Finding a Haircare Product Developer Who Could Truly Operate Solo

This was a 0→1 search for a narrow profile.

Routine needed someone to own the entire function personally, with no PM, junior developer, or wider product team to catch what fell through.

The ideal candidate needed:

• Brand-side haircare development depth, not an adjacent category
• Direct, hands-on management of CMs and fragrance houses
• End-to-end ownership from concept through launch
• Comfort running product development as a team of one

Several strong candidates came from adjacent categories like skincare, body care, and color cosmetics. The missing piece was haircare specifically, and it came up as a gap on McKinzie's screening calls again and again.

Operating style ruled people out too. Anyone used to handing PD tasks to junior staff, or working with more infrastructure around them, wasn't going to fit. Routine is a lean team, and this person had to do the work themselves.

Finding Someone Who Had Already Done the Job

Constant Hire identified a candidate whose previous experience closely mirrored the structure Routine was building. The hired candidate had been the sole product developer at Raw Sugar, where she owned haircare and personal care products from concept through launch.

Her experience included:

• Managing roughly 30 formulas per cycle
• Direct CM and fragrance house management
• On-site production oversight
• End-to-end ownership of product development

The other two finalists each had one gap. One had strong innovation experience but no brand-side hair launches. The other had deep formulation expertise but less end-to-end brand-side hair experience.

She was the only finalist who had already run product development solo at a haircare-first brand built like Routine.

Our Approach

Technical Screening Built Around the Actual Job

Constant Hire didn't rely on resumes to determine whether candidates had the right technical background.

Constant Hire recruiter McKinzie Welschmeyer ran a technical screen with all 8 candidates, going deep on the areas Routine's role depended on:

• Haircare development depth
• CM relationships
• Packaging vendor ownership
• Fragrance house workflows
• Testing and scale-up experience
• Ability to operate effectively as a team of one, including whether the candidate had relied on junior support in past roles

McKinzie logged written comparison notes on those same areas after each screen and sent them to Routine alongside the candidates. The hiring team could weigh haircare depth and vendor ownership side by side before the first client interview.

McKinzie also handled the logistics personally. That meant building a tight interview schedule around the hired candidate's planned trips and chasing down a reference who was traveling internationally. It also meant raising start-date, working-hours, and international remote work questions early, before they turned into surprises on Routine's side.

Process

• 8 candidates interviewed
• 5 candidates submitted
• 4 client interview rounds
• 4 client stakeholders
• 34 days to offer
• 3 finalists
• 1 offer
• Reference checks completed

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A Product Development Leader Who Hit the Ground Running

Routine now has one person owning product development end to end, ahead of its push into broader retail.

And the early feedback suggests the fit was strong. When McKinzie checked in shortly after her start, the new hire said:

“I feel like I hit the ground running really fast. Feels like I've been here forever.”

Ramp speed carries more weight on a 0→1 hire, because there was no existing product team for her to lean on while she learned the business.

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Positioning Highlight

This case study demonstrates Constant Hire's ability to:

• Technical screens on all 8 candidates covering haircare formulation, CM and fragrance house workflows, packaging vendor ownership, and testing and scale-up, with written comparison notes sent to the client
• Separating true haircare launch experience from adjacent skincare, body care, and cosmetics backgrounds, the gap that kept surfacing across the pool
• Screening out candidates who depend on delegating to junior developers, for a role with no product team underneath it
• Scheduling interviews around the finalist's travel, chasing an international reference, and raising remote-work terms before the offer stage