Director, Formulation Development (R&D)

Empower Pharmacy•Houston, TX

2h•Onsite

About The Position

Empower Pharmacy is a visionary healthcare company dedicated to making quality, affordable medication accessible to millions of patients nationwide. As the nation’s most advanced 503A compounding pharmacy and FDA-registered 503B outsourcing facility, we’re redefining what’s possible in personalized medicine and pharmaceutical manufacturing. We’re proud to be recognized as one of Houston’s fastest-growing private companies and ranked #116 in Healthcare & Medical on the Inc. 5000 List for 2025. Our strength is built on four core values: People, Quality, Service, and Innovation. Guided by these principles, we’ve created a uniquely integrated healthcare platform powered by advanced technology, operational excellence, and a relentless commitment to patient care. From manufacturing and quality control to distribution and customer experience, our teams work together to raise industry standards, expand access to critical medications, and improve outcomes for patients and providers across the country. At Empower, joining our team means more than starting a new role. It means becoming part of a mission-driven organization that’s transforming healthcare at scale. We invest deeply in our people, encourage bold thinking, and create opportunities for growth, leadership, and innovation at every level. Your ideas matter here, your development is supported, and the work you do has a direct impact on the lives of millions. If you thrive in a fast-moving, purpose-driven environment where innovation, collaboration, and ambition come together, Empower Pharmacy is the place for you. Let’s transform healthcare together.

Requirements

Deep hands-on expertise in 503A/503B formulation development, sterile injectables, nonsterile compounding, pharmaceutical bases, excipients, stability, scale-up, and technical transfer.
Strong formulation knowledge across HRT, GLP-1, weight management, peptides, longevity, sexual health, dermatology, wellness, and men’s and women’s health.
Advanced ability to design stability studies, interpret analytical results, troubleshoot formulations, and translate scientific findings into reproducible production processes.
Strong knowledge of USP standards, aseptic compounding, cGMP principles, technical documentation, and pharmaceutical development practices.
PharmD and active pharmacist license are strongly preferred.
8+ years of pharmacy, formulation development, or compounding experience with substantial 503A and/or 503B experience preferred.
Significant hands-on sterile injectable and nonsterile development experience, including stability, aseptic processing, scale-up, troubleshooting, and technical transfer.
Demonstrated experience personally taking compounded products from concept through formulation, testing, stability, production implementation, and launch.
Proven ability to independently solve complex formulation challenges and execute a high-volume development portfolio within a rapidly scaling compounding environment.
Customer Focus: Builds trust through customer-centric solutions.
Strategic AI: Guides responsible AI adoption and adaptation.
Optimizes Work Processes: Drives efficiency with continuous improvement.
Collaborates: Partners effectively to achieve shared goals.
Resourcefulness: Secures and deploys resources efficiently.
Manages Complexity: Simplifies and solves complex challenges.
Ensures Accountability: Delivers on commitments with integrity.
Situational Adaptability: Adjusts approach to shifting conditions.
Communicates Effectively: Tailors messages to diverse audiences.

Responsibilities

Personally develops sterile injectable and nonsterile formulations across Empower’s therapeutic areas, selecting APIs, excipients, concentrations, dosage forms, preparation methods, and packaging based on pharmaceutical science, stability, manufacturability, and commercial requirements.
Develops sterile injectables and resolves challenges involving solubility, compatibility, pH, osmolality, sterility, endotoxins, particulate matter, container closure integrity, and aseptic processing.
Improves existing formulations, stability, packaging, beyond-use dates, production efficiency, and material utilization while troubleshooting raw-material, excipient, analytical, packaging, and production challenges.
Designs accelerated and real-time stability programs, establishes testing requirements, evaluates trends, and translates results into formulation, packaging, and beyond-use-date decisions.
Evaluates assay, pH, osmolality, particulate matter, sterility, endotoxins, antimicrobial effectiveness, and container closure integrity while coordinating internal and external analytical testing.
Conducts formulation research, literature reviews, and excipient evaluations for new products, using AI selectively to accelerate research while validating conclusions through scientific judgment and experimentation.
Converts laboratory formulations into scalable production processes by establishing compounding methods, process parameters, equipment requirements, packaging configurations, specifications, and production instructions.
Transfers formulations into 503A and 503B operations, partnering with MSAT, Manufacturing, Quality, and Validation to resolve technical challenges and ensure repeatable production.
Personally advances products through feasibility, formulation, testing, stability, packaging, production implementation, and launch while prioritizing projects based on technical feasibility, market demand, and business impact.
Develops formulations consistent with applicable 503A/503B requirements, USP standards, sterile compounding expectations, cGMP principles, and Empower quality systems.
Creates accurate, traceable, and inspection-ready formulation records, protocols, specifications, technical reports, SOPs, development summaries, and transfer documentation.
Identifies and resolves formulation, sterility, stability, packaging, analytical, raw-material, and manufacturing risks through structured experimentation, root-cause investigation, and technical problem solving.
Translates provider demand, market opportunities, emerging therapies, and portfolio gaps into development opportunities across men’s health, women’s health, HRT, GLP-1, weight management, peptides, longevity, sexual health, dermatology, and wellness.
Works directly with Pharmacy, Production, Quality, Regulatory, MSAT, Analytical, Procurement, and Commercial teams to move formulations rapidly from concept into routine operations.
Serves as a hands-on formulation expert who personally solves complex development problems and drives projects through completion while providing technical guidance to colleagues.