kate spade new york
Area Manager
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Area Manager - Kate Spade New York
Since its launch in 1993 with a collection of six essential handbags, Kate Spade New York has always been colorful, bold, and optimistic. Today, it is a global lifestyle brand that designs extraordinary things for the everyday, delivering seasonal collections of handbags, ready-to-wear, jewelry, footwear, home décor, and more. Known for its rich heritage and unique brand DNA, Kate Spade New York offers a distinctive point of view and celebrates communities of women around the globe who live their perfectly imperfect lifestyles.
Kate Spade New York is part of the Tapestry portfolio – a global house of brands committed to stretching what’s possible.
A member of the Tapestry family, we are part of a global house of brands that has unwavering optimism and is committed to being innovative and wholly inclusive. Visit Our People page to learn more about Tapestry's commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity.
Primary Purpose
The Area Manager is responsible for leading a portfolio of Kate Spade New York stores across the UK & Mainland Europe, partnering closely with Store Managers to deliver commercial performance, operational excellence, and a distinctive Kate Spade customer experience.
Reporting into the Senior Area Manager, this role plays a key part in driving sales growth, developing high performing store leadership teams, and ensuring brand standards are consistently executed across all locations.
Responsibilities
Business & Commercial Leadership
- Drive sales performance, profitability, and productivity across the area, ensuring stores meet and exceed financial and KPI targets
- Analyse weekly and monthly business results, identifying trends, risks, and opportunities, and translating insights into clear action plans
- Partner with Store Managers to execute company initiatives, promotional activity, and seasonal strategies in line with Kate Spade brand priorities
- Collaborate with allocation and head office teams to ensure optimal stock levels, effective product flow, and strong commercial execution
- Proactively address underperformance with structured recovery plans, coaching, and follow-up
People & Talent Development
- Lead, coach, and develop Store Managers, building a strong talent pipeline and succession plans across the area
- Foster a culture of accountability, engagement, and high performance, aligned to Kate Spade values and behaviours
- Partner with HR on recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and development planning for store leadership teams
- Champion equity, inclusion, and belonging, ensuring teams feel supported, valued, and inspired
Operational Excellence & Customer Experience
- Ensure consistent delivery of Kate Spade brand standards in visual merchandising, service, and store operations
- Conduct regular, effective store visits, providing in-the-moment coaching and clear, actionable feedback
- Maintain strong compliance with company policies, loss prevention standards, and local labour regulations
Leadership & Ways of Working
- Act as a strong partner to the Senior Area Manager, supporting regional priorities and cross-functional initiatives
- Communicate clearly and confidently with stakeholders at all levels, both in store and at head office
- Role-model Kate Spade leadership behaviours, professionalism, and brand advocacy at all times
- Lead a customer-first mindset, ensuring elevated service, storytelling, and brand experience at every customer touchpoint
- Monitor and manage cost control, inventory integrity, and shrinkage across the area
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Requirements
- Proven experience in multi-site retail leadership, ideally within fashion, premium, or luxury retail
- Strong commercial acumen with a track record of delivering results through people
- Highly effective people leadership and coaching capability, with confidence managing performance and development
- Data-driven mindset, able to interpret KPIs and convert insight into action
- Excellent communication and influencing skills, with a collaborative and solutions-focused approach
- Passion for the Kate Spade brand and a commitment to delivering exceptional customer experiences
Role requires extensive travel across the UK and Ireland, with a regular presence in stores (up to 3 days per week) to support performance, coaching, and brand execution
Please be advised that we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position. As such, you will only be considered if you already possess the right to work in the UK.
What Tapestry can offer you
- Hybrid working (Tuesday - Thursday working from the office, Monday and Friday working remotely)
- Option to finish early on a Friday (Flex Fridays)
- 1 paid volunteering day per year and opportunities to volunteer with global projects
- Learning & development opportunities
- Internal mobility & career progression
- Regular social events - seasonal & cultural
- Equity Inclusion & Diversity initiatives which include employee resource groups & regional inclusion council
Other benefits
- 25 days holiday in addition to bank holidays
- Annual Incentive Plan (company performance bonus)
- Multi brand discount up to 50% off – Coach and Kate Spade.
- Private healthcare with health assessment (Bupa)
- Bupa rewards - Financial wellbeing support and wellness discounts
- Private dental cover
- Free 24/7 support for family building, fertility and menopause with Maven
- Eyecare vouchers
- Employee assistance programme
- Enhanced employer pension contribution
- Gym discount
- Interest free season ticket loan
- Cycle to work scheme
At Tapestry, we are committed to building a diverse & inclusive workforce. We know that having a wide range of perspectives and experiences makes us more innovative and brings us closer to our consumers. If you are interested in this role but do not believe you meet all the set criteria, that’s ok. We are happy to work with individuals who have the drive, passion, agility and willingness to learn. So, take a chance and apply; you may just be who we are looking for. We would be delighted to hear from you.
Our Competencies for All Employees
- Courage: Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
- Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
- Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
- Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
- Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
- Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
- Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.
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Our Competencies for All People Managers
- Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
- Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
- Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.
Tapestry is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant’s or employee’s qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law.
Visit Tapestry, Inc.
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