Director, Innovation Lead LATAM

Location(s):

Mexico

City/Cities:

Mexico

Travel Required:

26% - 50%

Relocation Provided:

No

Job Posting End Date:

March 8, 2026

Shift:

Job Description Summary:

Director, Innovation Lead, LATAM

Job Description 

Director, Innovation Lead, LATAM is a strategic and operational leader responsible for driving the development and execution of the LATAM innovation agenda, in close partnership with senior leadership. This role focuses on shaping, advancing, and delivering innovation initiatives that translate consumer insights and foresight into scalable growth opportunities. 

Reporting into senior innovation or marketing leadership, this role plays a critical part in orchestrating cross‑functional execution, ensuring innovation projects progress efficiently through the pipeline and deliver tangible business impact. 

What You'll Do for Us

Innovation Strategy & Execution 

• Lead key components of the LATAM Innovation Strategy, aligned with brand, category, and commercial priorities. 
• Drive innovation initiatives through The Leap Lab, contributing to the development and progression of transformational ideas. 
• Translate consumer insights, trends, and foresight into actionable innovation concepts and pilots. 
• Manage and advance a portfolio of innovative projects, ensuring focus, prioritization, and execution discipline. 
• Partner with Marketing Tech teams to apply agile, tech‑enabled innovation processes that increase speed to learning and market. 

Insights, Collaboration & Delivery 

• Apply data, analytics, and emerging tools to support opportunity sizing, concept testing, and iteration. 
• Leverage AI powered data platforms to drive predictive foresight, whitespace identification, and opportunity sizing. 
• Ensure strong consumer co‑creation and early‑stage validation across innovation initiatives. 
• Collaborate closely with R&D, Supply Chain, Commercial, Finance, and Franchise teams to deliver end‑to‑end execution. 
• Support external partnerships with startups, agencies, and technology players to enhance innovation capabilities. 

Governance, Measurement & Reporting 

• Track and manage innovation KPIs, including pipeline progress, speed to market, and early commercial indicators. 
• Prepare updates, analyses, and materials for senior leadership reviews and forums. 
• Contribute to knowledge sharing, best practices, and continuous improvement across the LATAM innovation community. 

Team Leadership & Capability Building 

• Lead and develop a team of innovation managers and project leaders. 
• Promote experimentation, learning, and modern, tech‑enabled ways of working within the team. 

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or advanced degree preferred. 
• 10+ years of experience in innovation, brand management, strategy, R&D, or related roles within CPG or beverage industries. 
• Experience launching new products, concepts, or platforms from idea to market. 
• Strong cross‑functional leadership and project management capabilities. 
• Ability to translate insights into clear innovation plans and execution. 
• Strong communication skills with experience supporting senior leadership decision‑making. 
• Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast‑moving environments. 

Skills:

Brand Equity, Brand Strategy, Marketing, Marketing Strategies, organization

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.