Director, Business & Product Strategy (Open to Remote)

Compendium is a Seattle-based publishing company renowned for its inspirational books, journals, greeting cards, and gift products. Originally founded as an independent publisher 40 years ago, Compendium is now an imprint of Ten Speed Press, which is an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division within Penguin Random House. Compendium has built a reputation for creating thoughtful and uplifting content that celebrates life’s meaningful moments. 

 

The Compendium mission is to connect people through meaningful moments with gifts that inspire. Our millions of joyful messages—found in greeting cards and children’s books, guided journals, and customizable keepsakes—have touched the lives of people around the globe. Through their impact, we’ve discovered that a bit of inspiration can, in fact, make a big difference. We invite you to join us on our journey—to empower, delight, inspire, and care. 

 

Compendium is seeking a Director, Business & Product Strategy to support the commercial vision and execution of our product assortment through a highly collaborative, insight-driven approach. Reporting to the Deputy Publisher, this role sits at the intersection of business analysis, assortment planning, and product strategy, helping to connect data, market context, and creative in service of thoughtful, sustainable growth. 

 

This leader brings clarity and perspective—translating business insights into shared frameworks, priorities, and plans that enable the cross-functional team to do their best work. The role is central to Compendium’s continued evolution and growth, ensuring that the products are both creatively compelling and grounded in strong business fundamentals across all retail channels. 

 

This position is well-suited to a strategic, hands-on associate who enjoys rolling up their sleeves, asking good questions, and working with teams to align around opportunities. Success in the role depends on strong listening skills, sound judgment, and the ability to synthesize diverse information into clear, actionable direction. 

 

This role owns the financial performance, analytics, and business context for the product line, while working in close partnership with the design and editorial teams to shape product and assortment strategy collaboratively. 

 

Collaborative Leadership 

• Act as a connector across Sales, Editorial, Design, Marketing, and Operations—surfacing perspectives, facilitating dialogue, and helping teams move forward together. 

• Provide clarity and prioritization by establishing shared goals, decision frameworks, and timelines. 

• Communicate business context, strategy, and performance updates to senior leadership with clarity and confidence. 

 

Business Analysis & Strategy 

• Own and steward the financial performance, including list building to meet growth goals, setting product parameters to support topline and profit objectives, and planning for future development. 

• Analyze sales, profitability, format performance, and market trends to identify opportunities, risks, and areas for optimization. 

• Develop and share clear business insights that help inform product strategy, assortment decisions, and channel investment. 

• Partner with Sales to support account strategy, performance analysis, and long-range planning. 

 

Assortment Planning & Product Strategy 

• Guide the development of assortment plans in collaboration with cross-functional partners, balancing team ideation, creativity, consumer demand, and financial objectives. 

• Help define product architecture, pricing approach, and lifecycle considerations by channel. 

• Ensure assortments are channel-appropriate, competitive, and aligned with Compendium’s brand, values, and growth goals. 

• Translate business insights into clear briefs and frameworks that support editorial and design teams. 

 

Product Leadership & Partnership 

• Serve as a strategic partner to product teams throughout product development—from early concept through launch and post-launch review. 

• Help align stakeholders around product direction, scope, and prioritization by synthesizing input and collaborating on plans. 

• Ensure product concepts are supported by clear business rationale and measurable success criteria. 

• Act as a thoughtful steward of Compendium’s product portfolio, with a focus on brand voice and values, product purpose and audience, differentiation, and long-term scalability. 

 

Retail Channel Focus: Target  

• Support product and business strategy for Target proprietary business, with a strong understanding of channel dynamics, consumer behaviors, and success drivers. 

• Monitor channel performance and help adapt strategy based on sell-through, competitive research, and market and channel insights. 

 

Qualifications 

• 10+ years of experience in business analysis, product strategy, assortment planning, or merchandising, preferably in publishing, gift, consumer products, or adjacent creative industries. 

• Proven experience owning P&L performance and translating data into clear, actionable insights. 

• Strong understanding of multi-channel retail dynamics. 

• Excellent analytical skills paired with sound judgment and the ability to think holistically. 

• Demonstrated experience working collaboratively with cross-functional teams. 

• Strong communication skills, with the ability to listen, synthesize, and articulate complex ideas clearly. 

• Comfort operating in ambiguity, building alignment, and helping teams move forward. 

 

The Compendium offices are located in Seattle, WA. The position is open to remote candidates based in the United States who can work primarily on Pacific Time.   

The salary range for this position is $130,000 – $140,000. All positions are currently eligible for annual profit award or bonus, subject to Company results.       

Applications for this role will be accepted through March 27 or until the role is filled. We encourage you to apply early, as we review applications on a rolling basis. Please include your resume and cover letter for consideration. Before applying for any role at Penguin Random House, we recommend you review our applicant resources page and our FAQs page. 

Penguin Random House job postings include a good faith compensation range for each open position. The salary range listed is specific to each particular open position and takes into account various factors including the specifics of the individual role, and candidate's relevant experience and qualifications.

Full-time employees are eligible for our comprehensive benefits program. Our range of benefits include, but are not limited to, Medical/Prescription drug insurance, Dental, Vision, Health Care/Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account, Health Savings Account, Pre-Tax and Roth 401(k), Short and Long-Term Disability Insurance, Life/AD&D Insurance, Commuter Benefits, Student Loan Repayment Program, Educational Assistance & generous paid time off.

Penguin Random House is the leading adult and children's publishing house in North America, the United Kingdom and many other regions around the world. In publishing the best books in every genre and subject for all ages, we are committed to quality, excellence in execution, and innovation throughout the entire publishing process: editorial, design, marketing, publicity, sales, production, and distribution. Our vibrant and diverse international community of nearly 300 publishing brands and imprints include Ballantine Bantam Dell, Berkley, Clarkson Potter, Crown, DK, Doubleday, Dutton, Grosset & Dunlap, Little Golden Books, Knopf, Modern Library, Pantheon, Penguin Books, Penguin Press, Penguin Random House Audio, Penguin Young Readers, Portfolio, Puffin, Putnam, Random House, Random House Children's Books, Riverhead, Ten Speed Press, Viking, and Vintage, among others. More information can be found at http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/.

Penguin Random House values the array of talents and perspectives that a diverse workforce brings. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, religion, age, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status.

 

 

 Company: Penguin Random House LLC | Job ID: 287346