VP, Leathergoods, Design

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.

location: New York

reports to: CEO and Brand President

primary purpose:

This is an exciting opportunity to bring fresh, bold and innovative ideas to life in handbags and slg’s for Kate Spade- a brand known for it’s vibrant personality and unique style..  The individual will design and develop a collection reflective of the Kate Spade aesthetic, brand vision and consumer insights, meeting all critical milestones and overall strategic brand goals.

the successful individual will leverage their proficiency in design to...

• Lead a team of designers to achieve the creative vision for leathergoods collections.
• Collaborate with Chief Merchant to ensure commercial viability of collections.
• Collaborate with VP Design of Concept, Print, Color and Lifestyle Categories to ensure cohesion across categories. 
• Bring the season’s unique narrative to life through inspiration boards that captivate and energize the team, and appeal to a broad customer base.
• Partner with team to refine seasonal concept, materials, hardware, and color palette for collections.
• Create sketches, product prototypes and finished samples together with the design, tech design and product development teams
• Be accountable for the success of the entire product design process including raw material development in partnership with product development, sketching, design, technical design, product review and cost engineering.
• Responsible for upholding design integrity, high quality execution, and timeliness throughout the entire development process from concept through engineering and commercialization. 
• Responsible for leading the team to meet all timeline milestones and deadlines; monitor the work of the team to ensure all deliverables are completed accurately.
• Partner cross-functionally with Merchandising and Product Development on a regular basis. Participate in meetings with cross-functional category partners. 
• Lead, mentor and develop design team, fostering inclusive and supportive environment

the accomplished individual will possess...

• 15+ years of related design experience across multiple categories, and at least 7+ years of design leadership experience
• Expert knowledge of construction techniques, color ways, raw materials, fabrication, trends, and style
• Strong computer knowledge, including adobe illustrator and strong hand sketching ability
• Portfolio to support criteria needed
• Proven ability to lead and manage a successful design team
• Ability to manage multiple company priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to interact with a diverse group at all levels
• Excellent organizational skills with attention to detail and follow-up

kate spade new york 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 kate spade new york at www.katespade.com.

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.

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.

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. #HYBRID #LI-DC

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Tapestry, Inc. will provide applicants and employees with reasonable accommodation for disabilities or religious beliefs. If you require reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact Tapestry People Services at 1-855-566-9264 or employeerelations@tapestry.com

Visit Kate Spade at www.katespade.com.                                                                                                                                   

Work Setup    HYBRID                                                                                                                      

BASE PAY RANGE $325,000.00 TO $360,000.00 Annually                                                                     

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