Global Merchandise Manager, Footwear

Michael Kors; New York, Northern (NY, KY); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous Paid Time Off

401k Match

Paid Parental Leave

Wellness Program

Job summary

Michael Kors in New York is seeking a Global Merchandise Manager for Women’s Footwear to shape product vision, line planning, and commercial success across the category. Lead cross-functional teams and drive lifecycle from concept to market, balancing brand positioning with consumer insights and profitability.

The role emphasizes strategic thinking, collaboration, and the ability to translate data into actionable product strategies that drive growth and brand strength.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Minimum 5+ years in Women’s Footwear/Merchandising.
• Strong ability to translate market insights into actionable strategies.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage seasonal footwear line plans aligned with brand vision and business objectives.
• Lead cross-functional alignment meetings and drive product revisions, priorities, and timelines.
• Guide development from concept to commercialization, refining assortments and evaluating prototypes.
• Own pricing architecture, review costs, and present final assortment and margin recommendations to leadership.

Skills

Fashion industry knowledge

Analytical thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Excel & PowerPoint

Education

Bachelor’s Degree

Tools

Centric PLM

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:

The Global Merchandise Manager, Women's Footwear, plays a pivotal role in shaping the product vision, assortment strategy, and commercial success of the category. This individual combines a strong product instinct with analytical rigor to identify market opportunities, drive assortment decisions, and deliver consumer-relevant collections that support brand and financial objectives. Working cross-functionally across Merchandising, Design, Product Development, Production, Sales, Planning, and Global Retail teams. The Merchandise Manager will lead the footwear lifecycle from seasonal concept and line planning through market execution. The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker, passionate about product and fashion trends, highly collaborative, and skilled at translating insights into actionable product strategies that drive growth and profitability.

What You’ll Do:

Product Strategy & Line Planning

Develop and manage seasonal footwear line plans, ensuring product assortments align with brand vision, consumer needs, and business objectives. Build category strategies informed by historical performance, trend analysis, consumer insights, and market opportunities. Evaluate regional line plans and partner with global teams to identify assortment opportunities and market-specific needs. Identify assortment gaps, white-space opportunities, and key growth drivers to optimize productivity across the footwear portfolio. Maintain and evolve assortment architecture, ensuring appropriate breadth, depth, and pricing segmentation across the collection.

Cross-Functional Leadership

Serve as the primary liaison between Merchandising, Design, Product Development, Technical Design, Production, Sales, Retail, and Planning teams throughout the product lifecycle. Lead cross-functional alignment meetings, driving decisions on product revisions, development priorities, timelines, and market readiness. Foster collaboration across teams to ensure product, financial, and operational objectives are achieved. Communicate seasonal product strategies, line changes, key milestones, and assortment updates to internal and global stakeholders.

Product Development & Execution

Guide the footwear development process from concept through commercialization, ensuring milestone deliverables are achieved on time and in line with category strategy. Partner closely with Design and Product Development to refine assortments, evaluate prototypes, and ensure product integrity. Manage assortment tools, line plans and product data within Centric PLM, ensuring accuracy and timely updates throughout the development process. Support go-to-market preparation by ensuring product information, positioning, and assortment strategies are communicated effectively to global partners.

Financial & Pricing Management

Own seasonal pricing architecture, balancing brand positioning, consumer value, margin objectives, and competitive market dynamics. Partner with Product Development and Production teams to review costing and profitability opportunities throughout the development process. Lead pricing reviews and present final assortment, pricing, and margin recommendations to leadership teams. Support achievement of category sales, margin, and productivity goals through strategic product and assortment management.

You’ll Need to Have:

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Experience working in a fashion brand
• Minimum of 5+ years’ experience (Women’s Footwear Merchandising preferred)
• A strong sense of the women’s footwear market across luxury and accessible tiers
• Solid comprehension of the women’s footwear consumer base, including geographical nuance
• The ability to translate analysis into actionable business opportunities
• Strong communication, organization, and analytical skills
• The ability to interact with all levels of management and influence others
• Strong skills in Retail Math, Merchandising/Buying metrics
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs – Specifically Excel & Power Point
• Strong presentation skills, especially visual presentation (Showroom set up)
• The ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment

MK Perks:

• Generous Paid Time Off & Holiday Calendar
• Summer Fridays
• Internal Mobility Across Brands
• Cross-brand Discount Exclusive Employee Sales Fav 5 Cards (MK Discount for friends and family)
• 401k Match
• Paid Parental Leave
• Thrive Wellness Program
• Commuter Benefits
• Gym Discounts

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: 100,000.00 - 120,000.00 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. For more information on how Capri Holdings Group uses your personal data, please see our Applicant Privacy Notice.