Director, Process Engineering

Our Story Launched in 2015, Sol de Janeiro is a globally recognized, award-winning beauty brand, drawing inspiration from Brazil’s beauty rituals, warmth, and spirit. Sol de Janeiro delivers a sensory experience beloved by multi-generational consumers worldwide, with clinically proven results, transformative textures, and transportive fragrances. Headquartered in New York and launched as a digitally native brand, we have expanded globally with teams in Paris, London, and Germany. Our commitment to excellence has earned high-profile honors, including being named one of TIME100’s 2024 Most Influential Companies, Fast Company’s 2024 World's Most Innovative Companies, and WWD Beauty Inc’s Power Brands of 2024, underscoring its leadership in the beauty industry and outstanding workplace. These accolades highlight our dedication to being a leading brand in the beauty industry and an exceptional workplace. What You'll Do: The Director, Process Engineering is responsible for driving manufacturing performance, cost optimization, and scalability across SDJ’s global contract manufacturing network. This role ensures products are designed and produced for efficiency, consistency, and quality at scale by leading process optimization, technical transfer, and industrialization efforts. What You'll Be Working On: The role partners closely with Product Development, Quality, Procurement, and Supply Chain to enable successful new product launches, optimize core catalog performance, and support network transformation initiatives. This leader will build and develop a high-performing engineering team and establish best practices across manufacturing partners to deliver measurable improvements in cost, throughput, and reliability. Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead and develop a high-performing process engineering team, setting priorities aligned with business impact and network needs.
• Build capabilities in process optimization, technical transfer, and industrialization to support scale and complexity.

Process Optimization & Cost Engineering

• Own process performance across the manufacturing network, driving improvements in yield, throughput, and cost-per-batch.
• Identify and implement opportunities to reduce waste, improve cycle times, and enhance overall manufacturing efficiency.
• Lead root cause analysis and continuous improvement initiatives focused on measurable operational and financial impact.

Technical Transfer & Network Optimization

• Lead end-to-end technical transfers between contract manufacturers as a strategic lever for cost, capacity, and risk management.
• Ensure consistency in process execution, quality, and performance across sites during transfers and scale-up activities.

Manufacturing Performance & Standardization

• Establish and scale best practices across manufacturing partners to improve process capability, equipment utilization, and operational consistency.
• Monitor performance across sites and drive corrective actions to address variability and inefficiencies.

New Product Industrialization

• Partner with Product Development and cross-functional teams to ensure new products are designed and scaled for manufacturability, cost efficiency, and reliable execution.
• Lead process validation, trials, and capability assessments to support successful commercialization.

Supplier Process Capability & Continuous Improvement

• Work directly with contract manufacturers to improve process capability, resolve systemic issues, and enhance performance across cost, quality, and service.
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement within the external manufacturing network.

Quality, Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure processes meet internal quality standards and regulatory requirements
• Partner with Quality to lead investigations, implement corrective and preventive actions, and mitigate process-related risks.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Experience and partnership with Product Development, Procurement, Quality, Packaging and Supply Chain to align process engineering priorities with business needs.
• Provide technical leadership to support decision-making across product, process, and network initiatives.

Must Haves:

• Experience: 10+ years of experience in Engineering (Process, Manufacturing, Chemical) or a related technical field
• Leadership: proven ability to lead teams and drive cross‑functional engineering initiatives
• Performance: demonstrated success in owning continuous process improvements, scaling manufacturing processes, and delivering measurable results
• Quality: strong grounding in quality-driven process validation and continuous improvement and continuous improvement methodologies

#LI-hybrid Salary Range

$140,000—$160,000 USD

Why Sol de Janeiro?

• Competitive salary and bonus program for full-time team members
• Flexible hybrid work environment with opportunities for collaboration and growth
• Inclusive culture that values diverse perspectives and celebrates individuality
• The chance to be part of a fast-growing, award-winning global beauty brand

The information contained herein is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee, as these may change or new ones may be assigned at any time. Sol de Janeiro is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. Requests for accommodation due to a disability or any other protected characteristic can be made at any stage of the recruitment process and during employment by contacting our People Experience Team at View email address on click.appcast.io.