Stability Chemist - R&D

Stability Chemist - R&D
Ontario, CA (on-site) | $30-$40/hr DOE | Full-time, non-exempt

About the company
We're an established personal care manufacturer with more than 30 years in business. We make skincare, cosmetic, household, and specialty products for well-known national brands and for our own product lines. We've roughly doubled in size over the past four years and have new investment behind our growth. The culture is family-oriented, leadership is accessible, and growth opportunities keep opening up as we expand.

The role
You'll join our R&D team, reporting to the R&D Director. You'll develop and refine formulations for a wide range of personal care and consumer products, and you'll run the stability program that sets shelf life for finished goods. This is a development role: we want to hire a strong chemist and grow them into a senior formulator.

What you'll do

• Develop, adjust, and optimize formulations for skincare, cosmetic, household, and specialty products
• Make lab-scale batches, and support scale-up and troubleshooting with production
• Run accelerated and real-time stability studies to set shelf life
• Test samples for appearance, pH, viscosity, specific gravity, weight loss, assay, and preservative efficacy (PET)
• Coordinate outside lab testing, such as HRIPT, kill testing, and assay
• Work with Sales and Project Management on customer projects and out-of-spec results
• Keep accurate formulation records, stability reports, and weekly activity reports
• Maintain a clean, safe lab that follows all safety rules

What you bring

• Bachelor's degree in chemistry or a related science
• 1+ years of hands-on formulation or R&D lab experience in personal care, cosmetics, OTC, or consumer products
• Working knowledge of emulsions, surfactants, and preservative systems
• Stability testing experience, and comfort with pH meters, viscometers, homogenizers, and analytical balances
• Strong Excel skills and clean documentation habits
• Curiosity, initiative, and a desire to grow into senior formulation work

Why join us

• A clear development path into senior formulator roles
• Hands-on work across a wide product range for recognizable brands
• Company-wide events, including a summer employee appreciation day and a holiday party, plus an employee-run committee that plans activities all year
• Regular town halls and open Q&A sessions with leadership
• A stable, growing company with strong investment behind it

Work environment
This is an on-site lab role in a manufacturing facility. It can be loud at times, and you'll need to lift up to 20 lbs occasionally.