Product Development Manager - Beauty & Personal Care in London

Product Development Manager - Beauty & Personal Care in London

London Full-Time 50000 - 65000 £ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
Avenir Collective

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead innovative product development in beauty and personal care from concept to launch.
  • Company: Avenir Collective, a forward-thinking brand platform in the beauty industry.
  • Benefits: 30 days paid leave, flexible working, private medical insurance, and mental health support.
  • Other info: Join a diverse team committed to innovation and continuous improvement.
  • Why this job: Shape the future of beauty products and make a real impact on consumer experiences.
  • Qualifications: 4-8 years in beauty product development with strong project management skills.

The predicted salary is between 50000 - 65000 £ per year.

Avenir Collective - Building the future of beauty, personal care and lifestyle brands. We're building a new kind of consumer brand platform focused on trusted products, long-term value and meaningful growth. If you're excited by building brands, solving problems and working alongside collaborative, driven people, we'd love to hear from you.

The role

As a Product Development Manager, you will play a key role in leading innovation, reformulation and product optimization across our Beauty & Personal Care portfolio. Your main focus will be managing multiple projects from concept through to launch, transforming consumer insight, market trends, and commercial opportunities into high-quality, scalable products delivered across global omnichannel markets. Partnering closely with Brand, Compliance, Supply Chain, Creative, Commercial teams, and with external manufacturers, laboratories and packaging partners, you will ensure every product is commercially viable, compliant, profitable and scalable. This role is ideal for someone who is commercially minded and highly organised, with a passion for developing exceptional beauty products. Your work will directly shape our Beauty & Personal Care portfolio, helping to bring exciting new products to customers around the world.

Key Responsibilities

  • Innovation & Portfolio Development: Lead multiple NPD projects across skincare, personal care, cosmetics, wellness and beauty tools from concept through commercial launch. Drive innovation pipelines and product roadmaps, using consumer insight, market trends, competitor analysis, and commercial data to identify new opportunities. Develop product concepts and briefs that balance consumer needs, brand strategy, commercial viability, and speed to market. Optimise the product portfolio through reformulation, product enhancements, premiumisation, range rationalisation, and margin improvement. Build business cases, define pricing recommendations, and monitor product performance against commercial and innovation KPIs.
  • Technical Development, Claims & Consumer Validation: Manage formulation and reformulation programmes with manufacturing partners, from technical brief through to commercial production. Evaluate ingredients, formulations, packaging compatibility, performance, manufacturability, and cost to ensure products meet consumer, technical, and commercial requirements. Lead product benchmarking, consumer testing, and validation programmes to inform development and support substantiated product claims in partnership with Brand and Compliance.
  • Supplier Management & Commercialisation: Manage OEM, ODM, laboratory, and packaging partners, leading supplier performance, commercial negotiations, and continuous improvement initiatives. Partner with Brand, Commercial, Supply Chain, and Creative teams to deliver commercially viable products and packaging across retail, wholesale, DTC, and marketplace channels. Define product specifications, quality standards, and production readiness, using post-launch performance and consumer feedback to drive continuous improvement.
  • Programme Management & Leadership: Lead project governance, critical paths, budgets, risks, and development documentation, ensuring projects are delivered on time and to agreed objectives. Coordinate internal and external stakeholders to resolve challenges, maintain momentum, and ensure successful product launches. Champion continuous improvement across product development processes, fostering a collaborative, consumer-centric, and data-driven innovation culture.

About You

  • 4–8 years’ experience in beauty, cosmetics, skincare, personal care or wellness product development, with proven end-to-end ownership of multiple concurrent NPD projects.
  • Strong hands-on experience in formulation and reformulation, consumer and competitor benchmarking, product evaluation and claims substantiation.
  • Experience working with global manufacturers, laboratories and packaging suppliers, with sound knowledge of stability, compatibility, scale-up and commercial manufacturing processes.
  • Strong commercial judgement, including experience balancing consumer performance, cost, margin, speed to market and omnichannel requirements.
  • Excellent project, critical path and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
  • Passion for beauty innovation, consumer behaviour and category growth, supported by confident use of insight, trend and performance data.

Benefits

  • Generous Holiday: Enjoy 30 days of paid leave in addition to the 8 UK Bank Holidays.
  • Flexible Working: Experience the best of both worlds with hybrid working options.
  • Pension Scheme: Employee 5% and Employer 3% contribution.
  • CycleScheme: Save 25-39% on cycle gear with no upfront payment and tax-efficient salary deductions.
  • Techscheme: Save up to 12% on technology and pay in monthly tax-efficient installments.
  • Private Medical Insurance: Our Vitality Health insurance offers broad-ranging coverage, including travel, vision, and dental.
  • Flexi-Fridays: Choose a Friday each month to finish early and enjoy a longer weekend.
  • Discretionary bonus based on company and individual performance.
  • Work Abroad for one month a year.
  • Mental Health Support: Access for free to confidential therapists and counsellors through our partnership with Spill.
  • Events: Quarterly All-Hands meetings, celebrations of key dates and holidays, and sponsored team activities.

Avenir Collective is proud to be a disability-committed employer registered in the UK. If you identify as having a disability and meet all of the criteria set out in the job description, we would like to support you through the interview stage. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive work environment where all employees and applicants can flourish.

Product Development Manager - Beauty & Personal Care in London employer: Avenir Collective

Avenir Collective is an exceptional employer that fosters a collaborative and innovative work culture, perfect for those passionate about beauty and personal care. With generous benefits such as 30 days of paid leave, flexible working options, and comprehensive health insurance, employees are supported in both their professional and personal lives. The company prioritises employee growth through continuous improvement initiatives and offers unique opportunities like working abroad for a month each year, making it an attractive place for driven individuals to thrive.

Avenir Collective

Contact Details:

Avenir Collective Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Product Development Manager - Beauty & Personal Care in London

Join Product Management Meetups

Get involved in local product management meetups or workshops. These events are perfect for meeting industry folks, sharing ideas, and staying updated on trends. Plus, you never know who might be hiring—it's a fantastic way to make connections that could lead to a job at places like Avenir Collective!

Show Off Your Product Sense

Create case studies or mini-projects showcasing your product management skills, and share them on platforms like Medium or LinkedIn. This not only puts your skills on display but also boosts your visibility in the product community. Imagine how impressed the hiring team at Avenir Collective would be by your initiative!

Utilise Online Communities

Dive into online product management communities like Product Coalition or Mind the Product. Engage in discussions, ask questions, and share your insights. These platforms are goldmines for networking and finding hidden job opportunities—many companies often scout talent from within these circles.

Leverage Your University Network

If you’ve recently graduated or are still in uni, tap into your alumni network for connections in product management. Many universities have their own job boards and affinity resources to help graduates land roles. Don't forget to keep an eye out for job openings at Avenir Collective through your school's career services!

We think you need these skills to ace Product Development Manager - Beauty & Personal Care in London

Product Development
Innovation Management
Formulation and Reformulation
Consumer Insight Analysis
Market Trend Evaluation
Project Management
Supplier Management

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show Off Your Product Passion:When applying for a product management role like Product Development Manager - Beauty & Personal Care, let your passion for developing products shine through in your cover letter. Share specific examples of products you've managed, how you solved user needs, and any successful outcomes you've achieved. This is your chance to showcase your understanding of the product lifecycle!

Highlight Your Cross-Functional Skills:Product management isn't just about understanding the product; it’s about collaborating with different teams! Make sure to emphasise your experience working with developers, designers, and marketers. Use your CV to showcase your ability to bridge gaps between these areas, and include relevant experiences that demonstrate your communication and leadership skills!

Include Your Metrics and Achievements:In a full-time product management application, data speaks volumes! Quantify your achievements wherever possible. Did you increase user retention by a certain percentage? Launch a product ahead of schedule? Include these metrics in your CV to paint a picture of your impact and effectiveness in previous roles.

Tailor Your CV to the Role:Make sure your CV is tailored for the Product Development Manager - Beauty & Personal Care position at Avenir Collective. Use keywords from the job description and ensure your relevant experiences are front and centre. Highlight any certifications or relevant training you’ve completed that will make you stand out as a strong candidate for the role. And remember, we’re excited to see your application on our website!

How to prepare for a job interview at Avenir Collective

Understand the Product Life Cycle

As a product management candidate, we need to get our head around the complete product life cycle. Be prepared to discuss real-world examples of how you’ve managed product development from ideation to launch. Bring specific insights on tools like JIRA or Trello that can help streamline these processes.

Showcase Your Cross-Functional Skills

Product management is all about collaboration. We should be ready to highlight how we’ve worked across teams—think marketing, engineering, and design. Prepare to discuss scenarios where you had to mediate differing opinions and how you got everyone on board with a shared vision.

Prepare for Case Studies

In a full-time role, we can expect to encounter case study questions during our interviews. Practise solving hypothetical product problems on the spot, such as prioritising features for a new app or improving user engagement metrics. This will show our analytical thinking and decision-making skills.

Know Your Metrics

Let’s face it, numbers are our best friends in product management. We should prepare to discuss key performance indicators (KPIs) and how we've used analytics to inform product decisions. Dive into examples where data has driven our strategy for improvements or justified product changes.