Product Development Director

DIME Beauty Co LLC•Manhattan Beach, CA

28d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Product Development Director supports and operationalizes the product strategy and long-term innovation roadmap defined by the Chief Brand Officer. While the CBO owns the overall product vision, category direction, and multi-year roadmap, the PD Director translates this vision into an executable development strategy—leading formula direction, technical feasibility, supplier partnerships, claims strategy, and the cross-functional execution required to deliver best-in-class products.

Requirements

Proven leadership of cross-functional programs and external vendors.
Strong strategic thinking, negotiation, and margin management skills.
Ability to balance long-term vision with operational reality.

Nice To Haves

Experience in both skincare and fragrance development, preferred.
Hands-on experience developing skincare or fragrance products for brands with clean ingredient philosophies, sensitive-skin standards, or no-list formulation requirements, preferred.
Deep technical knowledge of formulas, raw materials, claims, and regulatory considerations.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain a 24–36 month product pipeline aligned to brand strategy, financial targets, and whitespace opportunity.
Translate brand DNA and audience insights into product concepts and innovation opportunities.
Partner with CBO to define hero strategy, portfolio architecture, and category expansion.
Conduct competitive deep dives, trend analysis, and ingredient innovation scouting.
Drive formula direction with contract manufacturers, ensuring alignment with brand standards, performance requirements, and the product vision set by executive leadership.
Partner with Brand teams to shape claims strategy, testing roadmaps, and substantiation plans that support brand positioning and long-term innovation goals.
Evaluate and guide all sample rounds, including texture, finish, absorption, fragrance accords, aroma intensity, dry-down, longevity, and overall sensorial profile. Provide technical and strategic recommendations to external development partners (ex: labs, chemists, contract manufacturers) for iteration.
Lead cross-functional reviews of formula progression and sensorial direction; provide expertise to inform decisions while escalating key milestones and final approvals to the Chief Brand Officer, CEO, and Founders for alignment with brand vision and commercial objectives.
Ensure all formulas meet required benchmarks for efficacy, stability, safety, compliance, ingredient philosophy, and competitive differentiation.
Build and maintain relationships with CMOs, fragrance houses, packaging partners, and raw material suppliers.
Negotiate costings, lead times, MOQs, and exclusivity opportunities.
Implement vendor scorecarding and performance reviews.
Build and maintain strategic relationships with contract manufacturers (CMOs), fragrance houses, packaging partners, and raw material suppliers across skincare, body care, and fragrance to support DIME’s product innovation goals.
Lead technical and strategic discussions with vendors including formulation advancement, ingredient innovation, packaging feasibility, sustainability options, “clean” formulation requirements, and category-specific performance needs.
Negotiate costings, MOQs, lead times, testing requirements, and exclusivity opportunities in partnership with executive leadership team, ensuring alignment with brand objectives and target margins.
Develop vendor scorecarding, performance tracking, and capability assessments to ensure partners consistently meet quality, innovation, compliance, and responsiveness standards.
Partner closely with Supply Chain/Operations to align on forecasts, capacity planning, production schedules, and operational constraints while maintaining ownership of technical feasibility, formula direction, and supplier innovation opportunities.
Collaborate with Operations on final contract terms, production pricing, and supply continuity while retaining PD oversight of formula integrity, fragrance briefs, raw material specification control, and packaging technical validation.
Identify potential new vendor partners, fragrance houses, raw material innovations, and packaging technologies to support long-term product pipeline development and elevate brand competitiveness.
Own COGs strategy, margin targets, and cost optimization across the PD pipeline.
Partner with operations on forecasts, inventory needs, and risk mitigation.
Ensure all launches meet margin and cost requirements prior to gate approval.
Partner with Finance, Operations, and the Chief Brand Officer to support annual budget planning for product development, including R&D expenses, testing, sampling, packaging prototypes, and vendor fees.
Collaborate closely with Product Marketing, Creative, Regulatory, and Operations to move products from concept to launch.
Lead PD reviews, milestone meetings, and executive gate approvals.
Provide technical guidance and product expertise across the organization.
Build scalable processes, documentation systems, and operating standards.
Foster a culture of proactive problem solving, clarity, and excellence.
Completes assigned training on time.
Other duties as assigned.