Sr. Manager, Product & Merchandising

<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The Senior Manager, Product & Merchandising serves as Virgin Galactic's lead merchandise buyer and owns the end-to-end commercial development of merchandise supporting the astronaut journey.

The portfolio includes apparel, accessories, collectibles, gifting, amenities, and premium lifestyle products for Spacefarers, flown astronauts, invited guests, and selected Virgin Galactic experiences.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">This role is an extention of the creative vision for the astronaut experience into commercially disciplined product assortments.

The Senior Buyer leads category and assortment planning, vendor sourcing and negotiation, product selection, costing, pricing recommendations, purchase-order placement, production schedules, inventory requirements, and delivery performance, while continuing to guide creative product development, storytelling, quality, and brand alignment.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Working across Astronaut Operations, Brand, Commercial, Finance, Procurement, Legal, Supply Chain, and experience teams, this leader ensures each product is distinctive, relevant, responsibly sourced, operationally executable, and available at the right time, quantity, quality, and cost.</span></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Key Responsibilities</span></strong></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>1.</strong> <strong>Merchandise Buying & Assortment Strategy</strong></span></p><ul><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Lead Buyer: </strong>Serve as the principal buyer for astronaut- and guest-focused merchandise across apparel, accessories, collectibles, gifting, amenities, and premium lifestyle products.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Category & Assortment Planning: </strong>Define category architecture, seasonal and capsule assortments, product mix, price ladders, size curves, and quantities by audience, program, and occasion.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Range Reviews & Buy Decisions: </strong>Lead line reviews and make evidence-based recommendations on products, suppliers, cost targets, retail prices, order volumes, launch timing, and replenishment.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Customer & Market Insight: </strong>Use astronaut and guest feedback, sales performance, market intelligence, and relevant consumer trends to identify opportunities and refine the range.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Merchandise Calendar: </strong>Own the end-to-end calendar from concept, sampling, and approvals through purchase orders, production, delivery, launch, and replenishment.</span></li></ul><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>2.</strong> <strong>Commercial Planning, Forecasting & Inventory</strong></span></p><ul><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Buying Budget & Open-to-Buy: </strong>Develop and manage purchasing budgets, open-to-buy, category financial plans, and commitments in partnership with Finance and Commercial teams.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Demand Forecasting: </strong>Forecast demand across training, global astronaut experiences, spaceflight expeditions, gifting programs, events, and applicable sales channels.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Costing, Pricing & Margin: </strong>Manage unit and landed costs, pricing architecture, gross-margin targets, and commercial tradeoffs while protecting product quality and brand integrity.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Inventory & Replenishment: </strong>Set initial buys, reorder points, safety stock, and replenishment plans to reduce stockouts, excess inventory, and obsolescence.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Performance Management: </strong>Assess data for sell-through, margin, stock turn, availability, returns, forecast accuracy, and category performance; take timely action based on results.</span></li></ul><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>3.

Vendor Sourcing, Negotiation & Production</strong></span></p><ul><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Supplier Strategy & Sourcing: </strong>Identify, evaluate, and qualify capable suppliers, makers, and collaboration partners that meet Virgin Galactic's standards for quality, innovation, scalability, and service.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Commercial Negotiation: </strong>Negotiate unit costs, minimum order quantities, tooling, lead times, freight, payment terms, exclusivity, and service commitments in coordination with Procurement and Legal.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Purchase Orders & Critical Path: </strong>Own accurate and timely purchase-order placement, confirmation, tracking, and issue resolution against approved budgets and launch requirements.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Quality, Compliance & Risk: </strong>Oversee prototyping, sampling, testing, quality control, responsible sourcing, packaging, and production risk; establish contingency plans for critical products.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Supplier Performance: </strong>Maintain vendor scorecards covering quality, cost, on-time delivery, responsiveness, innovation, and corrective-action performance.</span></li></ul><p style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> </p><p style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>4.</strong> <strong>Creative Product Development & Brand Stewardship</strong></span></p><ul><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Product Briefs & Creative Direction: </strong>Translate the astronaut journey and commercial strategy into clear design briefs, guiding concept development, design reviews, materials, color, finish, and packaging.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Astronaut Community Collections: </strong>Develop distinctive merchandise for the astronaut community that reinforces identity, achievement, belonging, and connection to Virgin Galactic.</span></li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Flown Astronaut Exclusives: </strong>Create limited-edition, astronaut-specific products incorporating approved flight data, personal milestones, mission storytelling, and spacecraft