VP Product Merchandising and Management

About Us

Napa Home & Garden is a wholesale home décor brand headquartered in Norcross, GA, and one in a family of highly regarded brands under C&F Enterprises. Known for its distinctive seasonal aesthetic and curated product assortments, Napa serves style-conscious independent boutique retailers, regional chains, hospitality and trade customers, and a growing direct-to-consumer channel. We source from 30–50 active factories across six countries and operate on a 12–18 month seasonal development cycle with two primary launches per year.

Napa is at a meaningful inflection point - investing in operational infrastructure, modernizing our product development engine, and building the leadership team that will take the business to its next level. This is a rare opportunity for a commercially-minded, hands-on product executive to step into a VP role, make a lasting organizational impact, and grow with a brand that is just getting started.

The Opportunity

The VP Product Merchandising and Management is a senior leadership role responsible for the full product lifecycle - from creative concept through factory-ready development and commercial launch. This leader manages and develops the product team, builds scalable processes, and serves as the critical bridge between creative vision, vendor relationships, and commercial execution.

This is a hybrid role based at our Norcross, GA headquarters. Given the hands-on, collaborative nature of the work and the team leadership responsibilities, candidates should expect to be in the office one day during the work week. International travel (approximately 15–25% annually) is required, primarily for sourcing trips to Asia and Europe.

This role reports directly to the President/CEO and is a key member of the senior leadership team.

Key Responsibilities

Product Strategy & Merchandising (40%)

• Develop and lead a product and merchandising strategy that drives sales, margin, and market share across wholesale and DTC channels
• Curate trend-right, commercially viable assortments using customer insight, category data, and market signals
• Partner with the Creative Director to align creative direction with business and channel goals; serve as the commercial bridge between design vision and go-to-market execution
• Guide the team in trend forecasting, category planning, pricing strategy, and line architecture across two seasonal collections per year
• Source and grow partnerships with global vendors to support quality, design, and margin goals; travel internationally to build relationships, shop vendor lines, and finalize assortments
• Actively identify and develop D2C-exclusive SKU programs to support channel diversification
• Co-lead pricing and portfolio strategy alongside the President, ensuring alignment with brand positioning and margin targets

Product Development & Delivery (30%)

• Own the end-to-end product development calendar, ensuring on-time execution from concept through pre-production sample approval
• Standardize and document the development process, establishing clear stage gates, decision rights, and team handoffs at each stage
• Ensure timely and accurate product data across Aprise ERP, Plytix PIM, and related systems; partner with the e-commerce team on downstream data needs
• Lead PLM system evaluation and implementation in partnership with Operations and IT
• Partner with Purchasing on order accuracy, container optimization, invoice reconciliation, and inventory health
• Partner with Warehouse to ensure quality and delivery standards are met

Business & Team Leadership (30%)

• Own delivery of revenue and margin targets based on financial plans; bring disciplined commercial accountability to product decisions
• Lead, coach, and develop a 6-person product development team; build a culture of ownership, clarity, and continuous improvement
• Clarify roles and responsibilities across the development-to-product management continuum; establish and enforce clear handoff protocols
• Monitor market and category trends to inform strategy and guide cross-functional decision-making
• Lead vendor negotiations and pricing strategies for each season's assortment
• Communicate clearly and proactively across functions regarding assortment, inventory, and business optimization opportunities

Skills & Competencies

• Humble, people-centered leadership style - the next leader will earn influence through consistency, clarity, and genuine investment in people
• Ability to influence legacy processes - comfort respectfully challenging established ways of working and building new habits across a tenured team
• Strong commercial acumen - a data-informed mindset with the ability to translate trend and customer insight into margin-accretive decisions
• Cross-functional collaboration - exceptional ability to work across creative, operations, finance, sales, and marketing; a true integrator
• Brand ambassadorship - articulate and passionate communicator of Napa's brand story at trade shows, vendor meetings, and key customer interactions
• Strong eye for design with the ability to translate aesthetic direction into commercial opportunity
• Global sourcing fluency - experience working with diverse teams and factory partners across complex international supply chains
• Systems competency - skilled in ERP environments; experience with PLM preferred

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Merchandising, Marketing, or a related field
• 15+ years of progressive experience in wholesale merchandising, product development, or buying within the home décor, home furnishings, gift, or lifestyle space
• 5+ years leading multi-person product or merchandising teams
• Hands-on experience managing international factory relationships; comfortable with 15–25% international travel
• Demonstrated ability to build or significantly improve product development processes in a mid-size organization
Experience managing assortments for home décor brands
• $20M in annual sales
• Proven success developing talent, improving team capability, and driving succession

Preferred

• Experience with PLM system implementation (Surefront, Centric, BlueCherry, or comparable)
• Background in both wholesale and DTC channel environments
• Familiarity with hospitality or trade product development or sales channels

Physical & Work Environment Requirements

• Hybrid position; on-site presence expected one day per week in Norcross, GA
• Prolonged use of computer; use of hands and finger coordination; specific vision abilities required
• Sitting, standing, walking throughout the workday
• Ability to lift, carry, push, and pull boxes and sample orders up to 50 lbs.
• Ability and willingness to travel internationally (15–25% annually) to work with global suppliers and attend trade markets

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Flexible Spending Account
• Health savings account
• 401(k) and 401(k) matching
• Company paid life insurance and long-term disability insurance
• Voluntary Life Insurance
• Voluntary Short-Term Disability
• Paid time off

All applicants are required to successfully complete a background check and drug screening as part of the pre-employment process. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States at the time of application and must not require sponsorship now or in the future.

Napa is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to recruiting, hiring, and promoting qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process, please contact hr@cnfei.com.

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