Product Development Specialist - Yarn & Specialty Retail

Product Development Specialist

The Woolly Thistle | West Lebanon, NH

Full-Time | 40 hours per week

Starting compensation: $23.08/hour (approximately $48,000 annually)

The Woolly Thistle is a growing ecommerce retailer specializing in thoughtfully sourced wool yarns, knitting kits, and products for makers. We're looking for an organized, creative, and analytically minded Product Development Specialist to join our team!

This is an exciting opportunity to help bring new products to market, develop curated knitting kits and specialty collections, collaborate with vendors and designers, and contribute to a growing Product Department.

This is a retail product development and merchandising role, rather than a manufacturing or engineering position.

• Kit & Collection Development: Curate yarns, colorways, and product combinations for knitting kits, seasonal boxes, and special collections.
• Product Development:
  Research product opportunities, prepare proposals, and manage projects from initial planning through launch.
• Project Management: Coordinate timelines, vendor communication, ordering requirements, and product launch readiness.
• Product Performance: Review sales and inventory data to identify opportunities for new products, restocks, assortment improvements, and discontinuations.
• Pricing & Profitability:
  Develop pricing recommendations, calculate costs and margins, and support profitable product decisions.
• Collaboration: Work closely with Product, Marketing, Inventory, Operations, designers, and vendors to bring projects to life.

• Experience in product development, retail merchandising, buying, ecommerce, or a related field.
• Strong organizational and project-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
• Confidence working with spreadsheets, pricing, margins, and sales data.
• Good product judgment, attention to detail, and creative problem-solving skills.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate across teams.
• A proactive, independent approach to managing projects and making recommendations.
• Familiarity with knitting, yarn, fiber arts, or specialty retail is strongly preferred.

We're a busy, growing company with a passion for wool, creativity, and the community of makers we serve. Our Product Department is evolving, offering opportunities to contribute ideas, develop exciting new products, and help shape the processes that support our continued growth.

If you enjoy combining creativity with analytical thinking, love bringing products to market, and thrive in a collaborative, growing business, we'd love to hear from you!