Packaging Development and Industrialization Director

Huda Beauty; Dubai; On-site; AED 700,000 - 900,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Monthly "Self Love Days" - at company 

Premium Medical/Dental/Vision coverage

Monthly coaching sessions with our in‑

Employee discounts on all Huda Beauty

Quarterly product gifting

Job summary

Huda Beauty is seeking a Director of Packaging to lead Packaging Development & Industrialization, and a new Packaging R&D capability. You will own the technical packaging solution from brief to production readiness, advancing risk-based pilots and PPWR-ready platforms for future launches.

You will coach senior engineers, partner with Product Development, Marketing, Quality, and Regulatory, and ensure cost, quality, and sustainability are balanced across the supply chain.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience leading packaging development and industrialization
• Proven ability to manage technical risk and govern stage-gate processes
• Strong leadership of senior engineers and cross-functional teams

Responsibilities

• Define and own the packaging strategy and roadmap for launches
• Lead Development & Industrialization and Packaging R&D sub-poles
• Manage tooling validation, line trials and scale-up with suppliers
• Drive sustainability, PPWR readiness and regulatory alignment
• Coach and develop packaging teams and leads

Skills

Packaging leadership

Risk-based decisioning

Cross-functional collaboration

Mentoring & coaching

Technical governance

Education

Bachelor's/Master's in Packaging, Mechanical, Materials or Plastics Engineering

Tools

CAD

GD&T

Job description

Who We Are:

At Huda Beauty, our Vision is to lead in creating a democratized beauty industry where power is given back to people to define, create, and enjoy beauty for themselves! Launched by award-winning beauty powerhouse Huda Kattan in 2013, Huda Beauty is one of the world’s fastest growing beauty brands. As a company, we are fueled by purpose and not profit, this allows us to approach things differently so that we can create products, content, and a community like no other. A lot has changed since our launch in 2013, but something that will forever remain at the core of Huda Beauty is our focus on business excellence and our unwavering passion for kindness!

Summary:

The Director of Packaging leads the Packaging pole of Product Operations: Packaging Development & Industrialization, and a new Packaging R&D capability. This role owns the technical packaging solution from brief to production readiness at suppliers and contract manufacturers, moves technical risk upstream through risk-based pilots and evidence, and builds proven, PPWR-ready platforms for future launches. It works with an independent End-to-End Quality team.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Packaging Strategy & Leadership

• Define and own the packaging technical strategy and roadmap for Y+2 and Y+3 launches.
• Lead two sub-poles, Development & Industrialization and Packaging R&D, through strong leads with clear decision rights.
• Protect R&D time and budget from live-launch pressure; elevate trade-offs to the VP, Product Operations.
• Size the team from real workload and portfolio data.

Packaging Development & Industrialization

• Own the technical delivery of every launch, from brief to PPS.
• Run risk-based pathways, set from the 1 to 5 risk score and confirmed by Quality.
• Secure pilot molds and homologation before production tooling for new, high-risk packs.
• Lead drawings, GD&T, tolerance stack-ups, functional analysis, DFMA and formula/pack compatibility.
• Own tooling validation, line trials, PPS and scale-up readiness at suppliers and contract manufacturers.

Packaging R&D & Innovation

• Build and lead Packaging R&D: platforms and technology, advanced development and innovation, Kaizen.
• Build a library of proven packs, supplier standards, design rules and test files.
• Lead technical and experience sourcing.
• Hand concepts over to development only once proven.

Sustainability & PPWR

• Own the packaging sustainability roadmap, balancing consumer experience, brand, cost and regulation.
• Lead PPWR readiness for new launches and the existing portfolio, with Regulatory owning the interpretation.
• Set clear ownership: R&D builds PPWR-ready solutions, Development applies them in each launch, Regulatory and Legal advise on compliance.
• Prioritize changes to existing packs by risk and business impact, with Supply Chain and Finance.

Technical Governance & Risk Ownership

• Adapt assessments to project risk, with clear ownership, evidence and approval at each checkpoint.
• Prepare evidence and recommendations for the Product Operations gates: Tech Assessment, Pilot Homologation, Go Prod.
• Own packaging specifications and drive the adoption of the internal specification tool.
• Never trade an unresolved critical risk for cost or timing; any skipped step goes to the Newness Committee.
• Lead root cause and permanent fixes for design-origin issues; support Quality and the Crisis Cell on supply issues.
• Respect Quality's independent co-signature of homologation and its ownership of release and CAPA.

Leadership and Coaching

• Lead, coach and develop packaging developers, engineers and R&D specialists.
• Recruit and grow sub-pole leads; build succession for critical technical roles.
• Act as a role model for technical rigor and evidence-based decisions.

Cross-Functional Partnership & Strategic Exposure

• Partner with Product Development, Marketing, Design, Quality, Procurement, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Commercial and Finance.
• Bring feasibility, cost, timing and risk input at the brief, with the pack brief issued alongside the formula brief.
• Represent Packaging at the Newness Committee and in launch readiness reviews.
• Drive value engineering and COGS improvement without trading critical risk; manage the packaging technical budget.

• Proven delivery of complex primary packs from concept through tooling, line trials and scale-up at suppliers and contract manufacturers.
• Deep expertise in materials, processes, GD&T, tolerance stack-ups and formula/pack compatibility.
• Hands-on experience of pilot tooling, homologation and stage-gate governance.
• Experience building a pre-development, R&D or platform program.
• Proven leader of leaders, delegating through clear decision rights.
• Able to read and challenge CAD models and technical drawings.
• Solid understanding of packaging sustainability and the EU PPWR, and their impact on design, cost and supply.
• Experience with global supplier bases in Europe and Asia.
• Track record of evidence-based judgment, comfortable with ambiguity and scale-up dynamics.
• 12+ years in packaging development and industrialization, with significant beauty, fragrance or luxury experience.
• Bachelor's/Master's in Packaging, Mechanical, Materials or Plastics Engineering.

• Monthly "Self Love Days" - at company discretion
• Premium Medical/Dental/Vision coverage for employee plus dependents
• Monthly coaching sessions with our in-house Success Coach
• Employee discounts on all Huda Beauty products
• Quarterly product gifting

Huda Beauty is committed to building diverse and inclusive teams and upholding an equal employment workplace that is free from discrimination. We hire stellar individuals regardless of their race, color, ancestry, religion, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, medical conditions, disability, or veteran status.If you needreasonable accommodations at any point in the application or interview process, please let us know.