Director, Fragrance Evaluation

Osmo; Elizabeth (NJ); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Osmo, headquartered in Elizabeth, NJ, is seeking a Director of Fragrance Evaluation to lead our evaluation function and define how scent is selected, communicated, and brought to market. You will guide fragrance direction across fine and home fragrance, collaborate with perfumers, and drive market-relevant storytelling.

You will shape olfactory narratives, oversee development from brief to submission, and work with commercial teams to align with client needs while embracing AI-assisted tooling

Qualifications

• 7-10+ years of experience in fragrance evaluation, with strong expertise in fine fragrance.
• Additional experience in candles and home fragrance required.
• Proven ability to lead fragrance development across multiple categories and client types.
• Strong olfactive acuity with the ability to confidently guide scent direction and selection.
• Experience managing or mentoring junior evaluators.
• Comfort working cross-functionally with perfumers, commercial teams, and marketing.
• Comfortable with ambiguity, energized by building new ways of working.
• Clear communicator, able to translate scent into language that drives decisions.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the evaluation team, setting standards for olfactive excellence and consistency.
• Serve as the final decision-maker and internal voice of the consumer, ensuring all fragrance submissions meet client and market expectations.
• Partner closely with perfumers through iterative smelling, feedback, and refinement sessions.
• Oversee fragrance selection across fine fragrance, home fragrance, and candles.
• Guide fragrance direction from brief to final submission with perfumers.
• Collaborate with commercial teams to align fragrance direction with client needs and market opportunities.
• Support development across both oil and turnkey projects, ensuring consistency in quality and positioning.
• Participate in and help lead internal development panels, contributing to key creative and commercial decisions.
• Partner with fragrance marketing and trend teams to translate scent into clear, compelling olfactive narratives.
• Ensure fragrance submissions are supported by strong positioning, language, and emotional clarity.

Skills

Fragrance evaluation

Fine fragrance

Candles & home fragrance

Olfactive acuity

Leadership

Mentoring

Cross-functional collaboration

Clear communication

Job description

Who we are at Osmo:

Osmo is a digital olfaction company, on a mission to give computers a sense of smell to improve the health and wellbeing of human life. Why? Our sense of smell both enriches and saves lives, and has a deep and direct connection to our emotions and memory.

Olfactory Intelligence has applications across industries including fragrance, manufacturing, security, medicine, and more. We believe in the power of automation and thoughtfully applied AI/ML to solve problems beyond the reach of human intuition alone. Osmo is headquartered in Elizabeth, NJ, with an additional office in Somerville, MA.

Osmo is seeking a Director of Fragrance Evaluation to lead our evaluation function and define how scent is selected, communicated, and brought to market. You'll lead the evaluation team, partner closely with perfumers, trend intelligence, and commercial teams to ensure every fragrance is both emotionally resonant and commercially viable, and help shape how AI- and LLM-powered development tools integrate into traditional perfumery.

Key Responsibilities

Fragrance Evaluation Leadership

• Lead and manage the evaluation team, setting standards for olfactive excellence and consistency

• Serve as the final decision-maker and internal voice of the consumer, ensuring all fragrance submissions meet client and market expectations

• Partner closely with perfumers through iterative smelling, feedback, and refinement sessions

• Oversee fragrance selection across fine fragrance, home fragrance, and candles, ensuring strong category fluency

Fragrance Development & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work hand-in-hand with perfumers to guide fragrance direction from brief to final submission

• Collaborate with commercial teams to align fragrance direction with client needs and market opportunities

• Support development across both oil and turnkey projects, ensuring consistency in quality and positioning

• Participate in and help lead internal development panels, contributing to key creative and commercial decisions

Olfactive Storytelling & Marketing Partnership

• Partner with fragrance marketing and trend teams to translate scent into clear, compelling olfactive narratives

• Ensure fragrance submissions are supported by strong positioning, language, and emotional clarity

• Help define how Osmo communicates scent - internally and externally - across client presentations and brand storytelling

AI Integration & Innovation

• Actively participate in the evolution of Osmo's AI-driven development tools, bringing a critical evaluation lens into model training and refinement

• Provide structured feedback to improve how AI interprets olfactive direction, trend signals, and formulation outputs

• Help define how evaluation integrates into a hybrid model of human expertise and machine intelligence

• Stay curious and engaged with emerging technologies shaping the future of fragrance creation

Market & Consumer Insight

• Maintain a strong understanding of consumer preferences, category trends, and competitive landscape

• Identify olfactive whitespace and emerging scent directions across fine fragrance and home categories

• Ensure all fragrance work reflects both current market relevance and forward-looking opportunity

Qualifications

• 7-10+ years of experience in fragrance evaluation, with strong expertise in fine fragrance

• Additional experience in candles and home fragrance required

• Proven ability to lead fragrance development across multiple categories and client types

• Strong olfactive acuity with the ability to confidently guide scent direction and selection

• Experience managing or mentoring junior evaluators

• Comfort working cross-functionally with perfumers, commercial teams, and marketing

• Comfortable with ambiguity, energized by building new ways of working

• Clear communicator, able to translate scent into language that drives decisions

We are committed to recruiting, developing, and retaining an incredible team optimized for a diversity of thought, background, and approaches.

For all Full-Time Employees, compensation is just one component of Osmo's total rewards approach, which is designed to support the well-being, growth, and long-term success of our team members. Depending on the role, this may include base salary or contract-based pay, along with access to health, dental, and vision coverage; a 401(k) retirement savings plan with company match; flexible paid time off and company holidays; and equity or incentive compensation for eligible roles. Actual compensation will vary based on factors such as experience, skills, location, internal equity, and other relevant business considerations. Osmo regularly reviews pay ranges and compensation structures to ensure they remain competitive, equitable, and aligned with current market data.

All employment decisions and responsibilities are determined based on current ability and your ability to grow, without regard to race, color, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age, marital status, physical, mental, or sensory disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies:

Osmo does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Osmo or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by the Osmo Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Osmo and Osmo will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire