Lead - Extractions (Personal Care R&D)

Role Purpose

The Lead Extractions will be responsible for leading the development, optimization, and scale-up of botanical and natural extractions for personal care applications. This role will drive innovation in natural actives, ensure scientific rigor in extraction processes, and collaborate

cross-functionally to translate research into commercially viable ingredients.

Key Responsibilities

Technical & Scientific Leadership

• Lead end-to-end extraction activities for botanical, marine, and bio-based raw materials (plant parts, algae, resins, etc.).
• Design, optimize, and validate extraction processes (aqueous, hydro-alcoholic, solvent based, supercritical CO, enzymatic, etc.).
• Ensure reproducibility, stability, and efficacy of extracted actives for cosmetic and personal care formulations.
• Develop structureactivity understanding and support claims substantiation.

Research & Innovation

• Identify new botanical sources and novel extraction technologies aligned with clean beauty, sustainability, and regulatory trends.
• Drive innovation pipelines for natural actives, functional extracts, and bioactive.
• Stay abreast of global trends, scientific literature, and emerging extraction technologies.

Scale-up & Tech Transfer

• Lead lab-to-pilot-to-commercial scale-up of extraction processes.
• Work closely with manufacturing, engineering, and supply chain teams to ensure smooth technology transfer.
• Troubleshoot process issues during scale-up and ommercialization.

Quality, Safety & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with cosmetic regulatory standards (India, EU, US, ASEAN, etc.).
• Maintain documentation related to SOPs, specifications, COAs, MSDS, and technical dossiers.
• Support safety, toxicology, and stability assessments of extracts.

Team & Stakeholder Management

• Mentor and lead a team of scientists / research associates.
• Collaborate with formulation R&D, regulatory, sourcing, sustainability, and marketing teams.
• Support customer or internal stakeholder technical queries related to extracts and actives.

Education & Experience

• PhD / Master’s in Chemistry, Natural Products, Phytochemistry, Biotechnology, Chemical Engineering, or related field.
• 15+ years of hands-on experience in extraction of natural ingredients, preferably in personal care, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, or pharmaceuticals.
• Proven experience in leading teams and projects.

Technical Skills & Expertise

• Strong knowledge of:
• Botanical extraction techniques and solvent systems
• Phytochemical profiling and characterization
• Analytical tools (HPLC, GC, LC-MS, UV-Vis, FTIR, etc.)
• Experience with sustainable and green extraction technologies is highly preferred.
• Understanding of cosmetic ingredient performance and formulation compatibility.

Behavioral & Leadership Competencies

• Scientific curiosity with strong problem-solving skills
• Ability to balance innovation with scalability and cost-effectiveness
• Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills
• Leadership mindset with hands-on execution capability

Desirable / Good to Have

• Experience in clean beauty / natural / ayurvedic / herbal personal care.
• Exposure to supplier collaborations and external research partnerships.
• Patent filing or publication experience.
• Understanding of sustainability, traceability, and ethical sourcing.