Title: Director- Product Development

Brand: NYX Professional Makeup

Location: El Segundo, CA

Brand Overview:

NYX Professional Makeup is a modern, digitally native makeup brand on the forefront of today's emerging beauty trends. A leader in the global color cosmetics industry, NYX Professional Makeup is an affordable professional makeup line with every shade, color and tool needed to create makeup artistry at every level.

Job Overview:

The Director, Product Development is not just a product junkie but also has a strong, well-developed eye for color, aesthetics, trends and culture. This role manages 1-2 direct reports and is responsible for strategically developing and managing all Category product development for new launches, existing product extensions and as needed, limited edition partnership projects as well.

The ideal candidate is great at high level critical thinking, strategic problem solving with foresight to minimize roadblocks and risk de-escalation to ensure the most creative breakthrough launches.

As the Category Lead, you are on the pulse and ready to discuss topline launch information across all category projects and are knowledgeable on category portfolio with 360 understanding top sellers, key pillars, declining opportunities, etc. Category lead should have a strong relationship and maintain constant contact Marketing counterpart and establish chain of communication before Head of PD looped in. You will mentor PD managers during product development process and be the first step/go-to in story telling, product concept building, problem solving and category management.

Focusing on ensuring products are timely, viable and are operationally flawless, the Category Lead is a key stakeholder for ensuring PD’s KPIs are clear with a major emphasis on anticipating upcoming milestones and troubleshooting possible roadblocks. The Category Lead is also responsible for driving their direct reports to deliver their projects on time with high quality and as close to Marketing conception as possible.

Key responsibilities are:

End to end product new product development process

• Manages and orchestrates the end-to-end product development process by collaborating with all departments involved to ensure operational excellence, both for new products and changes to existing products
• Oversees the overall costing process and seasonal milestones for category from kickoff to end of each season’s launches, troubleshooting with the AVP, PD where key issues arise
• Manages ways of working and processes with the Development and Operations team, ensuring communication and collaboration are top notch
• Key point of contact for current panier issues and day to day with Ops team, flagging up key issues and troubleshooting/decision making with AVP where relevant

Category Lead

• Partners with AVP PD to find new innovations, formulas, technologies on future developments
• Partners with Marketing on strategy and concept Ideation
• Create key relationships with vendors to scout new innovations, new technologies and new cost efficiencies/savings
• 360 view on current launches, active portfolio, old disco’d SKUs and future of category
• Leads comprehensive analysis on both category and segments to determine overall product/shade trends and white space opportunities
• Drives vendor relationships to identify new product/package opportunities as well as emerging techniques and usage patterns that can be applied to new/restage products
• Be on the pulse of ingredients specifically category related
• Help PD managers finesse and build relationships with cross functional partners
• Present category launch plans to management, retailers and internal stakeholders

Presentations / Industry Meetings

• Attend some of the key industry meetings / events / shows as needed
• Own recurring meetings like Lab Fiche

Internal stakeholder management

• Responsible for ensuring smooth ways of working between Operational & PD team (Dev, Packaging, Supply Chain) setting a clear vision for ways of working with Ops leaders, and ensuring same KPIs and timings are at the heart
• Troubleshooting cross-functionally on priority/high-risk projects, ensuring all team members have a clear plan of action to resolve.

Job Requirements:

• 8+ years of related business experience
• In depth knowledge of:
• Technical understanding of formulas and shades
• Product development process
• Product portfolios/options within Category
• Consumer package goods or beauty industry experience is preferred
• Collaborative leadership skills
• Project Management Skills
• Prioritization & Organization Skills
• Strong Interpersonal Skills (written and oral)
• Demonstrated L’Oréal Competencies: Leadership, Entrepreneurial Management, Achiever, and Innovator
• Strong appreciation for our business / sensitivity to métier

Salary Range: 130k-175k base salary + bonus