Head of Innovation
Church & Dwight is a global consumer goods leader, managing a wide portfolio of branded beauty and personal care, health and wellbeing, home care products, and medical devices. Headquartered in New Jersey, this US$5 billion turnover business is one of the fastest-growing consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies worldwide. Its international division spans Canada, Mexico, France, the UK, Germany, and Australia, while the Global Markets Group manages operations in over 130 additional countries through trusted distributor partnerships.
Popular brands within the UK include Batiste, Femfresh, Nair, Arm & Hammer, Sterimar, Anusol, and Replens, among others.
The Recruitment Brief
Church & Dwight required a senior NPD and Innovation professional to strengthen their personal care portfolio. The role demanded a candidate capable of generating actionable consumer insights, developing winning new product concepts, and successfully commercialising NPD initiatives. This position required close collaboration with Marketing, R&D, Procurement, Project Management, and Manufacturing teams to ensure the pipeline of innovative products drove business growth and delivered annual performance targets.
The ideal candidate needed a strong background in beauty and personal care innovation, proven experience leading NPD projects, and the ability to manage both local and global innovation strategies.
Alexander Steele Approach
We began with a comprehensive briefing with Church & Dwight’s Marketing and HR Directors to define the required candidate profile, salary benchmark, and recruitment timelines. Using our extensive FMCG and beauty sector network, we identified and approached senior Innovation and NPD leaders in peer companies.
Our targeted search focused on professionals with proven expertise in new product development, consumer insights, and innovation strategy, particularly within leading beauty and personal care businesses such as L’Oréal, Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, and Molton Brown.
The resulting shortlist featured highly credible candidates, all with the innovation leadership experience required to deliver both local and global product development objectives.
Outcome
The successful candidate joined Church & Dwight and has quickly settled into the role, leading long-term planning and innovation for the personal care portfolio. The appointment has strengthened the company’s new product development capabilities, and both the client and candidate have expressed high satisfaction. Following this success, Alexander Steele has continued to partner with Church & Dwight on further senior recruitment projects.