About the Role:Scent is the single most defensible asset in our portfolio. It is what customers remember, what they repurchase, and what competitors cannot copy. The Associate Director of Fragrance Development owns that asset end to end.
This is a leadership role. You will set and own the multi-year fragrance strategy across every category we sell - soap, body care, hair, deodorant, and the new brands, limited editions, and geographies in our pipeline. You will own the fragrance house relationships, the fragrance cost line, and the development calendar. And you will build and lead a small, high-performing team of fragrance developers, raising the technical bar of the function as we scale.
You are the person leadership turns to when the question is "what should this smell like, what will it cost, and can we ship it on time?" You bring a great nose, real technical depth, and the commercial judgment to make trade-offs between creative ambition, margin, regulatory reality, and speed to market.
This is a full-time, hybrid role based in Marina Del Rey, CA.
This role reports to the SVP, Product.
The anticipated base compensation range for this role will be $165,000 to $175,000. Compensation will be commensurate with the candidate's experience and local market rates.
What You'll Do:- Fragrance Strategy & Portfolio Leadership
- Define and own the multi-year fragrance strategy and scent architecture for the Dr. Squatch portfolio, including signature scent extensions, seasonal and limited-edition programs, and new brand launches.
- Lead the fragrance workstream for new brand and new category launches from concept through development and commercialization.
- Build and maintain the fragrance roadmap and pipeline in partnership with Portfolio Strategy, translating brand and consumer strategy into a prioritized development calendar.
- Represent fragrance strategy directly to the executive leadership team and portfolio governance forums, presenting recommendations, trade-offs, and risks to senior leadership.
- Monitor fragrance, ingredient, and consumer trends and translate them into actionable portfolio opportunities.
- Fragrance House & Supplier Leadership
- Own the strategic relationship portfolio across fragrance houses - including house selection, capability assessment, scorecarding, and performance management.
- Write and deliver clear creative and technical briefs; manage, evaluate, and provide decisive feedback on submissions; and drive technical fragrance changes through to approval.
- Partner with Procurement and Finance on fragrance cost negotiation, cost-down initiatives, and dual-sourcing strategy to protect margin and supply continuity.
- Escalate and resolve supplier quality, stability, and delivery issues before they impact launch dates.
- Cross-Functional Product Leadership
- Partner with Product Development to manage fragrance performance and stability across all upcoming launches and reformulations.
- Collaborate with Consumer Insights, Portfolio Strategy, Marketing, and Creative through brainstorming, concept definition, brief development, and consumer testing.
- Work with Supply Chain, Operations, and Quality to ensure fragrance milestones, specifications, and deadlines are met across all active projects.
- Represent fragrance in stage-gate reviews and launch readiness decisions.
- Team Leadership & Capability Building
- Hire, coach, and develop a team of fragrance developers; set clear goals, deliver candid feedback, and build individual development plans.
- Establish the standards, documentation, and evaluation processes that make fragrance development repeatable and scalable rather than dependent on any single person.
- Build internal fragrance literacy across Product, Marketing, and Creative through training and shared evaluation practices.
- Cost, Quality & Compliance
- Own the fragrance cost line and manage to agreed cost-per-unit and development budget targets.
- Ensure all fragrance materials meet applicable regulatory, safety, and ingredient-standard requirements (IFRA, Prop 65, and applicable domestic and international market requirements), partnering with Regulatory and Quality on documentation and compliance review.
- Maintain accurate fragrance specification, submission, and approval records in our product data systems.
About You:- Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Cosmetic Science, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 7+ years of experience in fragrance and/or product development, with meaningful time in the consumer packaged goods or personal care industry.
- 2+ years of direct people leadership - proven experience leading and developing a team of fragrance professionals.
- Deep technical fluency in fragrance - olfactive families, raw materials, performance in-base, stability, and cost drivers - and the ability to translate business and creative ambition into precise, actionable direction for fragrance houses.
- Proven track record owning fragrance house relationships and managing development programs end to end, on time and on budget.
- Strong commercial judgment: comfortable trading off creative ambition against margin, timeline, and supply risk, and explaining that reasoning to senior stakeholders.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting to senior leadership.
- Demonstrated olfactive acuity and the ability to evaluate and articulate fragrance performance.
- Genuinely interested in Fragrance, health & wellness
- Someone who gets things done without perfect resources, is innovative, and works with a sense of urgency
- Someone who has high standards, takes ownership, and is invested in the outcome
- Someone who proactively helps others, stays positive, and has a good sense of humor
#LI-TC1 #LI-FULLTIME #LI-HYBRID
We offer a competitive salary in a growth-focused & collaborative team environment. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, 401k with Squatch match, and PTO. We also have great perks like healthy snacks, frequent company events, and of course, free products!
