About Estée Lauder Companies
The Estée Lauder Companies is a global leader in prestige beauty, founded in 1946 by Estée and Joseph Lauder and built on an enduring belief in creativity, high-touch service, and entrepreneurial spirit. As an employer, the Group offers talent the scale of an international house with the energy of distinctive brands across skincare, makeup, fragrance, and hair care. Its culture values innovation, inclusion, learning, and responsible growth, inviting professionals to shape consumer experiences from laboratory to counter, digital platform to boardroom. Employees join a purpose-led organization where heritage, artistry, and scientific excellence meet to define the future of luxury beauty.
The Director of Makeup Formulation will lead a specialized formulation team in developing innovative solutions for lip makeup and strategic platform establishment. This role requires anticipating market trends, building organizational capability, and guiding scientific approaches to formulation and assessment. The successful candidate will coordinate cross-functional activities and ensure Research & Innovation accountability across the product development lifecycle, from laboratory bench to pilot plant to factory production.
Role & Responsibilities
- Lead and deliver complex formulation projects aligned with business strategy and product calendars
- Identify and develop short and mid-term lip category strategy and innovation pipeline
- Build and develop organizational talent, fostering a learning-focused culture
- Provide strategic direction in color makeup formulation, particularly anhydrous and emulsion systems for liquid lip and lipstick categories
- Drive scientific methodology development, including new testing and technical characterization approaches
- Translate consumer insights into creative and stable formulations while anticipating landscape shifts
- Assess current R&D organizational structure to identify efficiency improvements and enhanced ways of working
- Coach, mentor, and manage direct reports while building collaborative relationships across senior leadership
- Coordinate cross-functional stakeholder activities and ensure transparency on key issues and solutions
Qualifications
- Undergraduate degree required; MBA and/or advanced scientific degree (Master's, PhD) preferred
- Minimum 10 years of R&D formulation development experience; lip category experience strongly preferred
- Demonstrated expertise in managing multiple simultaneous projects and team members in dynamic environments
- Extensive experience aligning stakeholders, facilitating conflict resolution, and communicating complex information effectively across varying forum types
Skills
Experience
Minimum 10 years of Research & Development formulation development experience in the cosmetics or color makeup industry, with demonstrated success managing complex formulation projects and leading technical teams.
Education
Undergraduate degree required; Master's degree, PhD, or MBA in chemistry, cosmetic science, chemical engineering, or related scientific discipline strongly preferred.
Workplace
This position is based in Melville, New York, USA, within easy reach of New York.
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Compensation
The base compensation for this position ranges from USD 140,000 to USD 190,000 per annum.
Benefits
Health insurance coverage (medical, dental, and vision), wellness and family support programs, life and disability insurance, retirement savings plans, education-related programs, paid holidays and vacation time, competitive incentive compensation programs.
Culture
The Estée Lauder Companies fosters a collaborative, inclusive workplace where creativity, entrepreneurial thinking, and a passion for prestige beauty are deeply valued. As a global house of distinctive brands, it offers employees an environment that encourages innovation, professional growth, and a shared commitment to excellence and consumer inspiration.
About Cerulean
Cerulean is the definitive career portal for the global luxury industry. We match exceptional professionals with exclusive opportunities at the world's most prestigious brands. From haute couture and fine watchmaking to prestige beauty, hospitality, and boutique retail, Cerulean centralises luxury employment to help you find the career for which you were destined.
Frequently Asked Questions
The luxury industry is characterised by a diverse and nuanced nomenclature. Esteemed houses frequently employ proprietary terminology, and even within a single organisation like Estée Lauder Companies, titles may vary across global markets to reflect local conventions. To ensure absolute clarity, Cerulean assigns a standardised, industry-coherent canonical title to every listing. However, it is worth noting that this role is functionally synonymous with «Director of Lip Formulation», «Head of Makeup R&D», «Senior Formulation Director», «Principal Makeup Scientist», and other variations. Our sophisticated search architecture anticipates these variations, ensuring that inquiries using related terms will seamlessly yield the exact roles you desire.