Overview
The Design Museum is the world’s leading museum devoted to contemporary design in all its forms, supported by a diverse Commercial & Operations directorate.
As part of our Commercial Transformation 2029 strategy, we have created a new Senior Product & Merchandising Manager role to help deliver our Shop DESIGN, Support CHANGE vision.
This is an exciting opportunity to lead the end‑to‑end retail and licensing product lifecycle and shape a creative, commercially successful retail experience.
About the role
The Senior Product & Merchandising Manager leads the product vision, developing and delivering a clear product strategy, aligning buying and merchandising plans to drive income growth, profitability and long‑term brand value.
Working closely with Buying, Merchandising and Operations, you will play a key role in shaping and delivering the strategic transformation of the museum’s retail offer.
Key areas of focus include:
- Leading the delivery of the product pillar within the commercial transformation strategy, defining and executing a cohesive implementation plan.
- Shaping and integrating partnerships within the wider product strategy, including licensing, limited editions, touring/B2B and ecommerce exclusives.
- Benchmarking trends, materials, market developments and competitor retail, sharing insights to inform product direction.
- Overseeing the delivery and embedding of commercial brand guidelines, ensuring clarity, cohesion and a consistent visual language.
- Overseeing delivery of buying and merchandising targets and overall retail KPIs, including income, profit, conversion and average transaction value.
About you
We are looking for someone who brings:
- Strong creative flair and the ability to excite and influence others about a clear product vision.
- Experience as a senior buyer and product developer, ideally within a cultural setting, with an interest in design.
- Demonstrable merchandising experience in a fast‑paced environment.
- A commercially aware approach, with a proven track record of achieving targets, negotiating terms and maintaining strong supplier and stakeholder relationships.
- Excellent communication skills, including managing complex external relationships.
- Excellent time management skills and the ability to prioritise a complex workload in a changing environment with tight deadlines.
The complete job description (including the person specification) is available to download on this page.
Terms and Conditions
Salary: up to £48,000 per annum
Holidays: 25 days + Christmas eve (museum closed)
Hours: 35 hours/5 days per week
Location: the Design Museum Kensington is the place of work - with a hybrid arrangement of 60% of an employee’s role to be performed at the museum and 40% remote.
Closing date: Sunday 14 June (midnight)
Interviews: Thursday 25 June & Wednesday 01 July
Queries
If you encounter any issues while completing your application, please email [email protected] before the vacancy closing date. We will be in touch as soon as possible; (please note the inbox is monitored Monday-Friday).
FAQs: https://careers.designmuseum.org/faqs
