About The Position
The account director, market partnerships – North America Licensed Coffeehouses (NALC) role contributes to business success by leading the strategy and execution of key licensee partnerships within the market partnership archetype across the United States and Canada. This role is responsible for driving strong business performance, strengthening licensee relationships, leading strategic business negotiations, accelerating coffeehouse development, identifying new business opportunities and ensuring consistent, high-quality customer and partner experiences across a diverse portfolio of hospitality, hospital, college & university and business & industry licensees. This leader oversees a team of account managers, as well as a coffeehouse development team and serves as the primary steward of these partnerships—balancing relationship management, contract and business negotiations, operational execution, and growth opportunities—while connecting licensee needs with enterprise priorities.
Requirements
- Proven experience in account management, relationship management, business development, and commercial negotiations, ideally within retail, hospitality, hospital, C&U or licensed/franchise environments.
- Strong ability to lead and develop high-performing teams, including coaching and performance management
- Demonstrated success managing complex, multi-unit or partner-operated businesses, including growth initiatives, business expansion, and strategic partnership negotiations.
- Executive-level communication, negotiation, and influencing skills, with the ability to build trust and drive alignment with internal and external stakeholders.
- Experience using data and insights to drive business performance and decision-making
- Ability to balance relationship management with operational rigor and accountability
- Strong cross-functional collaboration skills within a matrixed organization
- 8+ years of experience leading accounts, partnerships, business development initiatives, or large-scale business segments, including experience negotiating complex business agreements.
Nice To Haves
- Experience working across North American markets (US and Canada) is a plus
Responsibilities
- Lead a team of account managers, and coffeehouse development people leaders responsible for the day-to-day management of licensees, providing coaching, direction, and performance oversight to drive consistent outcomes.
- Own the health and performance of the market partnership portfolio, identifying opportunities to accelerate growth, improve operational execution, and strengthen partner and customer experience.
- Develop segment-specific strategies across hospitality, healthcare, C&U, and business & industry channels, balancing unique operational models while leveraging scalable best practices across the portfolio.
- Own the market partnership development strategy, partnering with licensees and internal stakeholders to identify, negotiate, prioritize, and accelerate new coffeehouse opportunities across North America.
- Connect account management and development planning to create multi-year growth strategies that strengthen existing partnerships while expanding the licensed coffeehouse footprint
- Lead the coffeehouse development portfolio through site selection, prioritization, pipeline management, and execution readiness, ensuring projects align with enterprise growth objectives and licensee business strategies.
- Build and sustain strong licensee partnerships, acting as a trusted advisor and primary point of escalation while aligning on mutual goals, business terms, expectations, and long-term success.
- Drive business reviews and performance routines with licensees, using data and insights to identify trends, diagnose challenges, and implement action plans.
- Translate enterprise strategies into actionable plans for licensees, ensuring successful execution of programs, promotions, and key initiatives.
- Partner across licensed coffeehouse functions (strategy, enablement, operations, and product) to bring forward field insights and ensure solutions are practical and scalable.
- Champion consistency within the market partnership archetype, helping define and scale best practices across similar licensee models.
- Navigate complexity across US and Canada markets, ensuring alignment with unique licensee specific nuances while maintaining enterprise standards.
Benefits
- medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, and other voluntary insurance benefits
- short-term and long-term disability
- paid parental leave
- family expansion reimbursement
- paid vacation from date of hire
- sick time (accrued at 1 hour for every 25 hours worked)
- eight paid holidays
- two personal days per year
- 401(k) retirement plan with employer match
- discounted company stock program (S.I.P.)
- Starbucks equity program (Bean Stock)
- incentivized emergency savings
- financial well-being tools
- 100% upfront tuition coverage for a first-time bachelor’s degree through Arizona State University’s online program via the Starbucks College Achievement Plan
- student loan management resources
- backup care
- DACA reimbursement
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
