R&D; Material Scientist

Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India (Fully Onsite)

Industry: Personal Care Product Manufacturing

Work Setting: Fully Onsite

Are you passionate about advancing product innovation through science, material qualification, and cross-functional collaboration Join a dynamic research and development team where you'll play a critical role in qualifying new materials, supporting product innovation initiatives, and ensuring high-quality, compliant product launches through scientific excellence and effective project execution.

Key Responsibilities

- Lead the qualification of new materials and ingredients for product innovation initiatives, ensuring technical suitability and readiness for development.
- Manage a portfolio of new product development projects by tracking priorities, milestones, dependencies, risks, and resource requirements.
- Collaborate with product development teams to evaluate material and formulation interactions, ensuring optimal product performance and quality.
- Develop science-based qualification strategies that balance technical rigor, compliance requirements, business objectives, and speed-to-market goals.
- Identify technical risks early, drive resolution plans, and coordinate with stakeholders to mitigate potential project challenges.
- Partner closely with research, quality, regulatory, procurement, supply chain, manufacturing, packaging, and external partners to accelerate development activities.
- Represent materials and technical functions during project reviews, governance meetings, and cross-functional discussions.
- Support efficient project execution through process improvements, stakeholder engagement, and streamlined workflows.
- Build scientific understanding of material properties, functionality, processing behavior,



and impact on product quality, stability, safety, and consumer experience.
- Prepare and maintain technical documentation, qualification reports, specifications, risk assessments, and supporting records in compliance with quality standards.
- Collaborate with suppliers and external partners to obtain technical information, evaluate material technologies, and resolve data gaps.
- Capture project learnings and share best practices to strengthen future product development and qualification strategies.
- Mentor team members, share technical expertise, and contribute to capability development within the broader organization.

Required Qualifications

- Master's degree or equivalent qualification in Pharmacy, Cosmetic Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Material Science, or a related technical discipline preferred.
- 5-8 years of experience in product development, materials qualification, formulation science, research and development, or related technical functions.
- Experience within consumer products, personal care, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, or similar industries.
- Demonstrated experience managing cross-functional projects and driving successful product launches.
- Solid understanding of raw material functionality and its impact on product performance.

Preferred Experience

- Background in material qualification, formulation assessment, and technical risk management.
- Experience evaluating ingredient specifications, supplier documentation, and scientific data packages.
- Knowledge of quality systems, compliance frameworks, technical documentation, and regulatory requirements.
- Experience working with project portfolio management processes and stage-gate development methodologies.
- Familiarity with digital project tracking and portfolio management tools.

📌 Materials Scientist (Mumbai)
🏢 SoTalent
📍 Mumbai