Fragrance Development Manager

Wild; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holidays + bank holidays + 9.0

Hybrid working

Enhanced maternity, paternity & paren†

Private healthcare

Free breakfast

Wild product discounts

Volunteer days

Job summary

Wild is seeking its first dedicated Fragrance Development Manager to elevate fragrance strategy and standardise briefing processes. You’ll bridge fine fragrance expertise with practical, market-ready scents while collaborating with perfumers, suppliers, and cross-functional teams.

Lead long-term compliance, optimize formulations, and drive cost efficiencies per kg. Join a fast-growing personal care brand now part of Unilever, with a dynamic, playful, startup-like culture.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years in Fragrance Development, Olfactive Management, or Fragrance Evaluation.
• Solid understanding of personal care bases and how raw materials interact with fragrance performance.
• Experience managing supplier relationships and holding fragrance houses accountable to cost, timelines, compliance, and quality.
• Highly organised with ability to manage high-volume pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Professionalise briefing structure with data-driven templates and evidence.
• Act as primary day-to-day contact for global fragrance houses and partners.
• Establish frameworks to ensure IFRA/regulatory compliance 5–10 years ahead.
• Collaborate with perfumers and technical leads to optimise formulations and costs.

Skills

Fragrance development

Olfactive management

Fragrance evaluation

Supplier relationship management

Data-driven decision making

Education

Experience in FMCG/beauty environment

Tools

IFRA knowledge

Job description

Hi there We're Wild. We set out to remove single-use plastic from the bathroom and ended up building one of the fastest-growing personal care brands in Europe. Our refillable, natural deodorant is now in millions of hands, our cases are collected like accessories, and our collaborations - from Disney to seasonal scent drops - keep the brand fresh, playful and impossible to ignore. Now part of the Unilever family, we have the backing to go global while keeping the pace, ambition and mischief of a start-up.

About Us:

Hi there We're Wild. We set out to remove single-use plastic from the bathroom and ended up building one of the fastest-growing personal care brands in Europe. Our refillable, natural deodorant is now in millions of hands, our cases are collected like accessories, and our collaborations - from Disney to seasonal scent drops - keep the brand fresh, playful and impossible to ignore. Now part of the Unilever family, we have the backing to go global while keeping the pace, ambition and mischief of a start-up.

The Role:

We’re looking for our first dedicated Fragrance Development Manager to join our Product team and elevate our fragrance strategy, professionalise our briefing process, and deepen our partnerships with world-class fragrance houses.

Fragrance is the heartbeat of our brand and in this role you’ll bridge the gap between fine fragrance expertise and the crazy scents that make us Wild. You’ll tackle core strategic opportunities across our fragrance portfolio: optimising fragrances across product ranges, driving cost efficiencies per kg against industry benchmarks, enforcing long-term 5–10 year regulatory compliance, and establishing data-backed briefing frameworks. You'll be comfortable working dynamically with perfumers, suppliers, and cross-functional teams (Brand, Retail, NPD, Operations) while holding partners accountable to evidence-backed performance.

Some of your responsibilities:

Fragrance strategy & supplier accountability

• Professionalise briefing structure: Build structured, data-driven brief templates requiring fragrance houses to provide finished-good performance evidence, stability testing, and competitive benchmark comparisons before submitting scents.
• Supplier partnerships & accountability: Act as the primary day-to-day contact for global fragrance houses and key partners. Drive accountability on timelines, quality, and costs while stretching partners on commercial briefs.
• Long-term compliance: Establish robust frameworks to ensure all fragrances remain compliant with IFRA and regulatory standards 5–10 years into the future, with contractual structures to hold suppliers accountable if non-compliance occurs.
• Perfumer-to-perfumer collaboration: Engage directly with perfumers and technical leads to understand scent complexity, exchange ideas, and optimise formulations to reduce fragrance cost per kg.

Olfactive performance & technical optimisation

• Address inclusion & formula challenges: Challenge the practice of maxing out inclusion levels. Resolve formula discoloration, skin irritation, and cost inflation while ensuring excellent scent throw and base coverage.
• Benchmarking & superiority: Benchmark Wild’s scents against market competitors (e.g., Salt & Stone), driving continuous improvement to ensure superior long-lasting olfactive performance.
• Cross-format consistency: Ensure scent profiles translate seamlessly across different product chassis (deodorant, body wash, lip care, soap, etc.) in terms of stability, base coverage, and fragrance integrity.

Portfolio management & high-velocity pipeline

• Core range continuous improvement: Implement continuous improvement plans for core fragrances to ensure they are increasingly intense, long-lasting, and noticeable over time.
• Portfolio trimming: Partner with Operations to analyse volume and fragrance performance data, aggressively trimming the low-performing “tail” of the portfolio.

Cross-functional leadership & feedback loops

• Rapid feedback iterations: Raise the quality, technical clarity, and speed of internal olfactive feedback to iterate faster with fragrance houses.
• Internal fragrance champion: Educate and inspire internal teams on scent descriptors, olfactive notes, and fragrance mechanics.

What we need from you:

Essential:

• 3-5 years of experience in Fragrance Development, Olfactive Management, or Fragrance Evaluation (at a fragrance house or personal care brand).
• Solid understanding of personal care bases (deodorants, washes, lip care) and how raw materials interact with fragrance performance.
• Strong technical & commercial rigor—understanding dosage impact (irritation, discoloration), inclusion levels, and cost-per-kg drivers.
• Experience managing supplier relationships and holding fragrance houses accountable to cost, timelines, compliance, and quality standards.
• Highly organised, agile, and capable of managing high-volume pipelines (dozens of briefs concurrently) without losing attention to detail.
• Data-driven mindset—demanding evidence, stability data, and benchmark evaluations before approving submissions.
• Excellent cross-functional communicator, capable of translating complex scent profiles into clear, brand-aligned storytelling.

Desirable:

• Experience in FMCG, consumer goods, beauty, or personal care environments.
• Experience collaborating with global FMCG partners or multi-house fragrance networks.
• Familiarity with IFRA regulatory standards and long-term compliance tracking.
• Comfort using digital tools, spreadsheets, or AI to streamline workflows and portfolio tracking.

What you’ll get from us:

• 25 days holidays + bank holidays + 9 extra remote working days
• Hybrid working, 3 days a week in our shiny new London office
• Enhanced maternity, paternity & parental leave
• 4% Company Pension
• Mental well-being support through Spill
• Private healthcare through Vitality
• Weekly early finishes and social events
• Annual L&D budget
• Free breakfast
• Free & discounted Wild products
• 2 x team volunteering days and 2 x personal volunteering days
• Cycle to Work Scheme & access to CycleSaver

At Wild, we know that diversity drives innovation and creativity. We are committed to creating and maintaining a workplace where all employees feel valued and empowered to bring their most authentic selves to work. We recognise that diversity goes beyond visible differences such as race, gender, age, and ethnicity and encompasses a broad spectrum of backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and abilities. We encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply!

If we can make any adjustments to help you to perform your best in the process, please let us know!