Scientist, Product, GDI

Scientist, Product, GDI

Location: Atlanta

Our North America 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 highly driven individual contributor who thrives on ownership and impact, and who fuels the innovation pipeline with bold ideas that translate into real-world results. This role is not about maintaining the status quo; it is about challenging assumptions, unlocking opportunity, and personally driving valuable breakthrough innovation.

You will apply deep product development expertise to lead ideas from concept to execution, contributing to a strong and diverse portfolio of meaningful innovation — accelerating growth and helping shape the future of the organization.

Job Purpose Summary

As Scientist, Product Development, you will bring concepts to life through hands-on formulation, testing, and commercialization. You will work directly on local and regional projects, applying market insights, and using digital tools to ensure products meet consumer expectations, quality, 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 driven by consumer insights and technical/supply chain requirements, following GMP and company protocols.
  • Test, Learn, improve – Conduct sensory, analytical, and shelf-life testing together with the Micro and stability teams.
  • Scale Up for Market – Support pilot and commercial production trials, ensuring processes and packaging compatibility.
  • Collaborate Broadly – Partner with Marketing, SRA, Supply Chain, Packaging, and Quality for seamless delivery under manager supervision; connect with global technical experts to import best practices.
  • Maintain Excellence – Over the full process, keep lab equipment in top condition; follow safety, compliance, and documentation standards.

What You’ll Need

  • Bachelor’s/Master’s in Food Science, Chemistry, Nutrition, Chemical Engineering, or similar.
  • 1–3 years in product development in food or beverages
  • Knowledge of beverage formulation, ingredient functionality, and processing basics. 
  • Familiarity with sensory evaluation, analytical testing, and basic experimental design. 
  • Ability to
    • Connect daily work to project and business goals; anticipates next steps.
    • Understand the insights of target consumer/customer and direct competitors.     
    • Generate new ideas by questioning assumptions and exploring alternatives.
    • Apply solid technical expertise to deliver high-quality work independently.
    • Analyse problems independently and proposes practical solutions.
    • Lead by example and may mentor others informally.   
    • Make timely decisions within scope, balancing speed, and quality.
  • Fluent in English; regional languages a plus.
  • Regional travel up to 10–15%.

Skills:

Chemistry; Leadership; Product Development; Continual Improvement Process; Sustainability; Environmental Science; Researching; Microbiological Test; Waterfall Model; Food Sciences; Food Technology; Communication; Food Safety and Sanitation; Laboratory Testing; Data Compilation; Quality Control (QC); Green Solutions; Sensory Testing

Pay Range:
$91,700 – $110,000

Base pay offered may vary depending on geography, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. A full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position, is offered.

Annual Incentive Reference Value Percentage:
7.5

Annual Incentive reference value is a market-based competitive value for your role. It falls in the middle of the range for your role, indicating performance at target.

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.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class.

The Coca-Cola Company will not offer sponsorship for employment status (including, but not limited to, H1-B visa status and other employment-based nonimmigrant visas) for this position. Accordingly, all applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis and must not require The Coca-Cola Company’s sponsorship to continue to work legally in the United States.

The Coca-Cola Company is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your job search or application for employment, please click here. You can also view our employment policies or if you have a question on fraudulent recruitment activity.