Back to jobs

Senior Cosmetic Formulation Chemist

Boston, MA

Arcaea is a biology-first beauty company building a new ingredient toolset for the beauty and personal care industry. We are creating pioneering ingredients, products, and stories accessible uniquely through biology. 

Arcaea is seeking an experienced Cosmetic Formulation Chemist to join our team and play a critical role in developing world class products containing our novel ingredients. 

No candidate will meet every single desired qualification. If your experience looks a little different from what we’ve identified and you think you can bring value to the role, we’d love to learn more about you!

 

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Lead the formulation of world class skincare products, including cleansers, creams, lotions, serums, sunscreens, and other topical applications while ensuring that formulas align to project briefs, adhere to prescribed timetables, and fall within required cost targets.
  • Develop and optimize formulations at the bench in close collaboration with the Future Society™Director of Product Development and the novel ingredients formulation chemistry team, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, safety standards and that meet manufacturing capabilities.
  • Identify technical insights on new formulas to establish a clear scientific mode-of-action that builds into strong product concepts and claims and support the Future Society product brief
  • Conduct stability and compatibility testing of formulations, evaluate the performance, efficacy, and safety, and make necessary adjustments.
  • Support on packaging selection. 
  • Evaluate formula design and performance of competitive products
  • Drive continuous improvement and innovation in product formulations, staying on top of new technologies and scientific advancements in the cosmetic industry. 
  • Conduct research on new raw materials, key active ingredients, and technologies to enhance product performance and market appeal.
  • Generate new ideas for product concepts and assess them for implementation.
  • Collaborate with quality control to establish and maintain product quality standards.
  • Troubleshoot laboratory and production batch issues, including attendance in regular meetings for direct communication with relevant outside contract manufacturers.
  • Actively formulate to anticipate and avoid potential scale-up and manufacturing challenges by establishing batch making procedures and define product specifications for transfer to scale up pilot line testing
  • Work closely with contract manufacturers to tech transfer and scale up formulations from lab to production. This will require travel to be onsite with the CM for pilot batches and mass production.
  • Manage multiple projects simultaneously, delivering high quality products on time.
  • Prepare and maintain accurate documentation including formulation records, technical data sheets, formulation records, batching/mixing instructions, and SOPs.  
  • Engage with customers and research social media to understand their needs, improving products, and identifying white space.
  • Stay up to date with industry trends, regulatory changes, and advancements in skin- and suncare science.
  • Support identifying, selecting, verifying, and working closely with contract manufacturers. 

 

WHAT WE SEEK: 

  • Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Cosmetic Science, or a related field
  • Must have 5+ years of beauty/personal care downstream product formulation expertise, with at least 5 years of experience in skincare formulations.
  • Familiarity with function and technical challenges of various packaging delivery systems; pump sprays, tubes, squeeze bottles, air-less packs, lotion pumps, etc. to inform product packaging selection
  • Proven track record of developing successful skincare products from concept to market.
  • 1+ years of experience at a contract manufacturer is preferred.
  • Passionate about formulation chemistry and spending time at the bench creating new products.
  • Experienced with tech transfers, including scaling up to large scale manufacturing equipment.
  • Passion and knowledge about the beauty industry and a belief in the biology-first approach
  • Deep understanding of key active ingredients, raw materials, product development, product efficacy/performance, and regulatory compliance.
  • Possesses a consumer-first and global mindset. 
  • High emotional intelligence and self-awareness, which encourages positive energy, kindness, and passion throughout the organization.
  • Persuasive written and oral communication skills with the ability to distill and articulate key messages to executives and stakeholders.
  • Excellent interpersonal, communication, negotiation, problem-solving, and influencing skills to work effectively with all internal stakeholders.
  • Self starter who loves working in an agile, startup environment.
  • Familiarity with regulatory requirements for cosmetic product and raw materials in major markets (e.g., FDA, MOCRA, NA, EU in priority)
  • Familiarity  with GLP, cGMP, and QA/QC personal care industry best practices.
  • Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to think creatively.
  • Strong project management skills and the ability to prioritize tasks effectively amongst multiple ongoing projects.
  • Knowledge of sustainable and eco-friendly ingredient sourcing.
  • Experience with mentoring others is a plus.
  • Travel requirement: 10%

The full compensation package is based on candidate experience. 

Pay Range

$125,000 - $140,000 USD

We are committed to diversity, equality, and inclusion in all its practices. It is the policy of Arcaea to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants.

Agency and Third Party Recruiter Notice: Agencies that submit a resume to Arcaea must have a current executed Arcaea Agency Agreement executed by the Director, People Operations. In addition Agencies may only submit candidates to positions for which they have been invited to do so by an Arcaea Recruiter. All resumes must be sent to the Arcaea Recruiter under these terms or they will not be considered.

If you have a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act or similar law, or you require religious accommodation, and you wish to discuss potential accommodations related to applying for employment at our company, please contact recruiting@arcaea.com.

Arcaea participates in E-verify to determine employment eligibility.

Disclaimer: This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Arcaea’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.