Associate Manager, Product Development

Overview

OUAI is a prestige beauty and personal care brand founded by celebrity hairstylist, Jen Atkin. The brand reflects a bold and playful spirit across culture, marketing, and product. OUAI offers product categories ranging from hair care to body care, fragrances, personal care, and merch, designed to be easy, effective, and enjoyable self-care. OUAI markets through direct-to-consumer channels, specialty beauty retailers, and global distribution partners, with ongoing international expansion and a focus on high-margin growth.

The brand emphasizes a straightforward approach to beauty, distinctive fragrance profiles, and meeting consumer needs across lifestyle-driven categories, formulating without sulfates or parabens and maintaining a commitment to high-quality, effective products.

OUAI’s culture is shaped by its ethos — fun, purposeful, and approachable — and is anchored by five Culture Codes.

• We Aren’t Afraid to Go First
• We Don’t Compete, We Collaborate
• We Ask Questions to Find the Best Answers
• We Keep It Real, in a OUAI That’s Kind
• We Go All the OUAI With Work & Play

OUAI focuses on ongoing category innovation, continued international expansion, and delivering high-quality consumer experiences that reinforce the brand’s identity and long-term growth trajectory.

About the role: We are looking for a highly organized and proactive Associate Manager of Product Development to join the OUAI team. Reporting to the Sr. Manager of Product Development, this position will be critical in supporting the team and helping ensure timely execution of tasks.

• Logging, tracking, and organizing formula submissions from Contract Manufacturers as they deliver to OUAI HQ
• Manage projects from concept to launch
• Create and manage product briefs to finalize concepts, research and define the products’ feasibility and development parameters
• Distribute formula samples to internal and external testers for thorough formula evaluation
• Work closely with the Director of Product Development to evaluate formula submissions and provide feedback and redirects, selecting submissions to present to key stakeholders
• Partner with Sr. Manager of Product Development and Brand Marketing to explore new product concepts and benchmarks
• Work with raw material suppliers, contract manufacturers, community, and other partners to identify opportunities to build new iconic/hero products
• Help create and manage product briefs to finalize concepts, research and define product feasibility and development parameters
• Maintain current processes and help enforce new processes as they are created and implemented (examples: testing protocols, artwork routing/tracking, internal master product trackers)
• Maintain cross-functional communication with Operations, Marketing and Sales to ensure relevant information is shared efficiently
• Attend meetings with vendors and internal teams, take notes, and circulate recap notes
• Research new ingredients, textures, products and packaging to enable greater innovation
• Partner with the coordinator to complete monthly product alerts, quarterly and yearly competitive reviews; present in-depth findings and trends to management with product recommendations and research to help facilitate product innovation
• Participate in "Blue Sky" brainstorming sessions
• Coordinate with the Operations team to ensure launches stay on target and timelines are accurate
• Monitor and maintain on-time delivery of critical project milestones
• Organize and maintain all lab samples, master standards
• Create and manage multiple spreadsheets and checklists to hold key information and track projects and product data
• This is an in-office position at OUAI HQ

What you’ll bring:

• We Ask Questions to Find the Best Answers: you ask the right questions to refine ideas, solve challenges early, and deliver great products on time
• Bachelor’s degree preferred
• 2+ years of product development experience in cosmetics, personal care, lifestyle, or a related category
• Genuine passion for beauty
• Exceptional organizational and time-management skills
• Open-minded with a strong sense of curiosity and eagerness to learn
• Proven ability to take ownership and drive results
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, collaborative, and evolving environment
• Strong interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills

OUAI Benefits:

• Annual Base Salary Range is $65,000 - $75,000k (based on experience) + potential for yearly bonus
• Medical + Dental + Vision
• Unlimited PTO
• 25+ Paid Holidays
• Matching 401k program
• Quarterly OUAI Product Stipend + Employee Discounts
• Flex Fridays
• Employee HSA and FSA
• Charity matching and education reimbursement
• Hybrid work reimbursement
• Move Your OUAI (Exercise Reimbursement)

Immigration sponsorship is not available for this role. OUAI does not sponsor candidates for non-immigrant visas or permanent residency except in some areas that, in OUAI’s sole discretion, require highly specialized backgrounds.