Area Manager

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.
The successful individual will leverage their proficiency Retail Leadership to:
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
The accomplished individual will possess:
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 include:
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.
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;