Manager, Technical Hairdresser Network (THN) - R&D

Position Title: Manager Technical Hairdresser Network (THN) NA

Department: R&D

Location: New York Global Test Salon (GTS) Hybrid- Onsite 3 days a week 

Reports to:  Sr. Director R&D (remote)

Scope / Brands: Wella Company Brands Color, Care & Styling 

ABOUT THE WELLA COMPANY

Together, WE enable individuals to look, feel, and be their true selves.

Wella Company is one of the world’s leading beauty companies, comprised of a family of iconic brands such as Wella, Clairol, OPI, Nioxin and ghd. With 6,000 employees globally, presence in over 100 countries, Wella Company and its brands enable consumers to look, feel, and be their true selves. As innovators in the hair and nail industry, Wella Company empowers its people to delight consumers, inspire beauty professionals, engage communities, and deliver sustainable growth to its stakeholders.

For additional information about the Wella Company please visit www.wellacompany.com.

The Role

Lead of the Technical Hairdresser Network NA, a core R&D capability for the Innovation Process in Salon Professional. In this highly specialized role, the responsibility is to manage (maintain and newly recruit) the participating members of THN NA, which is a panel of external hairdressers with diverse skills & salons & background covering key salon needs. In partnership with the project teams and the external hairdressers, the THN manager is generating in-depth insights via qualitative and quantiative research to enable the global R&D and commercial teams driving decisions for global and local projects, holistic proposition designs and fueling the initiative pipelines, ensuring that the local/regional needs can be reflected accordingly. Be on-site contact for the local GTS N.Y. team for daily support. 

Key Responsibilities

• Complete lead and execution of the research with the hairdressers (scheduling, moderation of online and offline interviews, leading workshops, managing of the online panel research tool [BEX], analysis, and sharing of recommendations with teams and management, management of NDAs) 
• Constant research and monitoring of the local market analysing/sharing the market evolution with the Global R&D team, and fuel the EHN Newsletter with competitive developments in NA. 
• Collaboration with Education/MKT/Sales to support local and company needs (ie provide R&D insights for seminars, provide product performance support  
• Continuously manage the stylists panel of THN members through direct contacts (visits/interviews/product reviews, workshops) and indirect online through the BEX (Beauty Experts Community) platform. Further build the existing panel & recruit stylist for future needs. Crucial for this role is the constant contact to maintain the partnership to our THN stylists, that are in most cases our Wella customers, or are competive users.  
• Frequent external contacts with different professionals/events in the cosmetic area to update data (fairs/congresses/personal contacts) 

Minimum Qualifications (Do not add a laundry list – focus on minimum needs to increase your candidate pool: include Edu requirements, relevant years of experience, technical/software skills and soft/behavioral skills required for the role)

• Hairdresser / Education background: In-depth technical and practical knowledge of the hairdressing profession, including services, products and tools related to hair beautification and transformation. Understanding the industry and  the market, through the professional lens. 

• Knowledge of working with multiple brands such as Wella, L’Oreal, Schwarzkopf, Goldwell, Redken etc. 

• Experience to work with external customers, ideally understanding how to attract and gain new customers 

• Experience to work with multifunctional teams. 

• Moderation and research facilitation: openess to receive training to conduct qualitiative and quantitative research including the collation and curation of information, driving conclusions and recommendations, aiming to add value to the project and the best results for the company. 

• IT skills: besides common computer tools, openess to learn the programming of panel management platform [BEX]. 

• Positivity and happiness in the role are very important for keeping a longlasting partnership to the THN stylists, and to motivate the panel to work with Wella even under extreme stressful situations (ie Covid). 

• Clear and concise communication with all internal and external counterparts to progress the projects. 

• Emotional intelligence and flexibility to moderate divergent teams and in situations of possible conflicts. 

• Agility to adopt to volatile projects and resilience to work with extreme challenging time-lines  

• Creative thinking to ie to translate in-depth insights into project directions, ideas and new services. 

• Team player and “can do” attitude 

• Intouch with the Beauty and Salon professional industry 

We disclose the compensation range for positions in compliance with local law. Actual salaries will vary and may be above or below the range based on various factors including but not limited to location, experience, skills and in comparison to internal incumbents currently in similar roles. Pay Range: $102,000 - $130,000 salary per year. The range listed is just one component of Wella Company's total rewards package for employees. Other rewards may include annual bonus plan or variable pay, depending on the role. In addition, Wella Company provides a rich variety of benefits to employees, including health insurance, life and disability insurance, 401(k) retirement plan, paid holidays and paid time off (PTO).

NOTICES 

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected status. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, please email NA.Recruiting@wella.com. This email account will not respond to inquiries regarding the status of a candidate’s application. [For CA located postings ONLY]: Qualified Applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

Wella participates in the E-Verify Program to confirm eligibility to work in the United States. Information regarding your rights: Know Your Rights and Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision.