The Skills Executives Need to Succeed in Today’s Most Innovative Beauty Companies

Some of the top beauty companies today are setting new standards for what constitutes success in the beauty and cosmetics industries. Brands like Glossier, Huda Beauty, Fenty Beauty and the Ordinary have created innovative formulations, pioneered new distribution channels and reengineered customer relationships.

Recruiting for innovative positions in beauty requires a special set of skills. The following are some of the recurring themes we see in recruiting for these positions:

Types of executive positions we recruit for in beauty companies

Over many years, we have recruited for beauty companies that range from large multinational corporations to venture-backed startups. The positions we typically recruit for include:

CEO
Director of Marketing
VP of Growth
CMO
Senior Global Marketing Manager
E-commerce Director

Ability to work with influencers and celebrity personalities

Some of the most successful startup brands in beauty are helmed by entrepreneurs who have achieved success in other areas, such as:

Fenty Beauty, which was created by pop star Rihanna, which first came to prominence for its inclusive range of product shades. The makeup formulations prize being long-wearing and easy-to-use, and the brand has quickly amassed a passionate fan base.
Beauty influencer Huda Kattan created Huda Beauty, known for its high-quality products and innovative formulas. Huda Beauty is known to fans as a brand that emphasizes creativity and self-expression.

As social influencers become more and more central in the marketing of cosmetics, executives with skills in managing the influencer ecosystem are increasingly in demand.

Innovative in formulations & focus on natural ingredients

Drunk Elephant is a skincare brand has gained a loyal following for its “clean” and “non-toxic” formulations. The brand has also sparked a number of copycats and competitors. Free from ingredients like sulfates, silicones, and synthetic fragrances, the brand has set a new standard for sustainability and ethical sourcing.

The Canadian skincare brand The Ordinary has gained a cult following for its affordable, science-backed products. The brand is admired for carving out a niche with its price points and unique packaging.

Increasingly, we are finding that “science-backed” formulations are resonating with consumers, and are therefore tasked with finding experts in product formulations. Even in non-product-related positions, we like to see marketing heads and sales directors with a fluency in the language of formulation as it becomes more important in the industry.

Amazon-Specific Skills

Amazon was long rejected by luxury beauty brands who achieved their luster through rarified exclusivity in the retail environment. But the growth of digital retail changed many minds in the executive ranks at beauty companies inspiring a new mode of operating at the highest ranks of luxury beauty. Success at Amazon requires a special set of creative skills from executives from beauty brands planning to leverage the e-commerce giant. These include:

Eagle eyes for spotting potential counterfeit items and third party sellers horning in on their turf.
Ability to generate review traffic for new product launches — this is the coin of the realm for showing up in the Amazon search algorithm and getting them can be particularly challenging during a brand launch.
Ideas for creating channel specific promotions and exclusive offers.
Content strategy ideas, especially for video, that will help customers learn about and better use their products.

Obsession with customer satisfaction

The direct-to-consumer beauty brand Glossier has disrupted the traditional beauty industry with its customer-centric, minimalistic approach to skincare and makeup. Glossier’s products are designed to enhance natural beauty, and has recently retooled its retail environment to be more experiential.

Glossier and its legions of passionate fans have encouraged beauty executives to develop an obsessive focus on customer education and experience and we therefore look for executives who have special talents in this area, especially in marketing.