Sales & Merchandising Operations Manager for

Dorell Fabrics Location:

Hybrid Remote in Chicago North Shore / Northbrook, IL - Close proximity to East Northbrook is required, within 30 mins drive. About Dorell Fabrics Dorell Fabrics is a leading supplier of upholstery fabrics serving the residential furniture, hospitality, and interior design industries. We partner with many of the industry's top manufacturers, retailers, and designers by delivering innovative products and exceptional service. -- Position Summary Dorell Fabrics is seeking an exceptionally organized, highly detail-oriented and commercially minded Sales & Merchandising Operations Manager to work closely with the company president and help coordinate the many customer, product and sales initiatives he leads.

• Experience in home furnishings and/or textiles highly considered
• This person will serve as an operational right hand and customer-facing partner—helping organize pricing, coordinate developments with the product-development team, manage account follow-up and keep customer service, sampling and merchandising activity moving forward.

Excellent written communication is essential. The ideal candidate must be able to draft clear, professional emails, organize information accurately and create polished customer presentations and sales materials. This is a hands-on role with significant exposure to customers, product development and the broader fabric and furniture industries, with room to take on greater responsibility over time. -- Primary Responsibilities Customer and account management

• Partner closely with company leadership to support and communicate with Dorell's customer accounts.
• Help manage day-to-day customer communication, questions, requests and follow-up.
• Draft clear, professional customer emails and organize responses, updates and next steps.
• Prepare for customer meetings, maintain action lists and ensure commitments are completed.
• Develop strong working relationships with customer sourcing, product-development, merchandising and purchasing teams.
• Track opportunities, new programs, placements and sales activity across accounts.
• Identify next steps and keep projects progressing without details being lost. Pricing and commercial organization
• Organize customer pricing, quotes, price lists and program-specific information.
• Coordinate costing and pricing updates with internal teams and company leadership.
• Maintain accurate versions of prices, specifications, minimums and commercial terms.
• Help compare new-item pricing with existing programs and identify inconsistencies or missing information.
• Create clear customer-facing summaries, sales sheets and presentation materials.
• Build and maintain polished PowerPoint presentations, product decks and meeting recaps. Product development and merchandising
• Coordinate customer developments with Dorell's product-development team and Dallas headquarters.
• Translate customer direction into organized development requests, priorities and deadlines.
• Track new fabrics, color extensions, sampling, testing, pricing and customer feedback.
• Help prepare product assortments, presentations and recommendations for customer meetings.
• Maintain development calendars and follow projects from initial request through approval and placement.
• Develop a strong understanding of Dorell's fabrics, constructions, performance stories and competitive position. Customer service, sampling and internal coordination
• Coordinate with customer service to resolve questions and keep customers informed.
• Track sample requests, packages, memos, yardage and presentation materials.
• Make sure requested samples and information are prepared correctly and sent on time.
• Organize internal notes, customer histories, open issues and follow-up responsibilities.
• Improve working systems that make communication and execution more consistent. Travel and industry participation
• Potential future travel to customer meetings, furniture markets, textile conventions and other industry events.
• Periodic travel to Dallas to work with Dorell's product-development headquarters.
• Assist with meeting preparation, product presentations, follow-up and event logistics. -- Work arrangement
• Hybrid position based in Chicago's northern suburbs.
• Work remotely when appropriate and meet regularly with company leadership in the North Shore area.
• Work periodically from Dorell's new Northbrook office beginning in 2027; the position will remain hybrid.
• Availability for local meetings and occasional future travel is required. -- Ideal qualifications
• Experience in sales support, account management, merchandising, product development, textiles, furniture, home furnishings or a related field.
• Exceptional organization, attention to detail and follow-through; accuracy is critical in this role.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, especially professional email communication.
• Strong presentation-building skills, including the ability to create polished and well-organized PowerPoint decks and customer materials.
• Commercial judgment and comfort working with pricing, quotes and product information.
• Able to coordinate many parallel projects, deadlines and stakeholders.
• Proactive, positive and comfortable taking ownership of open items.
• Strong working knowledge of email, calendars, spreadsheets and presentation tools.
• Curiosity about fabrics, construction, design, performance and furniture manufacturing.
• Comfortable working closely with entrepreneurial leadership in a fast-moving environment.
• Valid driver's license and reliable transportation for local meetings.

-- Growth opportunity This role is designed to grow. As the successful candidate develops deeper customer relationships and product knowledge, there will be opportunities to assume greater ownership of accounts, merchandising initiatives, sales planning and business development. We are looking for someone who brings structure, energy and accountability—and who wants to grow with Dorell Fabrics over the long term.

Pay:

$70,000.00 - $85,000.00 per year

Benefits:

401(k) matching Health insurance Paid time off Application Question(s): Tell us about what jumps out to you about this role- why are you interested in applying? Please describe your experience in the home furnishings and/or textile industries! If you don't have this specific experience, please describe what interests you most about it. Are you able to easily commute to the North Shore of Chicago on a regular basis, specifically Northbrook? What's an example of how you successfully coordinated a complex customer, product or sales initiative?

Work Location:

Hybrid remote in Northbrook, IL 60062