Product Development Associate Jobs in Irvine, CA

POSITION: Associate Product Development Project Manager

DEPARTMENT: Product Development

REPORTS TO: Product Development Director

LOCATION: Corona, California / Hybrid

POSITION SUMMARY

The Product Development Project Manager is responsible for managing both new product development and existing product change initiatives across Developlus's hair color, remover, hair care, and styling portfolio. This role serves as the central project leader responsible for coordinating cross-functional activities from concept approval through commercialization while also managing product lifecycle changes after launch.

The position owns project execution, Engineering Change Request (ECR) coordination, packaging change management, stage-gate governance, and documentation control activities. The Project Manager ensures successful launches within established development timelines while maintaining alignment across Product Development, Marketing, Packaging, Regulatory, Quality, Operations, Purchasing, Supply Chain, Sales, and external manufacturing partners.

The ideal candidate has extensive beauty industry experience and understands the complexities of launching products into major retail channels including Ulta Beauty, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Amazon, and specialty beauty retailers. The successful candidate must possess strong project management skills, exceptional organizational abilities, and the ability to manage multiple new product launches and existing product updates simultaneously.

NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT

• Lead multiple new product development projects through the entire stage-gate process from concept through commercialization.
• Build and maintain detailed project timelines spanning 10–18 month development cycles.
• Establish critical milestones and ensure adherence to launch schedules.
• Monitor project progress and proactively address risks, delays, and resource constraints.
• Develop mitigation plans and contingency strategies for critical project risks.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, within budget, and aligned with brand objectives alongside PD Director.
• Support prioritization and management of the innovation pipeline across multiple brands and product categories.

ENGINEERING CHANGE REQUEST (ECR) MANAGEMENT

• Own the changes for the Engineering Change Request (ECR) process for product, packaging, formula, artwork, component, and supplier changes.
• Schedule, facilitate, and document ECR review meetings.
• Coordinate review and approval activities across all impacted departments.
• Track ECR status, approvals, implementation plans, and completion dates.
• Ensure approved changes are communicated and executed according to established procedures.
• Provide ECR status updates and escalation recommendations to leadership.

EXISTING PRODUCT & CHANGE MANAGEMENT

• Manage updates and revisions to existing products and packaging.
• Prioritize and coordinate existing product changes alongside new product development initiatives.
• Drive implementation of approved formula, packaging, artwork, supplier, specification, and process changes.
• Ensure all changes comply with stage-gate requirements and change-control procedures.
• Maintain visibility of all active product and packaging change initiatives.

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

• Coordinate activities across Product Development, Marketing, Packaging, Regulatory, Operations, Quality, Purchasing, and Sales.
• Lead weekly cross-functional project meetings and communicate project status updates to core team.
• Manage action items, deliverables, and accountability across all departments.
• Escalate issues and recommend solutions to the Director of Product Development.
• Foster collaboration, accountability, and project management best practices across cross-functional teams.

BEAUTY PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

• Support development of innovative beauty products across hair color, hair care, styling, and personal care categories.
• Coordinate formulation development, testing, stability programs, and product evaluations alongside the Product & Education Lead.
• Track product samples, approvals, and development revisions.
• Support competitive benchmarking and innovation pipeline initiatives.
• Proactively research, track, and analyze new product launches across the beauty market, identifying key trends, innovations, and competitive insights.
• Monitor emerging ingredient, formulation, packaging, and consumer trends to support innovation strategy.
• Attend supplier presentations, industry events, and trade shows as appropriate to identify new technologies and opportunities.

PACKAGING DEVELOPMENT & CHANGE CONTROL

• Manage packaging development timelines, artwork approvals, and component sourcing.
• Coordinate packaging readiness to support commercialization timelines.
• Ensure packaging components meet quality, regulatory, and retailer requirements.
• Partner with packaging suppliers to support component development, qualification, and timeline execution.

DOCUMENTATION CONTROL & PROJECT GOVERNANCE

• Coordinate documentation control activities associated with product and packaging changes.
• Ensure specifications, artwork files, BOMs, technical documents, and supporting records are reviewed, approved, and maintained.
• Maintain project documentation, meeting records, approval records, and change-control documentation.
• Partner with documentation control personnel to maintain revision history and document accuracy.
• Ensure accountability and ownership of projects after documentation release and approval.

COMMERCIALIZATION & LAUNCH READINESS

• Coordinate first production runs and launch preparation activities.
• Monitor inventory planning and launch execution milestones.
• Ensure all commercialization requirements are completed before launch.
• Partner with Operations, Supply Chain, and Purchasing to ensure manufacturing readiness and successful launch execution.

RETAIL & CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS

• Support retailer-specific launch requirements and milestone management.
• Coordinate timelines to meet customer presentation, line review, and launch deadlines.
• Collaborate with Sales and Marketing teams to support retailer launch strategies.
• Support retailer presentations, customer meetings, and retailer-exclusive development initiatives as needed.

REGULATORY & QUALITY COMPLIANCE

• Coordinate required product testing, claims support, and documentation alongside Product & Education Lead.
• Partner with Regulatory Affairs to ensure compliance with domestic and international requirements.
• Support compliance with FDA, MoCRA, retailer, and applicable international regulatory requirements.

SUPPLIER & VENDOR MANAGEMENT

• Coordinate activities with contract manufacturers, packaging suppliers, testing laboratories, and external development partners.
• Track supplier deliverables and timelines to support project milestones.
• Support supplier evaluations and continuous improvement initiatives.

REPORTING & PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

• Maintain project management systems, Microsoft Project Management timelines and documentation.
• Prepare project status reports, agendas, and updates.
• Track key project metrics and identify opportunities for process improvement.
• Develop and maintain project dashboards, timelines, and launch tracking tools.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives within Product Development.
• Highly organized and self-driven with an entrepreneurial mentality.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing.
• Experience utilizing project management/timeline or workflow management systems.
• Strong understanding of product commercialization processes, manufacturing readiness, and supply chain coordination.
• Knowledge of FDA cosmetic regulations, MoCRA requirements, claims substantiation, and retailer compliance standards preferred.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Project reporting tools.

EXPERIENCE

• Minimum 4–5 years of project management experience in the beauty, cosmetics, hair care, hair color or personal care industry.
• Experience managing mass and/or prestige beauty product launches required.
• Experience with hair color and hair care product development strongly preferred.
• Proven success managing product development timelines of 10–18 months.
• Experience working with contract manufacturers and packaging suppliers.
• Experience supporting launches into major retail channels.
• Experience managing packaging development and packaging change initiatives.
• Experience leading cross-functional change-control or ECR processes preferred.

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Strong organizational and project management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional leadership abilities.
• Strong attention to detail and follow-through.
• Self-driven with an entrepreneurial mindset.
• Ability to influence without direct authority.