Director of R&D/NPD

Position Purpose and Objectives

Responsible for leadership and oversight of product development initiatives supporting skincare and topical products within a fast-paced contract manufacturing environment. Provides strategic and technical direction across the full product lifecycle from concept through commercialization while ensuring speed, scalability, customer satisfaction, compliance, and operational execution. Leads product development activities, drives cross-functional alignment, and serves as a key customer-facing technical leader supporting innovation and growth initiatives.

Essential Job Functions

• Lead product development strategy and execution for skincare and topical products from concept through commercialization.
• Direct and prioritize product development pipeline activities and project timelines across multiple customer initiatives.
• Lead and develop Product Development and formulation team members.
• Oversee formulation strategy focused on product performance, ingredient compatibility, stability, sensory attributes, manufacturability, scalability, and cost optimization.
• Drive bench development, pilot trials, scale-up activities, validation efforts, and commercialization execution.
• Serve as primary technical lead and customer-facing resource throughout development projects.
• Translate customer objectives into commercially viable and manufacturable solutions.
• Partner with Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Sales, and Customer Service teams to ensure successful project execution.
• Lead customer presentations and technical discussions.
• Troubleshoot formulation and manufacturing challenges involving viscosity, emulsion stability, ingredient interactions, and process variability.
• Evaluate ingredients, packaging compatibility, technologies, and market trends.
• Ensure compliance with FDA requirements and cGMP standards.
• Maintain formulas, specifications, and technical documentation.
• Drive process improvement initiatives.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required

• Extensive experience developing skincare and topical products within a CMO/CDMO environment.
• Demonstrated ability to lead products from concept through commercialization.
• Experience scaling products into manufacturing environments.
• Strong leadership, project management, and organizational skills.
• Strong customer-facing communication and presentation abilities.
• Working knowledge of FDA and cGMP requirements.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.

Supervisory Responsibility

• Direct supervision of Product Development team.

Working Conditions

• Work is performed in office, laboratory, and manufacturing environments. Requires frequent interaction with all facility departments, including Warehouse, Shipping, Receiving, Manufacturing, Packaging, and Quality Control. Regular presence on the production floor may be required to support product development, scale-up, and commercial manufacturing activities. Must comply with all safety, FDA, and cGMP requirements.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering, Nutrition Science, or related scientific discipline required; advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum ten (10) years of progressive product development experience supporting Skincare and topical products.
• Prior leadership experience required.
• Contract manufacturing/CMO/CDMO experience strongly required.

Success Factors

• Product development initiatives move efficiently from concept through commercialization.
• Strong customer satisfaction and cross-functional alignment.
• Products consistently meet performance, stability, manufacturability, and cost expectations.
• Ongoing innovation and process improvements support business growth.