Innovation Development Manager

Crown Affair; California; On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Crown Affair is seeking an Innovation Development Manager to drive beauty product innovation from concept to launch. You will partner with the Sr. Director of Innovation & Insights to shape a long‑term roadmap and oversee development across formats, ingredients, and claims.

You will lead prototyping, testing, and partnerships with labs and contract manufacturers, ensuring scalable, compliant products for key markets. Strong project management and cross‑functional collaboration are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field is required.
• 4+ years of product development experience in beauty/personal care.
• Strong organizational and communication skills; can manage timelines & budgets.
• Experience launching products from brief to market with contract manufacturers.
• Comfortable working with cross‑functional teams and external partners.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute long‑term product roadmap with cross‑functional teams.
• Lead product development from idea to launch for key swings.
• Champion timelines and budgets; ensure on‑time, on‑budget launches.
• Prototype, develop, and test new formulas; ensure packaging compatibility.
• Collaborate with quality and regulatory to ensure market readiness.

Skills

Product development

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Budget management

Communication

Ambiguity handling

Multi-tasking

Education

Bachelor's Degree in related field

Tools

Asana

Smartsheet

Job description

We are looking for a detail-oriented and trend-driven Innovation Development Manager with proven experience in the beauty industry to drive innovation and storytelling through our products. This is a unique opportunity to blend creativity, strategy, and analytical thinking while playing a hands‑on role in shaping the growth of our brand and our positioning in the industry.

In this role—

You are responsible for working directly with the Sr. Director of Innovation & Insights to define and execute on our long-term product roadmap. You will lead product development from idea through to launch for our biggest swings, driving innovation for the brand and the category. You will champion all timelines, working cross-functionally and with our external partners to ensure product launches are executed on time and within budget.

What you will do—

• Product Development: Deliver best-in‑class product innovation for the brand
• Partner with the Product Strategy & Marketing Manager and Director of Packaging to strategize how to best bring our innovation visions to life, including ideating on format innovation, ingredient storytelling opportunities and claims strategy
• Lead prototyping, development and testing processes for all new formulas, working closely with the packaging team to ensure compatibility
• Manage relationships with third‑party development partners to drive development forward
• Collaborate with our quality and regulatory experts to ensure new product is scalable, reliable and compliant in our key markets
• Establish clear quality standards to ensure seamless commercialization handoffs to our Operations and Supply Chain teams
• Project Management: Collaborate cross‑functionally to develop and bring to market all new product innovation, ensuring product is delivered on schedule and on budget
• Maintain close cross‑functional communication with Operations, Brand and Marketing to ensure relevant information is being communicated
• Utilize project management tools, such as Asana and Smartsheet, to keep projects on track
• Attend meetings with vendors and internal teams to drive active product development projects forward
• Own the master standards library
• Process/Function‑Building: Optimize processes and communication touch‑points to build a best‑in‑class development function
• Product Reporting: Own reporting for all product development KPIs, ensuring the executive team is up to date on the status and health of the development function

Experience—

• Bachelor's Degree in related field of study
• 4+ years of product development experience
• Beauty and personal care experience required, haircare experience strongly preferred - has taken products from brief to launch with contract manufacturers and labs
• Strong organizational and communications skills with the ability to work both internally and externally
• Is comfortable owning timelines and budgets in Asana or Smartsheet
• You’ve owned at least one launch end to end, earned scope quickly, and have opinions about how product development should work.
• Problem solver who can deal with ambiguity
• Ability to multi‑task in a fast‑paced environment
• Action and results‑oriented
• Excited to take on more scope as the function grows

Why Join Us / Growth Opportunity—

• Build the function, not just the products: You’ll shape how product development works at Crown Affair, from processes and partners to KPIs, as we scale. This role is designed to grow into leadership of the function.
• Real mentorship: You’ll work closely with our Sr. Director of Innovation & Insights and other leaders on the team on long‑term strategy, not just execution.
• Global development experience: You’ll work hands‑on with labs and chemists around the world.
• Growing Brand: Drive brand and product innovation at one of the fastest growing brands in the category

About Crown Affair—

Crown Affair is a first of its kind haircare brand that empowers people to redefine their relationship with their hair through accessible luxury products, guidance, and community. We believe that loving your hair starts with understanding how to care for it. Each product we make is developed to work together with any (or all) of our other products, so that together they form more than a routine: a ritual. We’ve partnered with dedicated craftsmen and chemists around the world to create thoughtfully sourced products you’ll love using each and every day.

About The Founder—

Dianna Cohen started her career at digital content platform, Into The Gloss, in 2012. She was part of the founding team of e‑commerce mobile app, Spring, where she launched and managed their marketing channels from pre‑launch through year two. From there, she worked closely with former Jimmy Choo founder, Tamara Mellon, to relaunch her namesake brand as a direct‑to‑consumer, luxury company. After launching Tamara Mellon in 2016, Dianna joined travel company, Away, as Head of Partnerships until she left to start Levitate at the end of 2017. Under Levitate, Dianna worked with a number of direct‑to‑consumer brands including, Harry’s / Flamingo, Outdoor Voices, Yumi, Buck Mason, The Wing, and more. Dianna is part of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for the Class of 2019.