Lead Upholstery Cover Strategist

Comfort starts with our 10,000+ team members across the globe, who are transforming the power of comfort every day. Our employees have the power to change lives, in our homes, work and communities. We foster an inclusive environment while honoring a legacy built on family, where everyone can be themselves. If you are ready to join an industry leading organization where our people are the most important asset, and innovation propels us into the future, you’re ready to take your seat at La-Z-Boy Incorporated.

WE BELIEVE IN THE TRANSFORMATIONAL POWER OF COMFORT

This role leads the textile and leather cover strategy, driving supplier diversification, material innovation, and competitive differentiation through the development of trend-forward color, material, and finish direction across all product categories. Partner cross-functionally to align sourcing, engineering, and design strategies with business and product objectives. Responsible for the strategy and performance of covers with accountability for driving go-to-market success, long-term category health, and profitable growth.

Grounded in a consumer-first mindset, this position defines cover strategy that will bring to life the product concepts—including fit, form, and function—ensuring solutions meet evolving customer needs and deliver meaningful value. This role supports the cover strategy, design trends and consumer needs to bring competitive, high-impact products to market and owns the cover launch process & collaborates cross-functionally to deliver sales enablement, training, and consistent messaging across all consumer touchpoints.

• Owns cover (textile & leather) strategy for all categories through market growth opportunities & consumer insights defining a cover roadmap that maximizes sales and cross-category profitability.
• Develops balanced and curated assortment of covers that delivers on Wholesale and La-Z-Boy Stores merchandising needs.
• Leads cover decisions for all categories, inclusive of new introductions, partnering with the Product Design Category leads, Supply Chain & R&D Executes cover to frame decisions for High-point Market showroom.
• Partners with Product & Price Leadership on cover life cycle, target price points and volumes.
• Conducts competitive research industry trends textile, leather, cover innovation, color & interior design trends.
• Partners with Product & Price Leadership on product / cover life cycle decisions and target price points and volumes.
• Partners with the Marketing on product/cover positioning, messaging and go-to-market assets.
• Provides input to R&D and Quality teams on covers is responsible for approvals.
• Directs the design and technical construction of new cover developments with vendor partners to ensure strategic needs are met.
• Develops and manages the cover strategy and seeks out new innovative textile discoveries.
• Partners with Sourcing & Procurement on new vendor evaluations to support supplier diversification efforts, ensuring capability requirements are met.
• Leads the curation of new fabric and leathers each High-point market to maintain a balanced line assortment.
• Responsible for the swatch strategy across sales channel, defining swatch requirements and budget.

Key to Product Design Team, this role owns the strategic direction for covers (textile & leather) for all La-Z-Boy upholstery categories, with accountability for delivering profitable growth, successful go-to-market execution, and sustained category health. This role leads cross-functional collaboration both as a key stakeholder and strategic partner—to shape innovation pipelines, and ensure products are grounded in consumer needs and market opportunities.

It partners with cover vendors directing the design and technical construction of new product developments.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Textiles, Design or related field with 8-10 years of relevant experience or equivalent.
• 3 – 5 years Leadership/Supervisory experience.
• Strong project management and organizational skills, including the ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously for different audiences and…