Vice President of Research & Development – Beauty, Health & Wellness

Brief Description

Key Responsibilities:

Leadership And Strategic Direction

• Develop, plan, and execute the global, long-term company strategy especially in the areas involving design of new, sustainable ingredients utilizing existing and new technologies.
• Lead, manage, and inspire a diverse R&D team of scientists, formulators, engineers, product and process developers, and regulatory specialists.
• Collaborate with senior leadership to ensure R&D priorities align with business goals, market demands, and customer preferences.
• Build an entrepreneurial and inclusive culture where creativity, innovation, and collaboration lead to the commercialization of new, unique personal care ingredients and services that meet the needs of innovative customers.
• Provide bold leadership to the company to explore new technologies, markets, and approaches to innovation.
  
  

Product Development And Innovation

• Lead the development of new molecules, formulations, and data for performance claims that deliver safe and sustainable ingredients to create valuable and effective beauty, health, and wellness products.
• Collaborate with Product, Marketing and Sales to discover significant opportunities and unmet needs in beauty, health, and wellness.
• Drive the ideation, design of molecules, formulations, and cost-effective scaling of personal care ingredients from concept to commercialization globally.
• Oversee the creation of proof of concept, prototypes and supporting information ensuring they align with the target customer’s need for performance, sustainability, and quality.
• Propose plans to be executed for new technologies from product or process development that align with strategic goals.
  
  

Sustainability And Feedstock Sourcing

• Develop and implement strategies to evaluate and qualify safe and sustainable feedstocks while meeting the company’s environmental impact goals.
• Ensure that all R&D processes adhere to Green Chemistry principles and align with industry and company standards for sustainability, such as cruelty-free, vegan, or eco-friendly certifications.
  
  

Quality, Safety, And Regulatory Compliance

• Oversee the development and testing of products to ensure safety, efficacy, and regulatory compliance across global markets.
• Stay up to date on industry regulations, standards, and certifications related to personal care products, including FDA, EU Cosmetic Regulations, and other global health and wellness guidelines.
• Ensure proper documentation, testing, and validation of products for safety, stability, and performance.
• Address any safety concerns and ensure that products meet or exceed industry and consumer standards for performance and quality.
• Ensure the safe operation of the research labs, including assurance that chemicals and materials are safely stored, lab equipment is well maintained, researchers follow SOPs, company and regulatory guidelines, audit performance, and corrective actions are timely completed.
• Set product quality standards and ensure products meet the quality standards, including overseeing the selection of test methods for raw materials, in-process, and finished products, inspection of raw materials, and reviewing the results from routine and non-routine analyses of raw materials, in-process materials, environmental samples, finished goods or stability samples.
  
  

Collaboration And Cross-Functional Engagement

• Work closely with the Marketing, Sales, and Product teams to ensure that R&D initiatives are aligned with consumer needs, customer expectations, and company goals.
• Collaborate with external partners, academic institutions, start-ups, and innovation labs to bring new technologies, materials, and processes into the company’s portfolio.
• Serve as the primary R&D contact for board members, the leadership team by providing updates on progress and strategy.
• Share knowledge and provide training to key company stakeholders, including training and educating marketing, sales, supply chain, operations, and support team members about personal care product platforms, preparing technical information for non-technical audiences, participating in webinars, seminars, and conferences.
  
  

Intellectual Property And Innovation Protection

• Champion the development and protection of intellectual property (IP), including patents, trade secrets, proprietary formulations, ingredients, and processes.
• Work with legal teams to ensure the protection of innovations and ensure that the company’s IP portfolio is strategically managed.
• Support Regulatory efforts that favor the company’s products.
  
  

Requirements

Qualifications:

Education: Advanced degree (PhD or equivalent) in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Polymers, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a related field. Engineering or business experience is a plus.

Experience

• 10 years of experience in R&D for the beauty, health, and wellness industry, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
• Proven expertise in the synthesis, formulation, and development of personal care ingredients based on Green Chemistry, including skincare, hair care, sun care, or cosmetics.
• Experience in managing cross-functional teams and leading innovative product development from concept to commercialization.
• Strong understanding of feedstock sourcing, sustainable practices, and regulatory requirements within the beauty, health, and wellness industry.
  

Skills

• Exceptional leadership, communication, and team management skills, with the ability to inspire and develop people, and align people toward common goals.
• No-ego, non-political and pragmatic team player who knows how to develop strong working relationships across functional and geographic boundaries.
• True team player with a collaborative attitude, with an open and transparent management and discussion style and always putting broad business objectives ahead of personal or local goals.
• Knowledge of how to create and manage budgets that achieve business goals.
• Has a track record of commercial success.
• Ability to lead the team to collaborate with other functions to achieve business goals.
• Sees the commercial aspect when speaking about technology innovation and will provide sound judgment on commercial potential of an idea.
• Knowledge of product and process development for a B2B company.
• In-depth knowledge of current beauty trends, consumer behaviors, and ingredient technologies.
• Excellent strategic thinking and decision-making abilities with a hands-on approach to product development.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across multiple departments (Product, Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain, Operations, etc.) to ensure successful product launches.
• Strong understanding of intellectual property (IP) processes, patent filing, and innovation protection strategies.
• Knowledge of beauty, health, and wellness regulatory processes and trends with proven ability to navigate them to support products and services.
• Knowledge of regulatory requirements for personal care products, domestically and internationally.
• Knowledge of the specialty chemical industry and competitors.
• Knowledge of specialty chemical platforms, including surfactants, emollients, esters and polyesters, etc.
• Knowledge of polymer chemistry and science.
• Knowledge of the personal care markets globally.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Expertise in safe and clean beauty products made with natural ingredients, meeting sustainability goals in personal care products.
• Experience with global product launches and international regulatory environments.
• Background in building and scaling R&D departments for growth.
  
  

Work Environment

• This is a senior leadership position that will require a blend of strategic oversight and hands-on involvement in R&D initiatives.
• Occasional travel up to 30% will be required to engage customers, suppliers, providers of new technologies, patent activities globally.
• The position is based in Philadelphia, PA.
  
  

Summary

Position Overview: We are seeking a highly innovative, entrepreneurial, and dynamic Vice President (VP) of Research & Development (R&D) to lead the R&D efforts for our growing beauty, health, and wellness company. The VP of R&D will be responsible for overseeing the molecular design, formulation, development, and enhancement of ingredients for personal care products that align with the company’s vision for safe, sustainable, and effective products. This individual will spearhead our research, innovation, product, and process development strategies to ensure that our unique products meet the highest standards of quality, safety, sustainability, and efficacy.