Senior Scientist Skin Care Product Formulation

About the Role

Under limited guidance, responsible for creating unique skin and color cosmetic formulations that deliver on specific benefits and market-driven needs. Leverage knowledge of the scientific principles of formulation, ingredient chemistry, and industry trends to conduct all facets of product development.

Responsibilities

• Apply strong understanding of skin care and personal care formulation chemistry, raw materials, processing parameters, and equipment design to optimize product performance and manufacturability.
• Serve as a subject matter expert in skincare, sun care, and SPF/OTC formulations, with the ability to deep dive into complex technical challenges.
• Provide hands-on formulation support, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis during product development, and scale-up.
• Lead and contribute to special technical projects, leveraging creativity and scientific insight to drive innovation.
• Ensure technical rigor and best practices are applied throughout the Product Development lifecycle.
• Interpret project requirements and translate them into technically sound, scalable, and compliant formulations.
• Partner cross-functionally with internal and external project partners to ensure seamless product execution.
• Support scale-up, technology transfer, and manufacturing readiness for new and existing products.
• Provide technical mentorship and day-to-day guidance to junior and mid-level scientists, supporting skill development and scientific decision-making.
• Foster a collaborative laboratory environment focused on learning, problem-solving, and continuous improvement.
• Support prioritization of work and effective use of laboratory resources to meet business timelines and objectives.
• Act as a technical role model, promoting scientific excellence and accountability.
• Drive innovation in formulations, workflows, and development processes.
• Identify opportunities for process optimization and operational efficiency in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Stay current on industry trends, raw materials, formulation technologies, cost considerations, and consumer/retail insights.
• Lead and model proactive problem-solving with a sense of urgency and ownership.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree with 10+ years of experience or Master’s degree with 6+ years of experience in cosmetics, personal care, and/or OTC product development. Degree in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

Skills

• Extensive hands-on experience formulating skincare, body care, personal care and SPF products.
• Demonstrated experience supporting scale-up environment.
• Strong working knowledge of FDA regulations and Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) and Good Laboratory Practices (cGLP).
• Advanced understanding of formulation science, raw materials, processing, and stability.
• Proven troubleshooting, analytical, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Proven written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across functions.
• Strong mentoring skills.