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, gifts, 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 powered by optimism, innovation, and inclusivity.

Job Title: Senior Manager, Public Relations

Primary Purpose: The Kate Spade New York Senior Manager, Public Relations will collaborate with the PR team to support all global media relations, corporate communications and VIP marketing to amplify visibility and reinforce the strength of the Kate Spade New York brand with PR audiences and consumers. Serve as a strategic partner to build and execute global PR plans that support the team’s goals to:

• Enhance brand reputation and consideration.
• Maintain leadership within fashion industry.
• Drive brand heat and increase press impressions.
• Amplify brand’s best-in-class storytelling capabilities and showcase innovation as a true brand identifier and differentiator within the industry.
• Drive brand affinity amongst industry tastemakers, changemakers and consumers to increase brand awareness, share of voice and signature brand codes.
• Amplify social impact messaging.
• Be globally aware and ensure communication with regional teams is consistent.

The successful individual will leverage their proficiency in Public Relations to:

1. Support execution of year-long and seasonal media relations strategies to continue to build credibility for the Kate Spade New York brand and drive the brand forward.

• Collaborate with internal teams and PR agencies to create and execute a collective, innovative year-long strategy, outlining clear goals and KPIs to increase brand visibility and enhance brand reputation.
• Partner with and manage international teams, driving global alignment and providing the tools and information needed to communicate the brand vision in regional markets.
• Identify areas of opportunity for Kate Spade New York to innovate and strengthen brand positioning - through partnerships, collaborations, storytelling angles and more.
• Develop editor relationships beyond top publications to new, diverse and interesting media outlets in order to reach new audiences through proactive outreach, product placement, gifting, and entertaining.
• Help identify tastemakers and changemakers to establish partnerships that broaden the perception of Kate Spade New York and expand reach.
• Work to increase global press impressions and ensure that press coverage reflects accurate message pull through and brand POV as we tell our brand story.
• Support on all aspects of brand visibility, including but not limited to: product placement, collaborations, campaigns, presentations, all events, press releases and media alerts, celebrity placements and partnerships.

2. Drive executive thought leadership strategies to create visibility around Kate Spade’s leadership team and elevate the brand’s perception and reputation - both within the industry and through the eyes of our customer.

• Create and/or manage appropriate press opportunities for approved executive spokespeople to showcase brand storytelling, innovative leadership styles and brand positioning (i.e.: CEO, CMO, Head of Product Design, etc)

• Collaborate with agency partners to continuously seek out new opportunities for approved company spokespeople and pitch accordingly.
• Draft prep documents in accordance with interview-specific needs (Q&A, on-camera, etc) for all domestic and international press opportunities.

• Executive prep prior to interview or event appearances and interview management.
• Draft and compile all brand messaging for ongoing use.

3. Brand/Corporate Communications + Social Impact

• Partner with Tapestry Corporate Communications team on any proactive or reactive corporate KSNY needs or crossover.
• Work cross-functionally to support Social Impact strategy as part of our core brand DNA. Identify programs and storytelling levers that showcase the brand’s mission to empower women and girls around the world by putting mental health at the heart of our social impact work.
• Partner with Tapestry and agencies to manage crisis communications and/or troubleshooting as needed.

The accomplished individual will possess:

• Experience in collaborating with global teams to build effective PR strategies and track against KPIs.
• Strategic and innovative thinking to continue pushing the brand forward.
• Ability to balance creative ideas with a strategic purpose. 

• Ability to multitask and handle the pressures of a fast-paced environment.
• Strong experience working across and collaborating with internal teams, including Creative, Marketing Strategy, Digital Marketing, and Ecommerce
• Ability to manage budgets to plan for fiscal year strategic planning and forecasting.
• Data driven - have the proven ability to identify and synthesize PR results and success metrics, and are proficient in setting goals and deriving insights based on results in order to further inform strategy.

An outstanding professional will have:

• 6+ years of relevant work experience in PR (in-house and/or agency) in a senior-level role
• Experience managing a team
• Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office Suite and Fashion GPS
• Prior experience using reporting platforms including DMR and Launchmetrics
• Professional writing skills
• Detail oriented and organized 
• Proactive team player
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Understanding and knowledge of the fashion industry, media & influencer landscape 
• Bachelor degree in fashion, communications or a related field

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. #LI-JL3. Visit Kate Spade at www.katespade.com.