Vice President of Process Engineering
Location: Durham, NC (on-site)
Travel: 50%+
About the Company
My client is a rapidly growing company focused on innovative body care solutions. Our mission is to provide effective products that enhance the daily lives of our customers. We foster a culture of collaboration, creativity, and commitment to excellence.
About the Role
We are seeking a high-ownership manufacturing leader with a strong chemical engineering or process engineering background who thrives in complex, fast-growing environments and enjoys building systems that support scale. This role exists to build and lead my clients contract manufacturing and process engineering capability as the company rapidly expands production across multiple product categories and retail partners.
Responsibilities
- Contract Manufacturing Leadership
- Own and manage my clients network of contract manufacturing partners
- Build strong working relationships with technical teams at manufacturing partners
- Improve operational performance across quality, delivery, and cost
- Lead onboarding and qualification of new manufacturing partners as capacity expands
- Ensure manufacturing partners are prepared to support both current production and future growth
- Serve as the primary operational leader responsible for manufacturing performance across the network
- Process Engineering & Manufacturing Science
- Build and lead my clients internal manufacturing process engineering capability
- Work directly with contract manufacturing teams to document and refine production processes
- Identify and define critical process parameters that drive product consistency and performance
- Lead process characterization work, including DOE design and execution
- Improve process robustness and repeatability across manufacturing partners
- Troubleshoot complex manufacturing challenges and support manufacturing teams in solving production issues
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives across manufacturing operations
- Technology Transfer & Product Scale-Up
- Lead the technical transfer of new products from development into commercial manufacturing
- Work directly with contract manufacturers to scale formulations and processes successfully
- Partner closely with Product Development to translate product specifications into scalable manufacturing processes
- Oversee pilot trials, validation runs, and commercialization readiness for new product launches
- Ensure new products are successfully and reliably launched across manufacturing partners
- Manufacturing Performance & Continuous Improvement
- Establish operational metrics and performance tracking across contract manufacturing partners
- Improve manufacturing efficiency, yield, and process reliability
- Lead root cause investigations and corrective actions related to manufacturing issues
- Implement stronger process control and operational discipline across manufacturing partners
- Develop scalable manufacturing frameworks that support continued company growth
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner closely with Product Development to ensure manufacturing processes support product performance requirements
- Collaborate with Quality and Regulatory to ensure manufacturing processes meet compliance and quality standards
- Work with supply chain and planning teams to support production scheduling and inventory needs
- Provide manufacturing insight during product development and innovation planning
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related technical discipline
- 10–15+ years of experience in manufacturing, process engineering, or operations leadership within consumer packaged goods, personal care, or related industries
- Experience managing contract manufacturing networks and external production partners
- Strong technical background in manufacturing processes and scale-up
- Experience working with highly structured emulsions or shear-sensitive formulations
- Demonstrated ability to build systems, processes, and infrastructure in growing organizations
- Comfortable operating in fast-moving environments where both strategy and hands-on execution are required
- Willing and able to travel a lot (and last minute)
- Strong engineering instincts and problem-solving ability
- Ability to work directly with manufacturing partners to improve processes and solve technical challenges
Preferred Skills
- Experience with emulsions, OTC personal care, or topical formulation manufacturing
- Background in manufacturing engineering or process engineering leadership roles
- Experience scaling products across multiple contract manufacturing sites
- Experience building manufacturing infrastructure in high-growth CPG environments
Pay range and compensation package
Competitive compensation based on experience and level, including health, vision, and dental coverage, flexible PTO, and a front-row seat to the growth of one of the most disruptive brands in body care.
