Chief Merchandising & Product Development Officer

Vesta Home

13h • Remote

About The Position

Vesta Home is seeking a Chief Merchandising & Product Development Officer to lead the company’s end-to-end product strategy across staging, retail, and hospitality/contract channels. Reporting directly to the founders, this role will oversee Merchandising, Product Development, and Product Design teams, serving as product visionary for the rapidly scaling home brand. This position will play a pivotal role in shaping Vesta’s next phase of growth through the development of proprietary product collections that elevate the client experience, strengthen brand equity, and accelerate scalable organizational growth across all business channels. The ideal candidate brings a rare combination of creative leadership, merchandising discipline, operational rigor, and product development expertise. They must possess extensive experience building and scaling product organizations within premium or luxury home furnishings environments, with in-depth understanding of overseas sourcing and manufacturing. While strong traditional merchandising acumen is essential, the ideal candidate must also possess the strategic agility to adapt and evolve conventional retail models to support the unique operational and economic dynamics of a staging-driven business. This role requires both strategic vision and hands-on executional leadership within a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment undergoing significant expansion and operational transformation.

Requirements

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience within premium or luxury home furnishings, interiors, retail, hospitality, or vertically integrated consumer brands.
• Significant executive-level experience overseeing merchandising, product development, sourcing, and category management functions.
• Strong expertise in global manufacturing and sourcing.
• Proven track record developing and scaling proprietary product programs within high-growth environments.
• Strong understanding of product lifecycle management, inventory strategy, margin optimization, and operational infrastructure.
• Demonstrated ability to build high-performing teams and scalable organizational processes.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, negotiation, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Highly refined aesthetic sensibility paired with strong commercial and operational acumen.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to operate strategically while remaining deeply execution-oriented.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with luxury home furnishings or interior brands.
• Experience with design-driven retail organizations.
• Experience with hospitality or contract furniture businesses.
• Experience with home furnishings businesses managing proprietary product development, owned inventory, and multi-channel customer sales.
• Experience in rapid-growth or founder-led environments.
• Experience with businesses managing both owned inventory and customer-facing retail channels.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the company-wide merchandising strategy for all categories across all business channels, including home staging, direct-to-consumer retail, and hospitality/contract.
• Build and oversee Buying team with category specific Buyers responsible for product development and off the shelf growth channels for their respective categories.
• Balance long-term proprietary product development initiatives with the need for building and scaling near-term/just in time vendor partnerships.
• Build a cohesive long-term product roadmap that aligns brand vision, customer demand, financial objectives, and operational scalability.
• Develop category strategies that balance core replenishment programs with new product innovation and proprietary design initiatives.
• Establish disciplined assortment architecture, pricing strategies, & lifecycle planning across all home categories.
• Direct global sourcing and manufacturing to develop strategic vendor partnerships and scalable production capabilities.
• Drive the evolution of Vesta’s product assortment into a distinctive proprietary collection that strengthens brand recognition and market positioning.
• Partner closely with founders to shape the long-term creative and commercial vision of the brand through product leadership.
• Serve as a key steward of the Vesta aesthetic, ensuring consistency and elevation across all product categories, collections, and customer touchpoints.
• Lead the development of product narratives and collection strategies that reinforce the brand’s positioning within the premium staging and home furnishings markets.
• Partner cross-functionally with sales, operations, and marketing teams to ensure alignment between product vision, visual presentation, customer experience, and commercial objectives.
• Identify emerging market trends, whitespace opportunities, and evolving customer preferences to inform future product direction and category expansion.
• Champion a product point of view that balances timeless design, market relevance, operational practicality, and long-term asset performance.
• Drive a culture of product excellence rooted in craftsmanship, refinement, and disciplined execution.
• Establish the long-term product development and design roadmap, ensuring alignment between design innovation, merchandising strategy, sourcing capabilities, operational feasibility, and financial objectives.
• Provide executive leadership and strategic oversight over all product development efforts ensuring successful product execution, quality assurance, optimal vendor management, targeted financial objectives, and long-term business scalability.
• Lead and develop the VP of Product Development and associated teams, building the organizational capabilities, talent, and processes required to support the company’s growth objectives.
• Oversee internal and contract-based design teams to ensure design sits at the heart of Vesta’s offering and that product reflects Vesta’s aesthetic vision, quality standards, craftsmanship expectations, and client experience objectives.
• Build and scale high-performing teams across Merchandising, Product Development, and Product Design functions.
• Recruit, mentor, and develop organizational talent capable of supporting aggressive business growth and increasing operational complexity.
• Partner closely with founders and cross-functional leaders in inventory, logistics, and sales to establish scalable processes, operational discipline, and organizational infrastructure across the business.
• Partner cross-functionally with inventory planning, logistics, and operations teams to improve forecasting, inventory productivity, replenishment systems, and supply chain performance.
• Partner closely with Creative Directors to understand market-specific client needs and identify product solutions that support successful project outcomes.
• Foster a culture that balances creativity, accountability, agility, collaboration, and measurable business impact.
• Develop strategies that maximize product utilization, inventory productivity, customer conversion, and long-term asset performance.
• Drive financial performance through improved gross margins, strategic assortment planning, inventory efficiency, and proprietary product growth.
• Partner with sales leadership to increase furniture attachment rates and product conversion from staged homes to end consumers.
• Oversee a product strategy that recognizes inventory not only as merchandise, but as a revenue-generating asset deployed across multiple business channels.
• Implement frameworks that evaluate lifecycle profitability, per-piece ROI, utilization rates, repair costs, downtime, and long-term asset productivity.
• Utilize and help define data inputs, analytics, and customer insights to inform merchandising decisions and identify growth opportunities across channels.

Benefits

• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• 401k
• Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Employer-covered Life Insurance and Long-Term Disability (LTD) plans (with Medical Insurance election)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed