Product Development and Purchasing Specialist

Sweet Water Decor, LLC; Cranberry Township, Northern (Butler County, KY); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Sweet Water Decor is seeking a detail‑driven Product Development & Purchasing Specialist to own the day‑to‑day of bringing candle and home décor concepts to life, coordinating with Design, Brand, Merchandising, Inventory Planning, Marketing, Operations, and overseas manufacturing partners. Based in Cranberry Township, PA, this hybrid role requires three onsite days with two remote days.

You’ll manage timelines, samples, specs, POs, pricing, and vendor relationships to ensure launches hit

Qualifications

• Experience in product development, purchasing, sourcing, merchandising, project management, or supply chain.
• Strong organizational and project management skills with high attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; capable of coordinating with multiple stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Manage product development timelines from approved concept through launch
• Coordinate product samples, revisions, approvals, and testing
• Maintain accurate product specifications and documentation
• Track milestones and proactively keep projects moving
• Ensure products meet quality, compliance, and operational requirements before launch
• Create and manage purchase orders
• Communicate daily with domestic and international vendors
• Confirm and negotiate pricing, lead times, MOQ's, production schedules, and delivery dates
• Monitor open orders and proactively resolve delays
• Build strong vendor relationships while maintaining accountability
• Coordinate communication across Product Development, Design, Brand, Marketing, Inventory, Operations, and Warehouse teams
• Keep stakeholders informed on timelines, risks, and project status
• Ensure all launch deliverables are accurate and completed on schedule
• Escalate issues early with recommended solutions
• Identify opportunities to improve workflows and systems
• Help create scalable processes, templates, SOPs, and documentation
• Improve visibility and efficiency throughout the product development lifecycle

Skills

Product development

Purchasing

Vendor management

Project management

Sourcing

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

NON-TOXIC CANDLES & REED DIFFUSERS - POURED IN THE USA

Product Development and Purchasing Specialist

About The Job

About Sweet Water Decor At Sweet Water Decor, we create thoughtfully designed candles, home decor, and gifts that help people celebrate life's meaningful moments. We're looking for an organized, proactive Product Development & Purchasing Specialist to help bring new products from concept to launch. If you love managing projects, working with vendors, staying organized, and making sure every detail comes together flawlessly, we'd love to meet you. About the role You'll own the day-to-day execution of our product development and purchasing process - from bringing to life product concepts through production and launch. Working closely with Design, Brand, Merchandising, Inventory Planning, Marketing, Operations, and our overseas manufacturing partners, you'll keep projects moving, solve problems before they become roadblocks, and ensure launches happen on time. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys being the operational backbone behind bringing great products to market. This role requires working onsite three days per week at our Cranberry Township, PA office, with the flexibility to work remotely two days per week. Candidates should be willing and able to adjust their remote schedule as needed to attend product meetings, collaboration sessions, and other in-office business needs.

• Manage product development timelines from approved concept through launch
• Coordinate product samples, revisions, approvals, and testing
• Maintain accurate product specifications and documentation
• Track milestones and proactively keep projects movingEnsure products meet quality, compliance, and operational requirements before launch
• Create and manage purchase orders
• Communicate daily with domestic and international vendors
• Confirm and negotiate pricing, lead times, MOQ's, production schedules, and delivery dates
• Monitor open orders and proactively resolve delays
• Build strong vendor relationships while maintaining accountability

Cross-Functional Project Management

• Coordinate communication across Product Development, Design, Brand, Marketing, Inventory, Operations, and Warehouse teams
• Keep stakeholders informed on timelines, risks, and project status
• Ensure all launch deliverables are accurate and completed on schedule
• Escalate issues early with recommended solutions

Process improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve workflows and systems
• Help create scalable processes, templates, SOPs, and documentation
• Improve visibility and efficiency throughout the product development lifecycle

What Success Looks Like

You’ll thrive in this role if you

• Enjoy working in a small business environment
• Enjoy working in a small business environment
• Keep multiple product launches moving simultaneously
• Stay highly organized without losing sight of details
• Communicate well with others and proactively
• Take ownership and follow through
• Solve problems independently while knowing when to escape
• Help improve the way we work, not just complete today's tasks

What We’re Looking For

• Experience in product development, purchasing, sourcing, merchandising, project management, or supply chain
• Exceptional organizational and project management skillsHigh attention to detail
• Strong written and verbal communication
• Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously
• Comfortable working cross-functionally with many stakeholders
• Experience working with overseas manufacturers is a plus
• Purchasing or consumer products experience preferred

WHY YOu'll Love working here

• Collaborative and creative team
• Opportunity to help shape products customers love
• Small business environment where your work has visible impact