Senior Director, Quality & Validation

John Paul Mitchell Systems • Santa Clarita, CA

2d • $190,000 - $200,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Reporting to the EVP, Legal & Business Affairs, the Senior Director, Quality & Validation owns quality control, consumer-perceived product quality, and performance validation across the product lifecycle. This role confirms that products meet defined consumer-performance standards before launch or reformulation and manages the launch and reformulation quality-approval process. It directs all consumer-performance and validation testing — including operation of the in-house test salon and the Product Innovation Center and commissions supporting consumer, clinical, and performance studies from R&D and external laboratories under defined service levels. This role leads the Quality and Validation function, uniting manufacturing quality control with consumer-performance validation under a single quality leader. The role partners closely with, the Regulatory Director, as well as R&D, Operations, Marketing, and Legal, translating validation findings into standards that inform product design and release.
This role is Hybrid and works 3 day a week from our Santa Clarita Office and there will be up to 20% travel.

Requirements

• Proven ability to lead a consumer-performance validation function, including setting acceptance criteria and managing the product quality-approval process
• Strong knowledge of consumer-performance, sensory, and claims-support testing methods for personal care or hair care products (e.g., half-head studies, home-use tests, trained panels)
• Working knowledge of cosmetic quality and laboratory standards (e.g., GLP, ISO 22716) and the U.S. and international context for product-performance and claims testing
• Experience commissioning studies from external CROs under service-level agreements
• Strong data-analysis, statistics, and root-cause problem-solving skills (e.g., CAPA, FMEA)
• Demonstrated people-leadership and cross-functional influence with Quality Control, R&D, Regulatory, Operations, Marketing, and Legal
• Excellent communication skills (verbal and written) and the ability to operate in a fast-paced environment
• Experience overseeing a Quality Control / QA function — batch release and GMP / ISO 22716 quality systems — in addition to consumer-performance validation
• Bachelor’s degree in Cosmetic Science, Chemistry, Biology, or a related scientific discipline required
• 8+ years in quality, product testing/validation, or R&D within cosmetics, personal care, or a comparable consumer-products industry, including people-leadership experience
• 5+ years people leadership/managing a team
• Demonstrated experience designing and interpreting consumer-performance, sensory, and/or claims-substantiation studies
• Track record building or leading quality/validation systems and managing cross-functional stakeholders

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with sensory-claim standards (e.g., ASTM sensory claim substantiation) and consumer-perception study design
• Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in a relevant scientific field preferred
• Experience in professional/salon hair care or prestige beauty product testing
• Previous experience using Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems (Optiva/Infor)

Responsibilities

• Oversee all quality control, assurance, and validation across all products
• Work with R&D on the product quality-approval process: partner on internal testing to define acceptance criteria and manage external testing for new products and reformulations prior to commercialization
• Direct external product testing and validation activity including consumer-performance, sensory and in-use evaluations
• Serve as the quality-by-design owner, embedding consumer-quality and performance requirements into product development before manufacturing begins
• Establish and maintain validation protocols, standards, and driver-aware acceptance criteria, including determining when regional testing is sufficient versus when global validation is required
• Commission and manage consumer, clinical, and performance studies from external laboratories under defined service-level agreements, ensuring scientific rigor and timeliness
• Oversee the Quality Control / Quality Assurance function, integrating manufacturing quality with consumer-performance validation and informing release decisions
• Partner with Regulatory on the boundary between product-performance validation and claims substantiation, routing marketing-claim testing appropriately
• Build, monitor, and report consumer-quality and validation KPIs (e.g., validation cycle time, first-time-right at launch, consumer-complaint trends) and lead related root-cause investigations and corrective actions
• Ensure testing and validation operations comply with applicable quality and laboratory standards and good practices (e.g., GLP, ISO 22716 where applicable)
• Lead, coach, and develop the Quality & Validation organization, including the Quality Control / QA team

Benefits

• medical, dental, vision, life, accident, critical illness, and disability insurance
• retirement savings plans and company match
• paid family leave
• education-related programs
• paid holidays
• discretionary vacation time

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director