Product Development Associate - Lip

Our client, a global leader in the beauty industry, is partnering with Aquent Talent to find a passionate and innovative professional to join their dynamic team. This organization is renowned for its commitment to pioneering beauty solutions and setting industry standards, constantly pushing boundaries in product development to deliver exceptional quality and consumer satisfaction worldwide.

Step into a pivotal role as a Product Development Associate, where your passion for beauty will directly shape the future of color cosmetics, with a primary focus on the exciting and ever-evolving lip category. This is your chance to blend creativity with scientific rigor, bringing groundbreaking lip products from concept to commercialization. You'll be instrumental in identifying emerging trends, innovating textures, and ensuring inclusivity in shade development, directly impacting consumer experiences and setting new benchmarks in the beauty landscape.

What You'll Do

• Support the end-to-end development of new lip products, guiding them from initial concept through successful commercialization.
• Craft comprehensive technical and creative product development briefs for laboratory partners, detailing performance expectations, shade direction, benchmarks, and aesthetic objectives.
• Rigorously evaluate laboratory formula submissions across key attributes such as texture, payoff, wear, comfort, application, fragrance, and overall product performance.
• Provide precise and actionable feedback to internal and external laboratories to drive continuous formula improvements and product optimization.
• Lead shade development efforts by recommending precise adjustments to undertones, pigmentation, and color matching to ensure a broad and inclusive range of offerings for diverse skin tones.
• Maintain meticulous records of all formula submissions, revisions, approvals, and feedback throughout the entire development process.
• Coordinate and manage internal panel testing to gather critical insights on product performance, comfort, application, and consumer preference.
• Conduct ongoing competitive product benchmarking and comprehensive market research across the global beauty landscape to inform strategy.
• Actively monitor emerging beauty trends, viral products, social media conversations, and ingredient innovations to proactively identify future product opportunities.
• Present compelling trend reports, innovative color palettes, texture advancements, and competitive insights to Product Development and Marketing teams.
• Foster strong cross-functional collaboration with Packaging, Regulatory, Marketing, and Laboratory partners to ensure seamless and successful product launches.

Must-Have Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Cosmetology, Marketing, Business, or a related scientific or creative discipline.
• 2-4 years of hands-on experience in cosmetic product development.
• A strong understanding of color cosmetics and proven experience evaluating cosmetic formulas and product performance.
• Exceptional organizational skills, with the ability to effectively manage multiple product development projects simultaneously in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, enabling clear and concise interaction with diverse teams.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and the broader Microsoft Office Suite.
• Requires excellent visual color perception (successful completion of a color vision assessment may be required).

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Direct experience in the development of lip products.
• Experience within prestige beauty, cosmetics, or personal care brands.
• Previous beauty retail experience.
• In-depth knowledge of professional makeup artistry and color theory.
• Experience collaborating with cosmetic laboratories and contract manufacturers.

About Aquent Talent:

Aquent Talent connects the best talent in marketing, creative, and design with the world's biggest brands.

Our eligible talent get access to amazing benefits like subsidized health, vision, and dental plans, paid sick leave, and retirement plans with a match. We also offer free online training through Aquent Gymnasium. More information on our awesome benefits!

Aquent is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. We're about creating an inclusive environment-one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.