Associate Scientist - Technical Products Research

ELC Beauty LLC•Town of Huntington, NY

50d•$70,000 - $80,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is a global leader in beauty products, seeking an Associate Scientist for their Technical Products Research group within Global R&I. This role is crucial for delivering new and improved products by deeply understanding consumer needs and translating them into product design features, technologies, and claims. The scientist will work across categories on upstream research projects, collaborating with Advanced Technologies, Formulation, Packaging, and Processing innovation partners. A key aspect of the role is acting as the 'voice of the consumer' to guide technology innovation teams on the opportunities and implications of their technical choices. The position involves defining targets and acceptable ranges for product and packaging performance, as well as consumer models that link innovation to desired consumer benefits and experiences.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Anthropology, Consumer/Sensory Science, or other related field of study.
Demonstrates Learning Agility, Strives For Excellence & Follow Through, Embraces and Initiates Change, Builds Collaborative Relationships.
High desire to learn, highly motivated.
Understanding of the scientific method/mentality to problem-solving.
Displayed use of the scientific method, leveraging multiple sources of information, to improve a product, experience, or process in a past internship or undergraduate research.
Previous experience designing, conducting, and analyzing consumer research to uncover and translate consumer beliefs, needs, & desires into critical design features and products.
Demonstrated interest in understanding consumer/people thoughts, needs, desires, and how that impacts their choices, preferences, etc. (e.g., capstone project or other work).

Responsibilities

Helping to deliver new and/or improved products through in-depth consumer understanding, uncovering and translating consumer beliefs, needs, and desires into critical product design features and technologies, experiential cues, and claims.
Defining targets and acceptable ranges for performance (product & pack) and consumer models that directly link innovation choices to consumer desired benefits and experiences.
Working across categories on platform and upstream research projects, collaborating with Advanced Technologies, Formulation, Packaging, and Processing innovation partners.
Being the voice of the consumer to help guide and inform the technology innovation teams on opportunities and implications of technical choices.
Uncovering and translating consumer beliefs, needs, and desires into critical functional benefits, design features, experiential signals, and consumer claims for upstream unbranded technologies and projects.
Determining critical technical attributes and driving innovation distinctiveness.
Ensuring holistic technical design, encompassing products, packaging/devices, and regimens.
Developing technical benefit statements and core claim spaces for technologies.
Planning and executing own work with manager support, supporting projects, delivering reliably and punctually, ensuring quality content, and sharing learnings.
Building category understanding of ELC products, packages/devices, using technical knowledge to generate and analyze data, and recognizing/flagging unexpected learnings.
Becoming competent in standard operating procedures and methodologies used within the department.
Supporting consumer model development and consumer performance targets and specifications.
Onboarding and developing technical skills in consumer understanding, learning core consumer research and analysis techniques.
Role-modeling collaboration and the power of the team.
Practicing an abundance mentality, being generous in sharing praise and credit.
Proactive participation in Corporate & Global R&I (including safety and quality) programs that drive organizational capability and individual growth.