Formulation Scientist

Summary Description

As a Formulation Scientist, you will be responsible for developing innovative skin care products across new and existing categories, ensuring they meet marketing specifications, cost, and manufacturing parameters. You will work cross-functionally to bring these products to market, leveraging consumer-centered innovation in their development.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leveraging consumer and competitive insights to drive innovation and new value creation for our consumers through hardworking skin care and products
• Leading and executing projects, including hands-on formulation, testing (both formulation, consumer, and clinical), documentation, and supporting scale-up to manufacturing.
• Conducting and supporting consumer research.
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams on packaging development, testing personal care products, verifying claims, upscaling, and pilot batching.
• Working with Regulatory team to ensure global/regional regulatory compliance

You will collaborate frequently with multiple functions within the O’Keeffe’s Brand and the Gorilla Glue Company, as well as with external suppliers and customers. Additionally, you will mentor and potentially manage a junior scientist / engineer, or technician, helping to develop their technical skills and ability to embody the Gorilla Way.

What's in it for you?

Thanks to our commitment to creating a supportive and engaged workplace culture, Gorilla Glue has been recognized as a top place to work for 16 years in a row. We offer competitive compensation packages, comprehensive healthcare benefits, and other perks and incentives to ensure our employees feel valued and supported.

Joining the Gorilla Glue family means being part of a team passionate about building strong brands and promoting a culture of excellence. As an employee, you'll be able to help create high-quality products and build brands that people love. Join us in an inspiring workplace where you can belong, grow, and make a difference!

What will your day look like?

• Develop and test new and improved skin care products across various categories.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Packaging Development, Process Development, Quality, and Regulatory teams to ensure product and raw material specifications meet performance, stability, manufacturability, and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Manage project team communication, updating team members on progress, milestones, critical next steps, and any risks as the products proceed through the development cycle.
• Stay current with recent developments, innovations, and technologies that may enhance products and manufacturing processes.
• Design formulations intended to meet desired claims, collaborating with the claims team to support claims substantiation.
• Communicate with ingredient suppliers and stay updated on new raw materials, innovative products, and testing procedures.
• Possibly manage an individual (junior scientist/engineer/technician) to support formulation and testing efforts.
• Serve as a technical mentor & provide guidance and coaching to other associates in the formulation development team, R&D department, and other technical functions.
• Provide internal training and sales support, including demo creation and attending strategic customer meetings.
• Embrace and effectively utilize AI-enabled tools and technologies to enhance productivity, innovation, learning, and decision-making, while maintaining accountability for the quality and accuracy of all work products.
• Maintain a clean and safe work environment.

What you bring to the table:

Education:

• B.A./B.S./M.S. in Chemistry, Cosmetic Science, or a related field with at least 5-7 years of relevant experience. An advanced degree is preferred.

Specific Skills:

• 5-10 years of experience as an R&D formulator, with a strong knowledge base of chemistries and formulation methods in the areas of personal care, including lab bench to pilot to production scale.
• Responsible for pre- and post-trial testing to ensure the product(s) meet performance, stability, and consumer expectations, and will not derail the commercialization of the product. Provide technical formulation leadership for product trials.
• Develop new test methods that will accelerate product performance results.
• Experience in the testing of personal care products to assess performance and stability targets.
• Understand manufacturing processes and protocols.
• Drive innovation by implementing new ideas and screening new technologies.
• Solve problems through the application of appropriate scientific, experimental, and statistical methods.
• Demonstrate the ability to lead job-specific aspects of multiple projects, work cross-functionally with a project team, and/or directly supervise the work of other associates.
• Develop test protocols for new formulations to be executed with the help of laboratory personnel. Oversight of analytical testing and identification of third-party labs as needed.
• Develop expertise by attending applicable conferences, building a supplier network, and performing research through literature or other means to stay current with new developments.
• Develop expertise in existing O’Keeffe’s Products, understanding performance tradeoffs, options for improvements, and competitive products.
• Design and conduct statistically sound experiments to examine technologies and products, generating scientific insights into their performance and physical/chemical characteristics.
• Establish and build relationships with suppliers, partners, and industry organizations to share company insights and strengthen technical/market leadership.
• Excellent oral and communication skills with the ability to summarize and present key pieces of work to project teams, upper management, and cross-functional partners with varied backgrounds
• Support monitoring of regulatory compliance changes, understanding the impact on O’Keeffe’s products, and providing recommendations for actions.
• Must be able to work independently and demonstrate effective initiative.
• Must possess excellent verbal and written communication skills as well as interpersonal skills.
• Should be goal-oriented, confident, outgoing, able to work well under pressure, and succeed within a competitive environment.
• Solid MS Office skills, including Outlook, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint; demonstrated curiosity and adaptability in adopting new technologies and ways of working.
• Strong knowledge of chemical and general safety in a lab and pilot facility environment.

Company Values:

Must adhere to The Gorilla Glue Company’s Core Values that ensure everyone works together to exceed expectations.

Have fun, be passionate and show it!

Act with integrity and respect in all relationships.

Communicate openly and appreciate the effort of others.

Embrace knowledge, growth, and change.

Strive for excellence in what we do every day!