Newell Brands Inc

Vice President, Research & Development

Newell Brands Inc • $180K — $220K *
Atlanta, GA 30349In-Person
Consumer Technology
11 - 15 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 15+ years of R&D/product development leadership in multi-category environments
  • Expertise in consumer-product innovation primarily focused on applied chemistry
  • Experience in delivering connected consumer products, particularly Wi-Fi-enabled ones
  • Background in operating within highly regulated categories, especially related to safety standards
  • Proven transformation leader with a history of restructuring for efficiency
  • Strong ability to influence at the executive level within a matrixed organization
  • Willingness to reside in Atlanta and travel as necessary

Responsibilities

  • Lead R&D workstreams through all project stage-gates ensuring alignment with organizational goals
  • Translate innovation strategies into actionable, resource-planned technical roadmaps
  • Set the overarching R&D strategy to enhance competitive advantage and promote innovation
  • Drive connected-product initiatives to enhance consumer engagement and brand loyalty
  • Provide leadership across multiple product categories, ensuring cohesive development strategies
  • Ensure compliance with safety and regulatory standards across all product lines
  • Build and enhance R&D talent through effective assessment and recruitment strategies

Benefits

  • Opportunity to lead and influence significant organizational transformation
  • Engagement in cutting-edge product development at the intersection of chemistry and technology
  • Collaboration with cross-functional teams including Legal and Industrial Design
  • Influence in establishing strategic R&D priorities
  • Ability to shape the next generation of consumer products
  • Support for professional growth and organizational leadership development
Full Job Description
Job ID: 16052

Alternate Locations:

Position Summary

The Vice President - Research & Development leads the R&D agenda for the Learning & Development Segment across the Writing and Baby business units. This is a change-leadership mandate: R&D represents 63% of segment SG&A headcount and is central to the segment's transformation. The role owns the R&D workstream through all NPD stage-gates from technical feasibility through commercialization and launch overseeing Quality, Chemistry, Product Engineering and Regulatory & Compliance, while partnering with Industrial Design, Packaging Engineering, Brand, FEI and IPPL/PMO throughout.

Two technical priorities anchor the role: deep chemistry (ink, adhesion and formulation science) and connected-product technology. Success requires a bold business leader with the credibility to challenge expert teams, the influence to move a matrixed organization.

Key Responsibilities

R&D Strategy & New Product Development
  • Lead the R&D workstream through all stage-gates for Writing and Baby; partner with IPPL/PMO on pipeline sufficiency and stage-gate governance and with Legal, Industrial Design and Packaging Engineering as peer functions.
  • Translate the segment innovation plan into prioritized, resourced technical roadmaps; make clear invest, accelerate, slow or stop calls based on consumer value, P&L impact, risk and speed to market.
  • Set the R&D strategy - platforms, capabilities and technologies - that strengthens technical delivery, builds competitive advantage and supports disciplined experimentation.
  • Lead the segment's connected-product agenda: deliver Wi-Fi-enabled product lines and the consumer applications that drive engagement, loyalty and purchase consideration.

Segment & Category Leadership
  • Provide R&D leadership across Writing (writing instruments, labeling, adhesion and slime) and Baby - Baby Gear (car seats, strollers, travel systems) and Baby Care (bottles, pacifiers, sippy cups and tableware).
  • Translate brand and category strategies into technical roadmaps, balancing near-term delivery with long-term capability building; represent R&D in segment leadership forums, executive reviews and regulatory engagements.

Core Technical Capabilities
  • Oversee Quality, Chemistry, Product Engineering and Regulatory & Compliance - ensuring consistent standards and no gaps across categories.
  • Elevate the Chemistry organization (ink, adhesion and formulation science) and direct VAVE efforts to strengthen product performance, cost and material innovation.
  • Assess raw material suppliers to perform at best cost, ensuring quality standards are met and supply chain competitiveness is sustained.
  • Build a new technical capability in Wi-Fi-enabled products and application development, bringing in the talent, tools and partnerships the segment does not yet have.
  • Ensure quality expectations are embedded in development so products meet consumer and customer expectations at launch and throughout the product life; apply design-for-manufacturing thinking to enable efficient production.
  • Strongly influence sourced vendor capabilities to ensure products meet Newell standards.

Safety, Regulatory & Compliance
  • Ensure all products meet or exceed applicable safety and regulatory standards across jurisdictions (e.g., FMVSS 213, NHTSA and ASTM for juvenile products; chemical and product safety standards for writing instruments).
  • Partner with Legal, Regulatory and Compliance to anticipate evolving standards, proactively manage risk and maintain robust test-lab capability for the highly regulated Baby categories.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Execution
  • Align Industrial Design, Packaging Engineering, Sourcing, Brand, FEI and IPPL/PMO - without waiting for formal authority - to deliver integrated, manufacturable, consumer-right solutions on time.
  • Set clear accountability with Procurement, Supply Chain, Legal and Finance to remove barriers; establish and track KPIs for innovation throughput, launch quality, compliance and R&D efficiency.

Talent & Organizational Leadership
  • Build an A+ R&D bench through rigorous talent assessment, succession planning, external hiring above the organization's comfort level and decisive action on underperformance.
  • Lead organizational transformation - upgrading key leadership roles, restructuring for speed and efficiency - while sustaining business delivery and creating a winning agenda people choose to follow.


Candidate Profile
  • Bold matrix leader - drives change in a business-oriented sequence, creates followership and holds pace against inertia across functions not directly owned.
  • Chemistry depth - strong applied-chemistry grounding (inks, adhesives, surfactants and formulation science) with credibility to rebuild the Chemistry bench to an A level.
  • Connected products - has brought Wi-Fi-enabled consumer products and applications to market; understands how apps drive brand engagement and purchase consideration.
  • Safety & regulatory fluency - credible oversight of product safety, testing and regulatory standards; experienced operating in highly regulated environments, especially juvenile products.
  • Transformational talent leader - upgrades the bench, hires boldly and acts early on good-but-not-good-enough performance.
  • Business orientation - moves R&D from process management to P&L leadership; trades technical process for the better business outcome when warranted.


Qualifications
  • 15+ years of progressive R&D / product development leadership with multi-category scope, organizational transformation and senior people leadership.
  • Demonstrated success in consumer-product innovation grounded in applied chemistry; background with organizations known for chemistry-driven innovation strongly preferred.
  • Experience delivering Wi-Fi-enabled or connected consumer products and supporting applications.
  • Proven ability to operate in highly regulated categories, leveraging strong internal safety and regulatory teams.
  • Track record of transforming organizations - upgrading leadership, restructuring for efficiency and making difficult talent decisions at pace.
  • Ability to create followership and influence at the executive level in a global, matrixed environment.
  • Must plan to reside in Atlanta; ability to travel as required.


Date Posted: Sep 16, 2026

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Learn more about Newell Brands Inc
Size
32,000 employees
Market Cap
$5.3 billion
Industry
Food & Beverages
Net Income
-$770 million
Founded
1903
5 Year Trend
+2.9%
Revenue
$9.3 billion
NASDAQ
NWL
* Ladders Estimates
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