Our client, Suave Brands, is looking for a Scientist in R&D to join their team for a full-time, 12-month contract position. Ideally this would be a hybrid role in Hackensack, New Jersey area and can also be fully remote with travel for meetings, etc. as needed.

Position Summary

The Scientist will support the technical transfer of a broad range of Suave consumer products such as hair care, body care, and deodorant categories from a manufacturability and formulation standpoint. The Scientist will collaborate cross-functionally with Operations, Marketing, Quality Assurance, and Research and Development (R&D) to ensure successful launches at External Manufacturer(EM) sites. The scope of work will include: process development/process scale-up in collaboration with EMs, product/process specification development, reformulations, formula and process troubleshooting and process validation. The Scientist will execute the technical aspects of projects, interact with EM formulation labs and process engineers and/or lead cross-functional teams to product transfers. The successful candidate will work independently to drive technical resolutions in manufacturing and troubleshoot product issues under aggressive and sometimes compressed timelines.

Primary Responsibilities

• In partnership with EM sites, design, optimize, and implement manufacturing and filling processes across a variety of product forms.
• Support the transfer of production from previous Suave sites to new EMs.
• Troubleshoot issues in production with EMs, as needed.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives for efficiency and cost savings purposes.
• Track the performance of EM sites capability to anticipate and prevent future non-conformances.
• Maintain partnerships with EM sites in combination with the Quality & Regulatory Director.
• Draft and execute peer reviewed manuscripts, tech reports.

Required Qualifications

• 2 years minimum of proven experience with BS or higher preferably in consumer goods, or cosmetics. A degree in an engineering discipline or chemistry is required.
• Understand formulation technology and chemical science.
• Process development/process scale-up experience.
• Understanding of GxPs and FDA Compliance requirements.
• Excellent communication skills, including spoken and written English.
• Ability to travel International and Domestic up to 30%.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with consumer products, such as skin care, skin cleansers, hair care, baby care and/or deodorant products is highly preferred.
• Experience working with external manufacturing and technical project management.
• Experience in formulation / product / process development in the Cosmetic or Drug regulatory classifications.
• Knowledge of the key process design options for liquids (i.e. batch, semi-continuous, continuous).
• Previous experience in troubleshooting manufacturing issues is also highly desired.
• Experience working in a plant environment OR with external manufacturing is a plus.
• The ability to work cross-functionally in a team environment while being an individual contributor is required.