What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Product Development Manager position at The Lip Bar?
The Opportunity:
We are looking for a senior product development manager who will spearhead product development. Our development needs span from D2C to retail channels across makeup and skincare categories.
This person will be responsible for delivering data supported innovation that is timely to market trends and consumer expectations. Understanding our brand narrative and how we can stand out in the market vs chasing trends will be key.
As the leader of product development and the voice of product within the company, this role is responsible for keeping a pulse on performance of evergreen products, perspective on assortment gaps within our current portfolio. You will partner with leadership to build a multicategory innovation strategy in accordance with the TLB brand and philosophy of affordable, easy to use, and inclusive.
Required Skills:
- Passion for beauty
- 3-4 years people relevant people management experience
- 5–8 years of developing beauty and skincare products, leading multiple projects from concept through launch.
- Perspective and experience developing beauty products
- Excel proficiency
- Presentation creation and confidence
- Experience balancing the doing and delegating in a fast pace, small team environment
End-to-End New Product Development:
- Lead the full development lifecycle for new products across makeup, skincare, and accessories—from concept and briefs through prototype, validation, and commercialization.
- Create detailed product briefs outlining target consumer, key benefits/claims, ingredient and technology direction, packaging system, quality standards, COGS targets, MSRP, and margin goals.
- Identify, negotiate with, and manage external partners including formulators and packaging suppliers.
- Oversee all product testing (stability, safety, compatibility, claims) in partnership with Regulatory to ensure compliance and approval.
- Deliver product launches on time and within budget while proactively managing risks and cross-functional dependencies.
Portfolio Ownership & SKU Lifecycle Management:
- Continuously evaluate existing products for performance, quality, consumer sentiment, competitive shifts, and regulatory updates.
- Lead reformulations and quality enhancements to uphold or improve efficacy, safety, and sensory attributes.
- Optimize COGS and margin through ingredient adjustments, process efficiencies, and packaging improvements without sacrificing quality, working with operations to understand how and when price breaks may apply.
- Update claims and packaging to maintain competitiveness and clarity; manage label, INCI, and regulatory revisions.
- Collaborate with Marketing and Sales on data-driven improvements and with Operations on supply continuity and cost management.
Cross-Functional Collaboration:
- Prepare and present to leadership with a beauty perspective, balancing forward thinking opportunities for the brand and our core customer base.
- Partner with Operations to ensure manufacturability, production readiness, and supplier risk mitigation.
- Work closely with Marketing and Creative to shape product positioning, claims hierarchy, copy, education and launch assets for DTC, in addition to retail brick & mortar and marketplace channels.
- Collaborate with Operations, Sales, and Finance on cost modeling, pricing scenarios, and unit economics decision-making
Performance Management & Optimization:
- Track and analyze post-launch KPIs across e-com and retail quarterly to report out to the team at large for evergreen products and new launches 6 months post launch to provide the development perspective and lead continuous product optimization.
- Monitor emerging trends in ingredients, component technologies with a keen eye on high ROI development opportunities.
You will succeed in this role if you:
- Have development experience across beauty categories
- Have the ability to manage up and across functions to lead product development effectively
- Are comfortable working in a fast-paced and energetic environment
- Understand the balance of developing and marketing product for retail and D2C sales channels
- Have a collaborative attitude with strong interdepartmental communication skills
Qualifications:
- Passionate about the beauty industry and the importance of inclusive storytelling and product offerings
- Experience managing at least two direct reports, references required
- Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects and communicating priorities and progress effectively to relevant stakeholders
- Strong prioritization and planning skills
- A team player, flexible and able to adapt to change
- Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills
- Ability to think both strategically and tactically with exceptional attention to detail