Most formulation jobs will hand you a tight brief, a spec sheet, and a ceiling.
This one won't.
We're Skuu - a contract manufacturer and formulation house building something genuinely different in the UK beauty industry. We work across skincare, haircare, and body, and we have a habit of asking why the industry does things a certain way before deciding whether to follow suit.
We need a junior formulation chemist who wants to be at the bench, not behind a desk. Someone who finds the question "what if we pushed this further?" more interesting than "what does the standard say?"
You'll work directly alongside our NPD lead, developing new formulations from scratch across our full product range. You'll run trials, test hypotheses, document your work, and build your instincts fast - because this environment will accelerate you in ways a larger, slower business simply can't.
Skuu Group — Market Rasen, Lincolnshire On-site · 4 days/week · 10-hour days
- Bench formulation across skincare, haircare, and body categories
- Develop new products from concept through to stable, manufacturable formula - For a range of customer brands across the sector, and for Skuu’s own brands.
- Run and interpret lab trials, iterate quickly, document clearly
- Challenge existing approaches - we don't do "this is how it's always been done"
- Collaborate closely with our NPD lead and wider technical team
An SCS Diploma or a relevant degree (chemistry, cosmetic science, or similar) gives you the baseline we need. Beyond that, credentials matter a lot less than character.
We want someone who:
- Gets genuinely excited about formulation — not as a job, but as a craft
- Learns fast and is honest about what they don't know yet
- Has the hunger to grow into a senior role, not just perform a junior one
- Shows up ready to do the work, not waiting to be told what it is
- Can take feedback, apply it, and come back sharper
If you've done personal projects, independent experimentation, or anything outside of a formal lab environment that shows you care about this — tell us about it.
- Direct mentorship from an experienced NPD lead in a hands-on environment
- Genuine scope to grow fast — this business is scaling and the team is compact
- Work that matters: your formulations will go to market, not sit in a pipeline
- A culture that rewards initiative rather than tenure
- 4-day working week (10-hour days) at our HQ in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire — 30 minutes from Lincoln city centre
Send us your CV and a short note - not a cover letter, just a few sentences - telling us what you've made, what it taught you, and what you want to get better at.
Applications that could have been written for any job won't make the cut. Show us who you actually are.
Apply to: careers@skuu.uk