Product Development Specialist
OliveNation — Avon, MA
Position Summary
The Product Development Specialist drives OliveNation’s new product pipeline: finding products, negotiating cost, gathering documentation, and pushing each item through the internal process until it is live, priced, merchandised, and selling on every channel it belongs on.
Success is visible: a steady stream of new products launched every month, at target margin, with complete and accurate content, and a meaningful share turning into real sellers.
This role is scoped to grow. You start focused on sourcing and launch execution; strong performance expands into broader ownership — more categories, more autonomy on what gets added or cut, and a real voice in where we invest.
Reporting Relationships
Reports to: Chief Executive Officer, or to the Director of Online Merchandising if that position is filled
Works daily with the: Marketing, Copywriting, Graphic Design, Inventory Management, Customer Service and Food Safety and Product Specification functions
Key Responsibilities
1. Sourcing and Selection
- Launch 5 new products per month at a steady, predictable pace.
- Find new vendors, and find new products with existing vendors.
- Screen every candidate against clear criteria: which customer and application it’s for, which gap it fills, and whether it cannibalizes something we already carry.
- Use customer reviews, on-site search data, keyword volume, and competitor catalogs to decide what to add.
- Request samples from vendors and coordinate a samples program; run evaluations with internal reviewers.
- Negotiate competitive pricing, minimum order quantities, lead times, and payment terms; hit category margin targets.
- Collect all required documentation with the Food Safety and Product Specifications teams — spec sheets, COAs, allergen statements, nutritional panels, organic/kosher/non-GMO certifications, and country of origin.
2. Owning the Go-Live Process
- Run the launch checklist end to end from approved concept to live listing, on schedule.
- Set the item up correctly in the ERP and on the site: SKU, cost, landed cost, pack size, weight, dimensions, and channel flags.
- Brief and coordinate the Copywriter, Graphic Designer, Photographer, and Marketing Analyst so content and imagery are accurate, attractive, and on time.
- Work with the Marketing Analyst on keywords and product positioning before the page goes live.
- Build cross-sells, upsells, bundles, and recipe/tag associations for every new product.
- Publish to all applicable channels with channel-appropriate titles and content, at the selling prices set by management.
- Keep the launch calendar visible and hit committed dates. Flag slips early.
- Partner closely with Marketing, Copywriting, Graphic Design, Inventory, Customer Service, and Food Safety across every launch — briefing each team, sharing product feedback, and making sure the item can be sold accurately.
3. Post-Launch Follow-Through
- Track each new product's performance for its first 90 and 180 days; report launch count and success rate monthly.
- Flag underperformers for repricing, repositioning, additional content work, or discontinuation.
- Hand off steady-state replenishment cleanly to the inventory manager once a product is established.
First Six Months — Success Metrics
- A steady 5-per-month launch cadence with no missed committed dates.
- Complete, accurate content and documentation on every item launched — nothing going live half-finished.
- At least three new vendor relationships opened that OliveNation did not have before.
- Landed costs entered accurately on every item set up.
- A working point of view pitched to and approved by the management team on which categories deserve more investment and which do not.
Qualifications
Education: Bachelor's degree preferred
Experience: 2-4 years of demonstrated success in merchandising, buying, product development, sourcing, or e-commerce operations.
Food, specialty grocery, or CPG experience is a plus but not required.
Required skills and abilities
- Very strong Excel — comfortable with lookups, pivot tables, and building a margin calculation without help.
- Very strong internet research skills; can find a supplier for almost anything and verify that they are legitimate.
- Price and term negotiation with vendors.
- Highly organized with real attention to detail; Demonstrated ability to keep simultaneous launches straight.
- Demonstrated ability to adhere to schedules and hit committed launch dates.
- Professional written and spoken English for vendor correspondence.
- Ability to master new ERP and e-commerce systems quickly.
- Solves problems independently and escalates the ones that actually need escalating quickly.
Attributes We Care About
- Self-starter and independent — we hate looking over anyone's shoulder.
- Aggressive and comfortable carrying sales growth responsibility.
- Does not make many mistakes, and owns the ones that happen.
- Can be trusted with deadlines.
- Friendly, can-do attitude; takes on whatever project comes up.
- Learns new skills and takes on more responsibility each year.
Working Conditions
Location: Avon, MA offices, with a flexible schedule.
Schedule: Full-time, Monday through Friday
Travel: Occasional — vendor visits and industry trade shows
Probationary Period: First 90 days of employment
Compensation and Benefits
Pay: $65,000 plus incentive tied to launch cadence and new-product margin performance metrics. Target total compensation goal is approx. $80,000
Retirement: Contributions to Simple IRA after 6 months
Medical: Health Insurance expense reimbursement up to $10,000 per year
Paid leave: Vacation (1 week in the first year), 3 medical/sick days, 3 personal days. Two weeks vacation annually after the first year.
Pay: $65,000.00 - $80,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Health insurance
- Retirement plan
Application Question(s):
- Are you a US citizen and authorized to work in MA?
Work Location: In person
