Research & Development Manager

#MaesaMagic  

Maesa is the world's largest independent beauty incubator, housing numerous, fast growing "it" brands within all categories of beauty. We are a high growth global company in the middle of the transition from founder lead to private equity owned. With an incubation flywheel ideating on new global brand launches, Maesa pushes creative and technical boundaries to deliver exceptional performance and establish global staying power. Maesa has a keen focus on marketing and white space analysis, which guides its thinking on marketing existing brands as well as development of new brands through its extremely unique structure. We are vertically integrated globally with in-house marketing, branding, product development/formulation, packaging design/engineering and regulatory. With a focus on modernity and sustainability, we design innovative solutions and make proactive choices to achieve environmental neutrality and consumer wellness. Maesa has mastered "commercializing creativity," making itself a leader in the fundamental revolutionary change in the beauty industry. Headquartered in New York and Paris, with additional offices in Los Angeles, Vienna, Dubai, Hong Kong, and Dongguan, Maesa employs about 400 team members worldwide. 

The R&D Manager’s main responsibility is to lead the technical development of new formulas across several categories, with a focus on multiple brands in hair care. These products include cleansing, conditioning, and styling SKU’s in brands ranging from mass to prestige, including naturals formulations.

Partnering with our Innovation & Incubation team, the R&D Manager writes briefs for each innovation, then partners with outside manufacturing labs to ensure quality product that meets or exceeds industry standards.

This role will own the technical development, validation, scale up, and commercialization of all new product SKU’s.

The R&D Manager should have an extensive understanding of formula development, practical and extensive bench formulation experience, as well as an awareness of timelines, operations, and manufacturing.

The person will need to provide technical guidance and troubleshooting for batch and fill processes, both during lab development and production scale-up.

Responsibilities

• Lead formula development, while considering budgets and timing
• Partner with Innovation & Incubation to write the Product Development Brief, evaluate benchmark, and desired performance claims
• Serve as the primary contact with labs to initiate new briefs
• Directly own the formula development timeline: initiate requests, track submissions, evaluate samples, redirect labs when needed
• Partner with Regulatory to ensure formula compliance
• Directly own and track stability testing
• Oversee production batching process onsite as needed
• Take the lead on any reformulation needs & troubleshoot issues
• Provide technical support to Product Development from an overall branding perspective
• Keep abreast of latest manufacturing capabilities and material innovations, technology-driven raw materials and ingredients
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment; must be self-motivated and self-directed
• Strong organizational and communication skills, and the ability to work with a high degree of autonomy
• Strong timeline management skills, managing multiple projects simultaneously
• Must be willing to travel

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree – Chemistry, Engineering or related field of study
• 3-5 years of personal care formulation experience
• Strong communication skills and adept negotiating/influencing competencies
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment; must be self-motivated and self-directed
• Strong organizational and communication skills, and the ability to work with a high degree of autonomy
• Strength at timeline management, managing multiple projects simultaneously

What We Offer 

$105,000/yr - $115,000yr. Exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, and location. This position is eligible for participation in a discretionary bonus plan based on individual and company performance.

Maesa offers a variety of benefits to eligible employees. Employees can choose to enroll in health insurance coverage, wellness programs, life and disability insurance, and retirement savings plans. Through generous paid time off, a hybrid office setup, and paid leave options, Maesa encourages wellness and balance among employees.

Our Commitment to You 

At Maesa, we live by our values of collaboration, curiosity, game-changing, creativity, and discipline.  We believe our people and partners are a creative force that catalyzes the possibilities in beauty to break through traditional limits and discover the “new” without restriction. We prioritize creating and fostering a welcoming environment for employees, partners, ideas, approaches, and endeavors — all through a spirit of warmth and inclusivity. As set forth in Maesa’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law. 

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