About us

Devcos International is a Melbourne-based, full-service beauty manufacturing and supply chain company. We develop and make products for beauty brands in Australia and around the world, through our own facilities in Australia and China and a network of partner manufacturers across Asia, Europe and the US.

About the role

You’ll take brand briefs from concept to full-scale production, owning formulas end to end. You’ll also be a go-to technical contact for our customers. As one of our first technical hires, you’ll help shape how the lab, the formula library and our processes are set up.

Key responsibilities

- Develop new formulas from customer briefs across skincare, body care, haircare, sun care, bath and shower, fragrance, men's grooming and personal care: serums, creams, lotions, gels, cleansers, masks, oils, balms, shampoos, conditioners, treatments, body washes, scrubs, mists and more.
- Match benchmark products and adapt existing formulas from the Devcos library to new claims, costs and textures.
- Select actives, emulsifiers, preservatives and sensory ingredients to hit target performance, cost and regulatory requirements.
- Prepare lab samples and iterate quickly on customer feedback, typically within agreed sample turnaround times.
- Build and maintain a library of base chassis formulas the commercial team can sell from.

Testing and stability

- Plan and run stability programs (accelerated and real-time, freeze-thaw, temperature cycling) and packaging compatibility testing.
- Coordinate preservative efficacy (challenge) testing, microbiological testing and safety or claims testing with external labs.
- Set specifications for bulk and finished product: appearance, odour, pH, viscosity,



specific gravity, micro limits.
- Investigate formulation failures and recommend corrective actions.

Scale-up and technical transfer

- Scale formulas from bench to pilot to full production batches, defining process parameters (order of addition, temperatures, mixing speeds, hold times).
- Write manufacturing instructions and batch records with Production and Quality.
- Attend first production batches and troubleshoot on the floor.
- Support equipment selection and validation as the site builds out its manufacturing capability.

Documentation and compliance

- Maintain complete formula records: INCI lists, percentages, raw material trade names and suppliers, and costed BOMs for the new line form (NLF) and ERP.
- Prepare technical documents for customers: INCI declarations, specifications, certificates of analysis inputs, allergen and restricted substance statements.
- Check formulas against target-market rules, including Australian cosmetic and AICIS requirements and, where relevant, TGA, EU Cosmetics Regulation (EC) 1223/2009, US MoCRA and China NMPA.
- Support Product Information File (PIF) and safety assessment preparation for export customers.
- Work within ISO 22716 cosmetic GMP and site quality procedures.

Raw materials and cost





- Evaluate and qualify new raw materials and alternative suppliers with Procurement and Quality.
- Identify cost-down opportunities and substitutions without compromising performance.
- Stay on trend with the latest raw materials: track new ingredient launches, emerging actives and market trends through suppliers, trade shows (e.g. in-cosmetics) and industry publications, and keep regulatory changes in view. Bring new ingredient ideas to NPD and Sales regularly, and build a pipeline of on-trend concepts we can pitch to customers.

Customer relationships, communication and presentation

- Build strong, trusted working relationships with customers, suppliers and internal teams; be a go-to technical contact for brand clients.
- Join customer briefing and technical meetings; explain formulation options, trade-offs and timelines in clear, non-technical language.
- Prepare and present formulation concepts, sample rounds, stability results and technical recommendations to customers and management, in person or online.
- Represent Devcos at customer visits, site tours and, from time to time, supplier and industry events.
- Support Sales and NPD with feasibility assessments and indicative costings.
- Help set up lab systems, equipment and procedures, and train junior lab staff as the team grows.

About you

- Degree in Chemistry, Cosmetic Science, Chemical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Science or a related field
- 5+ years of hands-on formulation experience in skincare, haircare, body care or personal care, ideally in contract manufacturing or brand R&D;
- A track record of formulas you developed that reached commercial production.
- Solid knowledge of emulsion science, rheology, pr

📌 Senior R&D Manager (Melbourne)
🏢 Devcos International
📍 Melbourne