Senior Director of Product Development

If you’re ready to elevate your career and join one of the top emerging beauty and lifestyle brands, then this exclusive opportunity could be just right for you.

Our high-profile client is a renowned industry expert who is expanding their digital platform by producing the best products on the market in their category with instructional how-to videos, along with professional profiles and cutting-edge education. The brand has been very thoughtful about their packaging to be eco-friendly and recyclable with the goal to become B-Certified. Additionally, our client has a mission of women empowerment, with the majority of their Executive team and investors being highly successful women. As their successful brand continues to grow and thrive, so does their team!

They are currently looking to fill a Sr. Director of Product Development role with someone possessing strong ingredient knowledge, project management capabilities, and effective communication and collaboration skills. The ability to provide insight into product innovation in both formula and packaging is key for this role. Overall responsibilities will include research and development of product and category trends, management of the contract manufacturers, recommendations for product catalog and new item launch development and planning while collaborating with cross-functional department teams to achieve deliverables including process improvement, process enhancement and COGs reduction.

• Partner with the Founder to ideate innovation, and highlight key trending ingredients, new technology and differentiated product concepts that align with the brand.
• Lead the end-to-end development with timeline execution, vendor management and technical guidance to ensure product launches are within budget and launch timelines.
• Work cross-functionally to support the development of 15 skus and align specific vendors to support the product concept to deliver within the COG and a high-quality standard.
• Adhere to COG expectations and expand vendor partnerships to enhance quality and performance of product.
• Partner with cross functional teams to ensure the support of different sales channels (DTC and Wholesale) and assist with go to market strategy/implementation.
• Relationship Management will be key as this role requires engagement with contract manufacturing partners, suppliers and sales/business leaders across the organization.
• Implement improvements in product development process and planning that will drive overall cost reductions and margin improvements.
• Manage communication with external R&D to troubleshoot, provide guidance on specific raw materials and manage the feedback process with formula submission to ensure specific goals are met with each product concept.
• Track all product development projects and proactively communicate weekly on each project, communication challenges/delays to the Executive team to ensure alignment on solutions to keep launches on track.
• Provide outstanding leadership to team members, including opportunities for coaching and development to maximize work output and work quality.

Have what it takes?

• 5-10 years of product development experience, preferably in the hair category.
• 1-2 years of experience overseeing product development for international markets.
• Expertise managing contract manufacturers with end-to-end development
• Highly detailed and proactive communication skills to drive projects forward
• Proven ability to solve problems creatively to keep product launches on track and within budget
• Excellent analytical skills, strong interpersonal skills and extremely resourceful

Premier specializes in pairing beauty industry-vetted talent with innovative beauty brands, suppliers, and manufacturers. We’ve built our reputation on providing unparalleled service, deep industry knowledge, and impactful matches. We’ve made beauty recruiting better…elevated.

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