Senior Director, Prestige Care & Styling R&D
Listed on 2026-10-20
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Management
Project & Program Management, BD Manager
Position Title: Senior Director, Prestige Care & Styling R&D
Location: NJ, US
Work Arrangement: Hybrid
Description:
Position Title:
Senior Director, Prestige Hair Care & Styling R&D
Location:
Morris Plains, New Jersey
Reports to:
Vice President, R&D Hair Care, Styling & Texturizing & Global Testing
Direct Reports: 4 direct with 9-12 on the team
Scope / Brands:
Global Nioxin, Global Sebastian, Global Briogeo
This position is based in Morris Plains, NJ; must be onsite at least 3 days per week
KEY RESPONSIBILITIESWella Company is seeking an exceptional Senior Director, Prestige Hair Care & Styling R&D to lead global innovation strategy, product development, and technical leadership across Nioxin, Sebastian, and Briogeo.
This role carries end-to-end accountability for shaping and delivering the global innovation agenda across three distinct prestige brands spanning scalp health, hair care, and styling. The successful candidate will own R&D strategy, portfolio direction, pipeline delivery, and commercialization while serving as a key business leader influencing brand growth, consumer relevance, and enterprise value creation.
This leader will translate deep consumer understanding, professional insights, emerging technologies, and market trends into differentiated innovation platforms and commercially successful products that strengthen brand equity and drive growth globally.
Success in this role requires a rare combination of technical depth, business acumen, consumer obsession, and leadership capability. The ideal candidate combines a proven track record of delivering innovation within a large global CPG organization with the ability to influence senior stakeholders, inspire teams, navigate complexity, and lead through ambiguity.
As Senior Director, Prestige Hair Care & Styling R&D, you will lead across five core areas of accountability
- Define and deliver global R&D strategy, innovation roadmaps, and end-to-end portfolio execution for Nioxin, Sebastian, and Briogeo.
- Lead technical development across formulation, packaging, claims, testing strategy, and commercialization readiness for innovation, base business, and lifecycle initiatives.
- Build, coach, and develop a high-performing organization of direct reports while serving as an influential culture and site leader across the broader Morris Plains and NY GTS R&D community.
- Act as a strategic thought partner to senior cross-functional leaders across Marketing, Commercial, Education, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, and external partners to shape portfolio decisions and business strategy.
- Establish and grow a world-class external innovation ecosystem that accelerates speed, capability building, and access to emerging technologies and partnerships.
- This individual will also have the potential to develop into the site and culture leader for the Morris Plains R&D and NY Global R&D Test Salon community, fostering an inclusive, high-performing environment that reflects Wella’s values and strengthens a One R&D culture across teams, locations, and functions.
Responsibilities also include:
Innovation Strategy & Portfolio Leadership- Define and execute multi-year innovation strategies and product roadmaps that drive growth, strengthen brand equity, and reinforce leadership positions within prestige hair care and styling.
- Anticipate evolving consumer and professional needs and translate insights into meaningful innovation opportunities, technologies, and experiences.
- Leverage consumer understanding, market trends, competitive intelligence, and scientific advancements to create differentiated pipelines with clear business impact.
- Partner closely with Marketing and Education to develop compelling science stories, claims strategies, demonstrations, and technical narratives that resonate with consumers, stylists, and customers.
- Lead end-to-end product development from concept through commercialization, ensuring exceptional product performance, quality, safety, manufacturability, and regulatory compliance.
- Provide clear technical leadership and decision-making across projects, balancing consumer desirability, technical feasibility, operational readiness, speed, and investment priorities.
- Build strategic relationships with suppliers, technology partners, contract manufacturers, startups, and academic institutions.
- Ensure strong governance across partnerships including intellectual property, compliance, quality, business continuity, and…
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