Elte
Product Director: Furniture & Bath
Elte is a company driven by a deep commitment to quality, craft, and timeless design. We are focused on thoughtful growth-building a business that values excellence over scale and long-term impact over short-term gain. We are looking for a leader who is passionate about design, obsessed with execution, and motivated by driving results across every dimension of product performance.
Elte’s furniture and bath categories are at the heart of our offering, and it’s the Product Director’s job to lead, manage, and evolve these categories with precision and purpose. From assortment planning and vendor negotiations to showroom presentation and customer experience, this role operates at the intersection of design integrity and operational efficiency. Whether it’s a handcrafted vanity or a custom-upholstered sofa, one thing remains constant: The Product Director ensures every product reflects our values, meets our customer’s needs, and helps Elte set the standard for home furnishings.
Mission
- Own the business performance of Elte’s furniture and bath categories-including sales, margin, inventory, and service-related outcomes-by leading the product management team, coordinating with internal partners, and executing against a defined strategic direction through effective assortment planning, vendor and pricing management, go-to-market readiness, and process excellence.
This role reports directly to the Co-President/Chief Product Officer.
Responsibilities
- Monitor the weekly performance of our furniture and bath categories across three key dimensions: core financials (e.g., sales and margin), inventory (e.g., in-stock rate, open-to-buy usage, and healthy inventory percentage), and product-related customer experience (e.g., average lead time, lead time accuracy, product issue rate, and NPS score), identifying risks and opportunities, developing strategies to address them, and executing accordingly to drive results.
- Lead, manage, and hold accountable the furniture and bath product management team-providing day-to-day guidance, issue resolution support, and fostering cross-category collaboration to ensure category-level financial performance is achieved in a way that is consistent with our brand.
- Create and execute a seasonal process to optimize our furniture and bath assortments-analyzing sales data, gathering vendor feedback, and conducting internal sales surveys to identify bestsellers to augment, assortment gaps to fill, and poor performers to exit-ensuring all proposed additions and removals are submitted for approval before action is taken.
- Champion the strategic growth of Elte-branded products by managing their performance and leading the execution of cross-functional initiatives-including marketing campaigns, brand partnerships, and new sales channels.
- Oversee the showroom product presentation by partnering with product managers and visual merchandising, establishing a seasonal process for determining which products are shown in-store, the materials and configurations they are displayed in, and the product pairings used-prioritizing newness and bestsellers to support strategic direction and drive sales performance.
- Create and manage a master calendar for our furniture and bath categories that aligns the product team (as well as other internal teams) and holds them accountable to key seasonal timelines (e.g., product launches, order deadlines, clearance decisions, and promotional outreach).
- Oversee all sales tools and resources-including swatches, samples, price lists, catalogs, vendor information sheets, and the coordination of internal and external product trainings-to ensure the sales team is fully equipped to support successful product launches and ongoing category performance.
- Establish and execute a proactive pricing process to ensure our products remain competitive and margin-optimized-regularly updating pricing in response to vendor cost changes, competitive quotes, market research, and other relevant inputs.
- Own and manage our top vendor relationships-including key cross-category partners-by conducting regular business reviews and leading negotiations, while aligning efforts across the broader product team to improve pricing, terms, and promotional or marketing support-ensuring strong, strategic partnerships.
- Coordinate with internal teams-including marketing, e-commerce, sales, inventory, visual merchandising, and product development-to ensure alignment on strategic initiatives, seasonal execution, and ongoing efforts to improve product performance and customer experience.
- Identify, develop, and refine core processes for recurring workflows (e.g., seasonal launches, vendor price updates, clearance decisions, and vendor sales leads) to create clear systems that reduce friction, improve execution, and free up strategic focus.
Experience Requirements
- 3+ years in director-level role overseeing buyers/category managers (or equivalent)
- 5+ years in retail buying/category manager (or equivalent)
Competencies
- Entrepreneurial mindset with a strong sense of ownership and resourcefulness
- Experience in home furnishings and/or luxury retail
- Proven ability to lead, develop and grow high-performing teams
- Execution-focused with a track record of delivering results and driving accountability
- Strong project-management skills with the ability to execute complex, cross-functional initiatives
- Strong vendor relationship and negotiation skills
- Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to identify core issues and develop effective solutions
- Strong analytical skills with comfort interpreting financial data to inform decisions
- Highly organized (e.g., using trackers, managing timelines, etc.)
- Strong communication skills
- Flexibility to travel for seasonal business needs
Company Values
- We are committed to quality. We sweat the details. We are motivated by being great, not big.
We are the tortoise, not the hare. - We are hands-on. We roll up our sleeves, take initiative, and get things done. We dive deep and go right to the source.
We don’t point out issues without suggesting solutions. - We are open-minded. We are curious, we ask questions, and we are always eager to learn. We are nimble, light on our feet, and embrace change.
- We are humble.
We don’t have egos. We aren’t afraid to ask dumb questions or admit we don’t know the answer. We have empathy for our clients, our partners, and each other.
If you are interested in this career opportunity, we’d love to hear from you!.
Elte thanks all applicants who apply, but also those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.
In accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code, Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, and Elte Accommodation Policy, accommodation will be provided in all parts of the hiring process. Applicants need to make their needs known in advance.
