Senior Director, General Manager, Tea Company

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. •

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.

• Exposure to World Class Leaders

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