Director, Costing - Footwear

Michael Kors; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Michael Kors is seeking a strategic Footwear costing leader to partner with Product Development, Supply Chain, Design, Merchandising and factories to drive costing strategy and margin performance.

You will lead end-to-end costing, negotiate with factories, manage calendars, and develop executive reporting to highlight risks and opportunities, ensuring accurate costing governance and timely decisions.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of footwear costing, sourcing, manufacturing, gross margin management, or related experience, including people leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end Footwear costing process from concept through final cost approval.
• Lead cross-functional alignment to achieve seasonal margin targets.
• Drive margin optimization by identifying cost drivers and cost-saving opportunities.
• Lead factory cost negotiations and maintain costing governance.
• Develop executive-level reporting highlighting margin performance, risks, and opportunities.

Skills

Footwear costing

Leadership

Advanced Excel

Data analysis

Cost negotiations

Global sourcing

Tools

PLM

RLM

Tableau

Job description

Michael Kors is always interested in hearing from talented, globally-minded individuals with a passion for fashion. If you enjoy working in a creative, fast-paced environment, then we would love to hear from you!

Who You Are:

You are a strategic Footwear costing leader who partners closely with Product Development, Supply Chain, Design, Merchandising, and factories to drive costing strategy, margin performance, negotiations, and team development.

What You’ll Do:

• Lead the end-to-end Footwear costing process from concept through final cost approval.
• Lead cross-functional alignment with Product Development, Design, Merchandising, and Materials team to achieve seasonal margin targets.
• Drive margin optimization by identifying cost drivers, mitigating risks, and implementing cost-saving opportunities.
• Lead factory cost negotiations and maintain accurate costing documentation and governance.
• Proactively manage costing calendars, systems, and processes to ensure timely decisions and business visibility.
• Educate and influence cross-functional teams on cost drivers, margin impact, and financial trade-offs.
• Monitor factors affecting product costs, including commodities, labor, duties, tariffs, freight, transportation, and foreign exchange.
• Partner with Planning, Finance, and Supply Chain to assess landed costs, tariff exposure, and margin implications.
• Develop executive-level reporting and presentations for leadership, highlighting margin performance, risks, and opportunities.
• Establish KPI reporting for factories and cross-functional partners, including performance against cost targets, variance analysis, and adoption of cost-effective solutions.
• Oversee costing systems, tools, and reporting to ensure accuracy, milestone readiness, and clear business visibility.
• Lead continuous improvement of costing processes, analytics, and reporting capabilities.
• Lead strategic costing and analytics projects that support business objectives.
• Manage two direct reports, Associate Manager and Manager of Footwear Costing.

You’ll Need to Have:

• 10+ years of Footwear costing, sourcing, manufacturing, gross margin management, or related experience, including people leadership.
• Deep knowledge of footwear construction, materials, labor, overhead, manufacturing processes, and key cost drivers.
• Proven ability to identify cost-saving opportunities and successfully negotiate costs with factories and suppliers.
• Strong understanding of footwear duty classifications, tariffs, landed cost impacts, and global sourcing dynamics.
• Advanced Excel and analytics skills, including complex formulas, macros, scalable tools, and executive-level reporting.
• Ability to estimate footwear costs from sketches, CADs, specifications, materials, and construction details.
• Demonstrated success reducing margin risk and driving profitability through strategic costing decisions.
• Strong leadership and communication skills.

We’d Love to See:

• Proficiency in PLM, RLM, Tableau, or other reporting tools.
• Strong analytical and mathematical skills.
• A detailed oriented and organized mindset.
• Strong planning and time management skills.
• Strong large-scale data analysis.
• Excellent data organization, documentation, and follow-through.

The Company is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Company’s policy is not to unlawfully discriminate against any applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, age, military status, disability, genetic information or any other consideration made unlawful by applicable federal, state, or local laws. The Company also prohibits harassment of applicants and employees based on any of these protected categories. At Capri Holdings Limited, we are committed to providing a fair and accessible recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation for the interview or application process, please contact our Talent Acquisition team at [e-mail].

In compliance with certain Pay Transparency laws, employers are required to disclose a compensation range. The range for this position will vary based on role requirements, skill set, and years of experience. Please note that for salaried roles, the figures reflect full-time equivalency, while for hourly roles, the figures represent the applicable hourly rate.

Compensation Range: 150,000.00 - 170,000.00 USD

Michael Kors is a world-renowned, award-winning designer of luxury accessories and ready-to-wear. His namesake company, established in 1981, currently produces a range of products under Michael Kors Collection, Michael Kors, and Michael Kors Mens, including accessories, ready-to-wear, footwear, watches, jewelry, and a full line of fragrance products. Michael Kors stores are operated in the most prestigious cities in the world, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Milan, Paris, Dubai, Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Rio de Janeiro. In addition, Michael Kors operates digital flagships across North America, Europe, and Asia, offering customers a seamless omnichannel experience. At the center of it all is a designer who has created an enduring and iconic luxury lifestyle brand with a distinctive point of view and global reach. Michael Kors has a sharp focus on providing his customers with accessories and clothes that are consistently polished, chic, relaxed, and glamorous. Kors has also been the recipient of numerous industry awards and accolades within the fashion industry. The fashion designer also focuses on giving back. For more than 35 years he has been a passionate supporter of God’s Love We Deliver, a New York-based non-profit organization that cooks and delivers nutritious meals to people living with serious illnesses in and around New York City. In 2013, in a move to broaden his philanthropic efforts, Michael Kors launched “Watch Hunger Stop,” partnering with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to help fight world hunger. Proceeds from annual special-edition products and other targeted initiatives help provide food to children through WFP’s school meals program. To date, Michael Kors has helped WFP deliver over 35 million meals (and counting) to hungry children.

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