Account Manager, Wholesale MEAI

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. Tapestry 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 Account Manager is responsible for the growth and development of Kate Spade monobrand, multi-brand, and digital accounts in the Middle East, India and Africa. Reporting to the Director, Wholesale MEAI, the Account Manager will nurture and drive business with existing partnerships, whilst building a client portfolio in-line with growth strategies.

The successful individual will leverage their proficiency in Wholesale to:

• Play an integral role in the development and management of commercial opportunities within MEAI, focusing on existing accounts and facilitating growth strategies, identifying new business opportunities and driving sales
• Analyse YOY growth, producing seasonal trade reports to highlight sales performance and seasonal product wins, challenges and opportunities to present internally and externally
• Develop short-term and midterm plans to meet ST/turnover targets. Support the Director in long-term commercial plans and regional strategies
• Track and present sales on a monthly and quarterly basis, designing action plans where required and ensuring ATS opportunities are capitalized on
• Own seasonal and yearly OTB planning for accounts and support in long-range planning with the Director
• Build a close relationship with accounts via touch points, ensuring an agile approach to the business
• Support the Director with developing a MEAI growth strategy, ensuring key market trends are incorporated
• Align with the global strategy and work with the Marketing team on tailored regional plans for key accounts. Regularly liaise to ensure media plans align with trading activity
• Partner with Wholesale Operations and Customer Service teams to deliver the seamless execution of the full order lifecycle, being responsible for the conversion of the order book and owning communication with AR on customers’ payments
• Work with Finance to review account profitability
• Manage 4+ markets a year, presenting assortment strategies tailored to each account, informed by performance and seasonal regional strategy
• Collect and process orders and ensure they align with OTB expectations and key seasonal messages

The accomplished individual will possess:

• Extensive experience managing a distributor business
• Experience working with the Middle East, Africa, India markets is preferred
• Flexibility to travel to MEAI region is essential
• Highly analytical with an eye for detail and ability to translate data into action points
• Ability to work in a fast-paced high-performance environment whilst maintaining a high level of accuracy
• Highly motivated, target driven and a strong team player
• Proven experience with seeking new ways to drive sales, promote and enhance customer centricity
• A high level of organisational and time management skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong Microsoft Office and Excel skills

What Kate Spade can offer you:

• Hybrid working (3 days working from the office, 2 days remote)
• 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 include:

• 25 days holiday in addition to bank holidays
• Annual Incentive Plan (company performance bonus)
• Tapestry brand discount up to 50% off Coach, Kate Spade, Stuart Weitzman
• Private Healthcare with health assessment (Bupa)
• Bupa rewards - Financial wellbeing support and wellness discounts
• Free 24/7 support for family building, fertility and menopause with Maven
• Private Dental Cover
• Eyecare vouchers
• Employee Assistance Program
• Employer Pension Contribution
• Gym discount
• Interest free season ticket loan
• Cycle to work scheme

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.

Kate Spade 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 the 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 Kate Spade at www.katespade.com.