Estée Lauder Companies Vice President, Packaging Operations Excellence, Stretch and Upstream Innovation
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 Estée Lauder Companies seeks a seasoned Vice President to lead the transformation of Packaging into a highly competitive strategic asset across its portfolio of prestige beauty brands. This executive role encompasses corporate packaging operations excellence, disruptive innovation pipelines, sustainable material science advancement, and global work process digitalization. The successful candidate will establish a center of excellence, develop packaging platforms across categories and regions, build external technology partnerships, and accelerate the delivery of new product launches through world-class operational systems.
Role & Responsibilities
- Lead corporate packaging operations and testing across global footprint (US, EU, Asia) to support best-in-class new product launches, including establishment of testing methodologies, risk discovery practices, and development of advanced testing methods
- Establish and direct the ELC Packaging Center of Excellence Hub in New York, design the EU Operating Excellence ecosystem, and implement standardized operating excellence models across global operations
- Drive technical design, modelling, and simulation capabilities to enhance predictive modelling and support scientific advancement in the new product launch process
- Lead supplier technical excellence in partnership with Global Supply Management and Vendor Relationship Operations, auditing technical competencies and implementing improvement plans
- Manage and govern the Packaging Operations Excellence group operating budget and ensure day-to-day governance of all assigned functions
- Establish packaging platforms strategy for global operations and ensure execution excellence through category platform teams
- Explore and establish high-performing external innovation ecosystems and technology partnerships enabling ELC's strategic innovation and growth agenda, including technology pilots with clear success criteria
- Lead technology discovery initiatives serving ELC's largest growth opportunity spaces in coordination with R&D and Global Supply Management
- Lead material science innovation to unlock key material challenges and discover novel sustainable material solutions for global packaging initiatives
- Own packaging intellectual property strategy, developing internal and external capabilities to create, capture, and protect proprietary innovations
- Connect with APAC innovation ecosystems through the Shanghai Packaging team and coordinate regional innovation efforts
- Own and drive continuous improvement of packaging work processes in partnership with category leadership, ensuring delivery excellence and simplification for all ecosystem participants
- Coordinate packaging learning and development programs to build shared ways of working and increase technical and operational competency
- Lead packaging digital strategy, product lifecycle management design and integration, and digital transformation initiatives including accelerated artificial intelligence impact
- Lead and direct packaging assets integration for new brand acquisitions, supporting capability builds as required by integration requirements and destination brand operating models
- Support the Global SVP of Packaging with portfolio activity management and efficiency tracking
Qualifications
- Minimum 15 years of experience in cosmetic and/or CPG package development, including skincare, haircare, personal care, home care, consumer health care, food and beverage, or equivalent sectors
- Minimum Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Packaging Science, or related technical discipline
- Proven track record leading successful packaging operations within FMCG and/or large-scale beauty organizations with multi-site, multi-category, and high-complexity environments
- Demonstrated experience leading successful innovation pipelines from concept through industrialization, including stage-gate governance, scale-up, and change management
- Established expertise in end-to-end packaging operations, quality systems, validation, and continuous improvement methodologies
- Deep technical knowledge of packaging materials, formats, componentry, decoration, filling and assembly processes, and process capabilities
- Proven ability to build and operate external innovation ecosystems including suppliers, start-ups, academic institutions, and industry consortia
- Experience building new organizational capabilities and/or establishing new research and development hubs
- Proven delivery of sustainability innovations at scale, including material transitions, lightweighting, refill and reuse systems, recyclability improvements, and Extended Producer Responsibility readiness
- Senior leadership experience with demonstrated success building and directing high-performing, cross-functional teams across global geographies
Skills
Experience
15+ years of experience in cosmetic and/or CPG package development, preferably in prestige beauty or premium personal care. Proven success leading complex, multi-site, multi-category packaging operations. Track record of launching and scaling innovation initiatives from concept through mass production. Experience building external technology partnerships and innovation ecosystems. Demonstrated ability to drive organizational transformation through systems redesign, capability development, and technology entrepreneurship.
Education
Minimum Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Packaging Science, or related technical discipline. Master's degree in business, business management, engineering management, or related field is a plus. IOPP (Institute of Packaging Professionals) certification is desirable.
Workplace
The successful candidate will be located in New York, New York, USA.
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Compensation
The base compensation for this position ranges from USD 285,550 to USD 486,100 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; highly competitive incentive compensation programs; commission/bonus plan eligibility (based on role and plan guidelines).
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 «VP of Packaging Operations and Innovation», «Senior Vice President, Packaging Technology and Operations», «Head of Packaging Operations Excellence», «Vice President, Packaging Innovation and Global Operations», «Executive Director, Packaging Operations and Technology», and other variations. Our sophisticated search architecture anticipates these variations, ensuring that inquiries using related terms will seamlessly yield the exact roles you desire.