Head of Retail Experience

Location: Los Angeles, CA or Portland, OR | Travel: approximately 20% across locations Reports To: Co-founder, in close partnership with our leadership team Compensation: $90,000 to $100,000 base, plus a 20% performance bonus and benefits ABOUT HOPSCOTCH Hopscotch is an art-driven experience brand built around curiosity, connection, creativity, and play. Our spaces bring together artists, technology, hospitality, food, beverage, and retail to invite people to explore and engage in unexpected ways. We currently have locations in San Antonio, TX and Portland, OR, with Los Angeles, CA opening soon, and we're building toward a million guests a year across all of our locations. We believe the Hopscotch experience should extend beyond our walls, and this role plays a central part in shaping how that happens. THE ROLE The Head of Retail Experience owns everything guests can take home from Hopscotch. That starts with HopShop, our retail experience in every city, which we think of as an exhibit of its own and one of our biggest platforms for supporting artists and makers. It also includes take-home products from our HopLounge, the add-ons guests choose when they buy their tickets, and how Hopscotch shows up at events and pop-ups beyond our walls. We see retail as the last thing guests remember us by, the first way many people discover us, and everything in between. The best museum and entertainment brands, from MoMA to Disney, have shown that a great object can carry a brand far beyond its walls. A HopShop find on a shelf in someone’s home, a gift from a friend, or a product spotted at a partner shop can be the start of someone’s relationship with us, long before they ever buy a ticket. You’ll set the product strategy, lead product development and curation, and build the systems and team that bring it to life at our locations in Portland and San Antonio, and at our new location at West Harbor in Los Angeles, opening this winter. You’ll bring the plan to the leadership table, then take Hopscotch retail beyond our walls through pop-ups, partnerships, and community events. You’ll arrive at a defining moment, with the chance to launch our Los Angeles shop and shape what Hopscotch retail becomes. This is a highly collaborative role. You’ll work closely with leaders across the company, including our Director of Brand Experience, Director of Operations, Director of Exhibitions, food and beverage leadership, and People & Culture, so that everything Hopscotch makes, wears, and gives feels connected to the experience. We’re looking for someone who can grow Hopscotch through retail: someone with great taste, strong instincts, business discipline, and the ability to turn ideas into products people want to own. WHAT YOU'LL OWN What We Make and Why Build a product strategy powered by curiosity and backed by data: what guests linger over, what they come back for, what sells out, and what surprises us. Plan retail the way we plan exhibitions, on a forward calendar with seasonal drops, fresh floor sets, and the occasional plot twist. Mix it up: Hopscotch favorites, city-specific finds, artist collaborations, local makers, limited drops, and wonderfully weird experiments, while growing the share of things we dream up and make ourselves. Make buying a ticket the start of the fun, with add-ons that feel like part of the experience, working alongside Guest Experience and Ticketing. Set revenue goals, KPIs, and budgets with Operations and Finance, and let the numbers tell you what’s working and what deserves a second act. Making Things People Love Take ideas from napkin sketch to shelf: concept, design, sourcing, costing, production, and launch. Curate the shop the way we curate our exhibitions, as a stage for artists and makers in each city, with collaborations that feel true to both sides, never just another logo on a mug. Turn moments from the experience into things people can hold, working with Exhibitions, and turn HopLounge into take-home vessels and treats with our Bar, Kitchen, and Hospitality teams. Find the emerging designer, the tiny studio, and the fabricator who says “sure, let’s try it,” and negotiate terms that protect quality and margin. The Brand in Every Hand Shape what our Cura staff wear, working with People & Culture so our teams look and feel like part of the experience. Lead gifting for team members, artists, press, and partners, so every welcome and thank-you feels unmistakably Hopscotch. Collaborate across departments so products, uniforms, and gifts tell the same story as the experience itself. The Shop as an Exhibit Own how our shops look, feel, and delight: presentation, fixtures, displays, pricing, and signage. Keep our shops exciting, intuitive, and highly shoppable, connected to the larger Hopscotch experience, while letting each location keep its own personality. Lead the retail launch at our new West Harbor location in Los Angeles. Backstage Build scalable inventory, purchasing, and replenishment systems that give every location visibility and accountability. Build and lead a team of on-site Retail Leads who carry the brand and can run with autonomy. Recruit, coach, and develop them. Partner with our People & Culture Manager on training that teaches teams the story behind each product and gets them excited to sell it. Visit locations regularly to evaluate performance, coach teams, and improve the floor. Beyond Our Walls Represent Hopscotch retail at community events, festivals, and partner events in every city, from booth concept to sell-through. Develop pop-ups and hosted retail in partner venues such as hotels, bookstores, and local businesses, including pre-opening retail in Los Angeles. Grow the ways people can find Hopscotch without visiting, from online and partner shops to pop-ups and collaborations, and help decide which ones deserve to grow. Build relationships with local organizations, makers, and partners, and use retail to grow our presence in each community. WHO YOU ARE You are equal parts merchant, creative, operator, and people leader. You have exceptional taste, and you understand the business behind it. You can read a sales report, see what it means, and turn it into the next product. You notice packaging, typography, materials, and the tiny details that make a product or space feel special. You know what’s happening in art, fashion, design, music, food, and retail without simply chasing trends. You move easily between planning next summer’s assortment in the morning and rearranging a retail wall in the afternoon. You’re a natural networker who knows the emerging designer, the weird little brand, and the manufacturer who can actually make the idea happen. You’re polished without being too corporate, creative without being chaotic, and commercial without making everything feel commercial. You may be ready to leave a bigger brand or institution for more autonomy and impact. You understand that the best branded products aren’t advertisements. They’re objects people would want even if the logo weren’t on them. And you believe a great product can be someone’s first Hopscotch experience. We hope you’ll teach us things we don’t know and take us places we haven’t thought of yet. EXPERIENCE WE'RE LOOKING FOR Significant experience in retail, merchandising, or product development, ideally in experiential retail at a museum, cultural attraction, or entertainment venue, or at a maker-driven brand with an in-house product line. A track record of growing a business through physical products, taking merchandise from concept through production and launch. Strong command of costing, margins, purchasing, inventory, and KPIs, including retail POS and reporting platforms. Experience leading teams across multiple locations and building systems that scale. A collaborative style and experience partnering closely with creative, exhibition, hospitality, and people teams. Hands-on visual merchandising and floor set experience. Event or pop-up retail experience is a plus. SUCCESS IN THIS ROLE LOOKS LIKE HopShop has a recognizable point of view that guests seek out, with products that feel intentional, unexpected, and well designed. Retail revenue, margin, conversion, and per-person spend grow, and so does the share of Hopscotch-made product. West Harbor opens with a shop that feels unmistakably Hopscotch and unmistakably Los Angeles. Every location runs seasonal floor sets on a plan, and product development is proactive rather than reactive. Guests add Hopscotch products to their visit before they arrive, while they're here, and after they leave. Our team, artists, and press carry Hopscotch with them, in what they wear and what we give them. Retail Leads have clear systems and leadership, and inventory is easy to manage and scale. Artists, makers, and brands want to collaborate with us, and Hopscotch retail shows up in the community in every city. Someone who has never been inside a Hopscotch picks up one of our products and thinks: “What is Hopscotch? I need to know more.” #J-18808-Ljbffr Hopscotch