Buying Administration Assistant - Outlet (12 Month FTC)

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 Buying Administration Assistant will join the Kate Spade Outlet Buying team and support with weekly & monthly trade reporting, with a focus on Outlet.com performance, and contribute to seasonal buy reviews, hindsight meetings, and management of the seasonal milestone calendar. 

The successful individual will leverage their proficiency in Buying to:

• Support the Outlet Buyer with the strategic and operational execution of product investment for Kate Spade Outlet across all product categories, with a focus on overseeing the Outlet.com channel
• Run weekly and monthly reports and produce product and numerical analysis as required in Excel

• Support the preparation of upcoming weekly price changes and promotions for weekly trade meetings and maintain accurate pricing master files. Update and prepare weekly communications on key price changes to ensure VM & stores have the necessary information to action
• Assist the Outlet Buyer during Buy week to ensure cohesive investments reflective of regional price, match backs and silhouette/functionality specific to region, and drive customer motivation to deliver AOP targets for Outlet.com
• Contribute to weekly team WSRM, delivering financial overview with clear strategic actions and presenting to the Buying Manager & Buying Director
• Drive performance against sales and margin targets; maximize in-season opportunities and future inventory, minimizing risk and potential opportunities, and propose trading activities to optimize investments
• Support with analysing and interpreting product performance, customer feedback, consumer trends, competitive landscape and local market knowledge to share with Global Merchandising
• Contribute to Marketplace assets and linelists for Outlet doors in region
• Partner with Allocation to drive activity and prioritization for category specific allocations, taking into consideration floor set launch dates and peak trading
• Support Outlet Buying team with ad-hoc analysis and scenario building to support trading decisions/future needs

The accomplished individual will possess:

• Minimum 1-2+ years experience in Buying, or related field including Merchandising, Trading 
• Strong Excel skills with demonstrated proficiency in building reports and analytical tools (V-lookups, pivot tables, sumif, etc)
• Experience using Microsoft Office is essential, including Outlook, Word and PowerPoint 
• Experience using SAP/RPAS/Microstrategy or strong ability to learn new systems
• Ability to think logically, problem solve and provide recommendations through analysis
• Proficiency in retail math
• Ability to work in a fast paced, retail environment
• Strong communication skills and highly organised
• Ability to work autonomously and collaboratively with cross-functional partners

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
• 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
• 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.