Senior Director of Product Development

Phoenix Productions

Senior Director of Product Development steering product innovation at The Honest Company in Los Angeles. Leading R&D initiatives for baby and adult personal care categories.

Posted 7/10/2026full-timeLos Angeles • California • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $220,000 - $260,000 per yearWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Strategic Vision & Portfolio Leadership: Partner directly with Brand and Executive leadership to architect, cultivate, and champion the long-term innovation pipeline and overarching strategic vision for Honest Baby Personal Care, Adult Personal Care, and future adjacent categories.
End-to-End NPD Governance: Direct, optimize, and champion high-impact projects through the Honest NPD stage-gate process from initial concept to commercialized launch, ensuring flawless execution, superior quality, and strict adherence to corporate timelines.
Macro Product Concepting & Strategy: Direct in-depth global reviews of key categories, emerging macro trends, and the competitive landscape to define forward-looking product strategy. Lead and orchestrate cross-functional collaboration among key stakeholders—including formulation, packaging, Claims & Clinicals, brand marketing, and sales—to develop robust, highly differentiated product concepts with undeniable Points of Difference (PODs). Strategically weigh development trade-offs with an executive focus on organizational effort vs. long-term ROI.
Executive Technical Marketing: Serve as the authoritative internal expert on the product portfolio, providing critical technical insights to marketing communications, sales, and investor relations. Cultivate deep, collaborative relationships with R&D technical experts to translate complex ingredient science and clinical claims into powerful, consumer-facing narratives. Champion comprehensive product and brand education across all global consumer touchpoints.
Process & Systems Optimization: Establish, scale, and continually elevate front-end innovation processes, advanced tracking tools, and methodologies to streamline departmental functions, mitigate project complexity, and accelerate rapid prototyping.
Market Intelligence & Insight: Analyze global macro-category dynamics and clean ingredient trends, collaborating closely with consumer insights to draw high-level, actionable conclusions that future-proof product roadmaps.
Industry Representation: Represent The Honest Company as a thought leader at key trade shows and global conferences to spearhead strategic manufacturer and raw material supplier relationships, evaluate competitive landscapes, and maintain cutting-edge industry education.
Travel: Ability to travel up to 15%.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Education: Bachelor’s degree required; an advanced degree or Bachelor's in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Cosmetics Science, or a related technical field is highly preferred but not required.
Experience: 12+ years of progressive product development experience within a CPG Personal Care environment, paired with an authoritative, deep understanding of R&D operations. Direct formulation or laboratory experience is a distinct plus.
Leadership: Minimum of 6–8+ years of direct people management experience, with a proven track record of leading, mentoring, and influencing scale cross-functional teams and executive stakeholders across a matrixed organization.
Technical Expertise: Proven, expert-level mastery of product development, advanced sensory evaluation, clean beauty standards, and complex stage-gate operational processes.
Business Acumen: Demonstrated mastery in managing substantial departmental budgets, complex financial metrics, and high-volume, high-stakes project portfolios successfully.
Mindset: A powerful combination of creative problem-solving skills, sophisticated consumer-insight comprehension, and an agile aptitude for high-level strategic thinking in a fluid, fast-paced environment.
Soft Skills: Executive-level interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills. A highly collaborative leader possessing an unshakeable sense of ownership, accountability, urgency, and corporate integrity.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Comprehensive Health & Wellness 🏥: We’ve got you covered with top-tier health, dental, and vision plans to keep you and your family feeling great.
401k with Company Match 💰: Your future matters to us. We match your 401k contributions to help you secure a strong financial future.
Wellness & Fitness 💪: Stay healthy with a monthly fitness reimbursement and, for those in our Playa Vista office, an onsite gym to keep you active and energized.
Work-Life Balance ⚖️: We value your time. We provide a generous and flexible vacation policy to relax, recharge, and spend time on what matters most.
Family-Friendly Leave 👶: Growing your family? We offer generous maternity and paternity leave to support you during this exciting journey.
Ownership & Equity 💼: Ownership isn’t just a mindset here—it’s real. Every full time employee is granted equity, giving you a direct stake in our future. When we win, you win.
Education Reimbursement 🎓: We’re committed to your growth—whether it’s for professional development or a new passion, we offer education reimbursement to help you learn and level up.
Pet Insurance 🐾: We love your furry family members too! Our pet insurance ensures your pets are taken care of, because they’re part of the family.

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

Product DevelopmentAdvanced Sensory EvaluationStage-Gate ProcessFormulation ExperienceProject ManagementBudget ManagementMarket Intelligence AnalysisInnovation Pipeline DevelopmentTechnical MarketingConsumer-Facing Narrative Development

Soft Skills

Executive-Level CommunicationCollaborative LeadershipCreative Problem-SolvingAccountabilityPresentation Skills