Job Title: Wellbeing Collective Product Safety Lead
Location: Colworth Science Park
Work-Level: WL2C
JOB PURPOSE
As Wellbeing Collective Product Safety Lead, you will be the senior product safety scientist for the Wellbeing Collective and its Operating Companies. Working with the global Beauty & Wellbeing Head of Product Safety, you will turn business, R&D and longer-term science priorities into a focused SERS programme that enables safe, compliant, responsible innovation and confident decision-making.
You will combine business-facing product stewardship with strong scientific leadership: directing SERS and third-party capability to the highest-value priorities, ensuring risks are properly assessed and documented, and bringing in specialist expertise for complex issues. Working across R&D, Quality, Regulatory Affairs, Brands, Communications, Legal and external partners, you will embed safety and compliant design into innovation at an early stage.
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
· Shape priorities: Work with the global Beauty & Wellbeing Head of Product Safety to turn Wellbeing Collective business, R&D and longer-term Wellbeing Collective Horizon 3 science priorities into the wider Beauty & Wellbeing SERS programme.
· Deliver innovation plans: Lead SERS input to Wellbeing Collective and Operating Company innovation plans, engaging early to scope projects and set the right level of risk assessment.
· Deploy resources well: Plan and coordinate SERS and third-party capability so effort is focused on the highest-value priorities and delivered on time and in full.
· Assess and record risk: Ensure safety risks for technologies, products, clinicals, processes and projects are identified, assessed, documented and recorded in SERS digital systems e.g. Pharos for all product safety assessments, to support sound safety decisions.
· Provide scientific leadership: Apply deep scientific expertise and judgement to complex consumer safety assessments, innovation programmes and product stewardship decisions.
· Use specialist support: Commission assessments through SERS-approved third parties and draw on specialist SERS experts for complex assessments, technical guidance and issue management.
· Ensure governance: Make sure all internal and external work meets SERS, Wellbeing Collective IPG and Unilever governance requirements, contribute to safety and policy positions through governance forums, and support the substantiation of safety and sustainability claims.
· Support acquisitions and marketed products: Support pre-acquisition due diligence, post-acquisition risk assessment and mitigation, and management of risks linked to products already on the market.
· Anticipate change: Track regulatory developments and wider scientific and reputational issues, and work with stakeholders to identify emerging issues, capability gaps and future needs.
· Build culture and advance science: Promote a strong product safety culture and agile collaboration across functions and help develop and apply new safety and sustainability science, including with external partners.
ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS
· Qualification: Degree in toxicology, safety science, pharmacology, biochemistry or a related life science.
· Safety expertise: Substantial experience in consumer safety, toxicology or scientific risk assessment.
· Scientific judgement: Proven ability to make sound, defensible safety decisions on complex ingredients, products and technologies, including where data are limited.
· Programme delivery: Proven track record of leading multi-disciplinary scientific programmes to time and quality.
· Innovation know-how: Understanding how products move from concept to launch, and where safety adds most value.
· Communication: Ability to explain complex science clearly and persuasively to technical and business audiences.
Influence: Ability to build trust…