer preferences and ingredient availability.

• Test, Learn, Improve – Conduct sensory, analytical, and shelf-life testing; use data and basic statistics to guide optimization.

• Scale Up for Market – Support pilot and commercial production trials, ensuring processes and packaging are validated and issues resolved.

• Embed Market Relevance – Incorporate local insights, new ingredients, and regulatory needs into final product design.

• Collaborate Broadly – Partner with Marketing, SRA, Supply Chain, Packaging, and Quality for seamless delivery; connect with global technical experts to import best practices.

• Stay Ahead – Track market trends, ingredient innovations, and competitor products; work with suppliers to test new materials and technologies.

• Maintain Excellence – Keep lab equipment in top condition; follow safety, compliance, and documentation standards.

What We’re Looking For

• Bachelor’s/ Master’s in Food Science, Chemistry, Nutrition, Chemical Engineering, or similar.

• 2–4 years in product development in food or beverages — nutrition, hydration, or functional drinks preferred.

• Knowledge of beverage formulation, ingredient functionality, and processing basics.

• Familiarity with sensory evaluation, analytical testing, and basic experimental design.

• Strong problem-solving and clear communication skills in cross-functional settings.

• Digital literacy — able to use formulation databases, simulation tools, and basic data analytics.

• Fluent in English; regional languages a plus.

• Regional travel up to 10–15%.

Why Join Us?

• Hands-On Innovation: Work at the bench, pilot, and plant stages to turn ideas into finished products.

• Build Skills with Global Support: Access Coca-Cola’s worldwide technical network, learn from experts, and grow your capabilities.

• Digital-Forward Development: Use modern tools to simulate, test, and accelerate innovation.

• External Ecosystem Exposure: Collaborate with suppliers, startups, and ingredient innovators to bring new technologies into the category.

• Inclusive, Collaborative Culture: Work alongside diverse teams, in an environment that values curiosity, agility, and problem-solving.

What can help you to 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:

Product Development; Continual Improvement Process; Collaborating; New Product Development; Compliance; Problem Solving; Innovation; Researching; Laboratory Testing; Data Compilation; Beverages; Cross-Functional Teamwork