Director, Innovation
USA
- Reference number: 253152
- City & country: USA
- Date posted: 21/09/2026
- Type of contract: Permanent
- Professional field: Digital Marketing
- Advocacy & Influence
JOB TITLE: Director, Innovation
DEPARTMENT: Brand and Consumer Engagement, Corporate Digital Marketing Office (CDMO)
REPORTS TO: VP, Entertainment & Innovation
LOCATION:New York, NY
Who We Are:
For more than a century, L’Oréal has devoted its energy, innovation, and scientific excellence solely to one business: Beauty. Our goal is to offer each and every person around the world the best of beautyin terms of quality, efficacy, safety, sincerity and responsibility to satisfy all beauty needs and desires in their infinite diversity.
CDMO:
The Corporate Digital and Marketing Office mission is to put the consumer at the heart of L’Oréal’s business and drive digital innovation. As a force for L’Oréal’s innovation, CDMO delivers the best consumer experiences, drives new marketing models, and spearheads new digital capabilities to futureproof the group’s business.
What You Will Do:
The Director of Innovation is a highly proactive, visionary role within the Corporate Brand Engagement Team, tasked with sourcing, piloting, and scaling consumer-facing technology partnerships across the organization. Rather than just tracking trends, you will actively scout best-in-class startups and technology partners across the consumer tech ecosystem, specifically focusing on AI, Beauty Tech, and Gaming. You will be responsible for building and maintaining a roadmap of strategic partnerships and bridging the gap between early-stage innovation and brand activation needs, partnering directly with brand teams to pitch, negotiate, launch, and evaluate pilots that drive measurable consumer engagement and conversion.
- Proactively build and maintain a robust pipeline of innovative startups, venture capital portfolios, tech incubators, and accelerators to scout and source proprietary AI-powered consumer tech opportunities
- Establish clear and strategic innovation territories, with a laser focus on next-generation beauty tech, AI-driven consumer tools and gaming integration opportunities
- Orchestrate "test and learn" initiatives from end-to-end, including establishing clear success KPIs, managing startup vetting and onboarding, coordinating pilot execution, and delivering post-pilot business impact evaluations
- Actively match startup capabilities with specific brand business challenges, translating complex consumer technologies into practical, high-impact marketing applications
- Serve as the primary point of contact for the external tech and startup community, building deep, long-term relationships with founders, developers, and platform partners
- Introduce and effectively communicate innovation concepts to senior management and brand leaders to secure pilot opportunities
- Act as the strategic liaison between startups and internal stakeholders including CDMO, IT, Sourcing, and Legal to streamline the security, legal, and operational onboarding of new tech vendors
- Collaborate with brand digital leaders and CDMO teams to transition successful startup pilots into fully integrated, scalable brand programs across our divisions
- Co-lead and execute BeautyV3rse, an annual CDMO tentpole event to upskill and inspire the L’Oreal USA digital and marketing communities
- Continuously track and evaluate consumer service-related innovations, along with other digital and technological advancements, that are relevant to our business, and share with leadership (i.e., be the “eyes and ears” of digital innovation trends for the benefit of the entire all divisions and across the brands)
What We Are Looking For:
- Bachelor’s degree in related field
- Experience navigating the early-stage technology ecosystem, including established relationships with venture capital (VC) firms, startup incubators, accelerators, and emerging tech founders
- A proven track record of actively scouting, vetting, and evaluating early-stage companies, developer platforms, and technical capabilities against specific business needs
- Experience negotiating pilot parameters, structuring Proofs of Concept (PoCs), and navigating corporate procurement, legal, and IT security guidelines to onboard external startup vendors
- Direct experience working with, building, or implementing consumer-facing GenAI applications, beauty tech and gaming platform integrations
- Ability to identify "the next big thing" in tech and consumer behavior before it becomes mainstream, synthesizing trends and insights and translating them into partnership strategies
- Must have a true passion and understanding of gaming, AI and the beauty tech landscape
- 10+ years of digital marketing, marketing, entertainment marketing, project management, consumer insights or start-up/tech experience
- Self-starter, highly organized, detail-oriented and focused on projects from developing the vision and strategy to executing and evaluating the results
- Ability to interact with and present to all levels of the organization, including top management
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, demanding environment with a positive and team-oriented, collaborative approach
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft applications including PowerPoint, Word and Excel required. Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite InDesign, Photoshop a plus
What’s In It For You:
- Salary Range: $138-200K
- Competitive Benefit Package (Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K, Pension Plan)
- Hybrid Work Policy (3 Days in Office, 2 Days Work from Home)
- Flexible Time Off (Paid Company Holidays, Paid Vacation, Vacation Buy Program, Volunteer Time, Summer Fridays & More!)
- Access to Company Perks (VIP Access to L’Oréal’s Internal Shop for Discounted Products, Monthly Mobile Allowance)
- Learning & Development Opportunities (Unlimited Access to E-learnings, Lunch & Learn Sessions, Mentorship Programs, & More!)
- Employee Resource Groups (Think Tanks and Innovation Squads)
- Access to Mental Health & Wellness Programs
Don’t meet every single requirement?At L'Oréal, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and innovative workplace. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with the qualifications listed in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways! You may just be the right candidate for this or other roles!
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and take pride in a diverse environment. We would love to find out more about you as a candidate and do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, or other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital or veteran status, medical condition or disability, or any other legally protected status.
If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to access job openings or apply for a job on this site as a result of your disability. You can request reasonable accommodations by contacting USApplicationAccommodation@support.lorealusa.com. If you need assistance to accommodate a disability, you may request an accommodation at any time.
Our Safe Together Plan: Your safety is our highest priority. We will proceed with caution and adhere to enhanced protection standards to ensure our sites are safe for all employees. We must all operate with the shared responsibility for each other’s health & safety in mind.
AI Charter: our pact
Why a Pact? At L’Oréal, innovation has been in our DNA for over 115 years. As we invent the future of beauty, we see Artificial Intelligence as a powerful co-pilot, with the firm belief that technology must always serve people. This pact is our commitment to you: we want to be transparent about how we use AI during the recruitment journey, and we invite you to use it in a way that showcases your unique talents. Above all, we believe in a journey that is ethical, transparent, and human.
View our AI Charter (opens in new window)
What’s different
about working at L'Oréal?
People often expect a global company of our size to run on rigid rules and strict playbooks. We don’t. What makes L’Oréal different is our entrepreneurial mindset. Whether you work in tech, finance, supply chain, or marketing, you aren’t here just to follow instructions. You are here to take ownership and shape your own projects from day one.
The pace is fast, and the learning curve is steep. But in return, you get the trust to try new things and the support to make a real impact. If you want a role where your voice actually shapes the work and the chance to work in over 40 worldwide brands, this is where you do it.
You’d be a great fit. We’d love to see you apply.
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