Senior Director, Packaging Engineer & Innovation

Patrick Ta Beauty•West Hollywood, CA

2d•$17,000 - $20,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Patrick Ta Beauty is seeking a visionary and commercially grounded Senior Director of Package Engineering & Package Innovation to join their team and shape the physical identity of the brand. This role offers the opportunity to own the end-to-end packaging function at a fast-scaling brand that maintains its luxury DNA. The ideal candidate will be adept at both conceptualizing next-generation packaging and resolving technical challenges. This position will act as a liaison between the Founders, Product Development team, and global suppliers, ensuring all packaging is beautiful, functional, and durable. The role requires a minimum of three days per week in the Los Angeles corporate office, with domestic and international travel also necessary.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive experience in packaging engineering, development, or innovation within cosmetics, beauty, or luxury consumer goods.
Deep expertise in color cosmetics packaging — including color, eye, face, and lip categories — with a sophisticated understanding of what defines luxury in this space.
Proven mastery of complex tooling development and manufacturing processes for plastic, glass, metal, and specialty materials.
Expertise in decoration processes including hot stamp, screen print, electroplating, vac metallizing, specialty coatings, and premium finishes.
Demonstrated track record of leading both long-horizon innovation projects and high-velocity day-to-day development with equal effectiveness.
Established relationships with top-tier global packaging suppliers, particularly in Asia (China, Vietnam, South Korea) and Europe.
Proven ability to work directly with brand founders or senior creative leadership, translating vision into product reality.
Strong project management skills with the ability to juggle multiple complex programs simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally to supplier facilities as needed.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a high-growth indie or luxury beauty brand environment strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead blue sky innovation initiatives, identifying emerging packaging materials, formats, and finishes that align with the brand's luxury positioning and sustainability ambitions.
Build and maintain a forward-looking innovation pipeline that anticipates category trends and elevates the brand's competitive edge.
Partner directly with the Founders to translate their creative vision into manufacturable, market-ready packaging solutions.
Champion a culture of curiosity and experimentation within the packaging function.
Own the full packaging development lifecycle — from concept and tooling through production and launch — across all color cosmetic and beauty categories.
Manage complex tooling development with precision, including injection-molded components, custom compacts, brushes, applicators, specialty closures and soft goods.
Oversee decoration development including hot stamping, UV printing, lacquering, electroplating, embossing, and other luxury surface treatments.
Ensure all packaging meets functional, aesthetic, and regulatory requirements across domestic and international markets.
Drive timelines with urgency and accountability to support a fast-moving product launch calendar.
Cultivate and manage a global network of strategic packaging suppliers, with travel to key partners domestically and internationally (Asia, Europe, and beyond).
Negotiate with suppliers on tooling investment, lead times, capacity, and quality standards.
Serve as the primary packaging liaison to Product Development, Creative, Operations, and Finance.
Build collaborative, trust-based relationships with founders and internal stakeholders, translating creative briefs into feasible packaging specifications.
Lead, mentor, and develop a packaging engineering team, fostering a high-performance culture rooted in precision and creativity.
Establish and refine internal packaging processes, workflows, and best practices to support the brand's growth trajectory.
Build systems for tracking tooling assets, development status, and supplier performance across a growing SKU portfolio.