R&D Consultant, Formulation Process & Claims

Elida Beauty is a Global Personal Care Business. We proudly support and nurture our portfolio of iconic brands globally. Our ambition is to remix classic beauty brands for a new generation, making them even bigger beauty hits than they were the first time around, to drive accelerated growth and value creation. Driven by creativity and agility, we unleash the true potential of beloved brands, ‘Re-Founding’ them using a start-up mentality that always ‘finds a way’.

Elida Beauty is a part of the Yellow Wood Partners portfolio of companies, a private equity company that invests exclusively in the consumer industry.

Position Summary

The Formulation, Process and Claims Consultant will ensure flawless execution of new product innovations or enhancements, technical transfer of new products, and reformulations. This role requires expertise in liquid and cream formulations, process development, and claims substantiation. The consultant will partner closely with Packaging, R&D Operations, Supply Chain Marketing, and external suppliers. In addition to a strong understanding of the end-to-end process for finished goods production, this role calls for creativity and strong business acumen.

Primary Responsibilities

• Partner with Marketing and Packaging on developing new product innovations for 2026 and work with external suppliers on the briefing and prototyping stages of the project.
• Develop and execute the end-to-end product development operations via external suppliers and manufacturers to ensure high quality, reproducibility, and reliability for all categories withing the portfolio (i.e. lotions, creams, body washes, etc.).
• Identify data gaps and actions in existing product portfolio.
• Ensure robust documentation of product formulation, process, and corresponding claims data.
• Collaborate with Procurement in establishing raw material supplier strategic partnerships across different categories (i.e. critical raw materials, fragrances, etc.) to co-develop/tap into innovation based on supplier’s expertise.
• Partner with Procurement, Operations, and Quality in supplier selection, qualification, and onboarding processes to ensure the availability of high-quality, cost-effective packaging materials and services.
• Partner with procurement to secure project cost targets with raw material suppliers and external manufacturers.
• Design, optimize, and implement manufacturing and filling processes for liquid and cream products in partnership with external suppliers.
• Support the transfer of production to new external manufacturers.
• Troubleshoot issues in production and scale-up processes.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives for efficiency and cost savings.
• Track performance of manufacturing sites to anticipate and prevent non-conformances.
• Maintain partnerships with external sites in collaboration with Quality & Regulatory teams.
• Draft and execute peer-reviewed manuscripts and technical reports.

Required Qualifications

• 5-10 years of experience with BS or equivalent, 3-5 years with MS, preferably in consumer goods, cosmetics, or related field.
• Strong understanding of formulation technology and chemical science for liquids and creams.
• Knowledge of GxPs and FDA compliance requirements.
• Excellent communication skills, both spoken and written.
• Ability to partner effectively across diverse business partners and customers.
• Entrepreneurial mindset; hands-on and collaborative approach.
• Critical thinking and comprehensive business acumen.
• Ability to travel internationally and domestically up to 30%.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with consumer products such as skin care, cleansers and sun care.
• Experience in formulation, product, and process development under Cosmetic or Drug regulatory classifications.
• Knowledge of process design options for liquids (batch, semi-continuous, continuous).
• Process development and scale-up experience.
• Experience working with external manufacturing and technical project management.
• Experience generating, reviewing and organizing claims data in partnership with CROs.
• Hands-on experience with R&D formula and specification management systems.
• Experience managing large data sets including structured and unstructured data.

Personal Attributes

• Positive and energetic individual with strong business acumen and urgency to achieve results.
• Consumer-centric, creative, and design-oriented.
• Inquisitive, with a history of seeking and implementing best practices.
• Invokes trust, collaboration, shared accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Knows what excellence looks like and how to achieve it.
• Ability to develop and implement strategy with a high bias for execution.
• Demonstrated track record of problem solving, priority setting, and action orientation.

Diversity at Elida Beauty

Diversity at Elida Beauty is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities, and growing together for better business performance. We embrace diversity in our workforce. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.