The Head Merchant is responsible for the strategic and operational execution of all Roman and
Williams Guild’s Furniture, Lighting, and Accessories assortment. This role translates brand vision
and merchandising direction into a cohesive, commercially sound product strategy, developed in
close collaboration with the Director of Planning and Sourcing, the Director of Product Design, and
the VP of Merchandising and Marketing. Informed by planning and forecasting insights and guided by
brand vision, the role ensures all categories are developed, positioned, and launched with clarity,
accuracy, and excellence.
Serving as a central integrator across merchandising, product development, planning, sales,
marketing, VM, and digital, the Head Merchant ensures product readiness and alignment at every
stage of the lifecycle. This role is critical to scaling the business while maintaining the
integrity, craftsmanship, and elevated standards of the RW Guild brand.
Qualifications
• 8–12+ years of merchandising experience in luxury furniture, lighting, home, or adjacent
design-driven categories.
• Proven experience managing complex assortments and MTO or hybrid business models.
• Strong understanding of product lifecycle, launch execution, and cross-functional
coordination.
• Highly detail-oriented with strong organizational and communication skills.
• Comfortable operating at both strategic and executional levels.
• Strong aesthetic sensibility aligned with luxury and craftsmanship-led brands.
Roman and Williams is an American design brand celebrated for its distinctive vision for living. Founded in 2002 by Robin and Stephen Alesch, their practice is rooted in inquiry, driven by a reverence for tradition and craft while maintaining a modern sensibility. In the decades since its founding, Roman and Williams has evolved to encompass architecture and interiors, a line of original designs of furniture and lighting, the home shop Roman and Williams Guild, the design and ceramics gallery Guild Gallery, and the acclaimed French restaurant La Mercerie.
In 2017, the firm opened Roman and Williams Guild in Soho, New York — a retail and dining space that serves as a manifestation of their design philosophy. The home shop showcases their original designs of furniture, lighting, and tabletop designs, all handcrafted with a focus on material, as well as their collaborations with artists from around the world.
The Guild flows seamlessly through an arched passageway into La Mercerie, the James Beard - nominated French restaurant. La Mercerie is elegant but relaxe d; its food is sophisticated yet comforting; it is a restaurant but also a shop. As Pete Wells wrote in The New York Times, La Mercerie is “simple, determinedly old-school French cooking with every detail in place.”
The Alesches opened La Mercerie after designing some of the world’s most sought - after restaurants — borne out of a desire to realize a comprehensive vision for all aspects of a restaurant experience, from culinary to design, atmosphere to service. They are c urrently working on their second restaurant, Marcel, in partnership with Sotheby’s, to open in the iconic Breuer Building on Madison Avenue in Spring 2026.
In 2022, they opened Guild Gallery — a space dedicated to focused exhibitions of design and ceramic artists — around the corner from the Guild on Canal Street, providing an additional platform to celebrate craft, and to allow the artists within their guild to create at a different scale.
