senior manager, Circularity!
About The Position
Starbucks is seeking a strategic leader to advance its packaging recovery and waste strategy in a dynamic and rapidly evolving policy, infrastructure, and stakeholder landscape. Packaging and waste are among Starbucks’ most material sustainability priorities and require collaboration across a broad ecosystem of partners, from policymakers and industry coalitions to recyclers, recovery organizations, suppliers, communities, and operational teams. Circularity is a team sport, and this leader will play a critical role in helping Starbucks understand, influence, and strengthen the systems that enable packaging recovery and waste reduction at scale. Through industry engagement, partnership development, landscape assessment, and recovery system advancement, this leader will help inform enterprise strategy while leading the team responsible for waste strategy and operations. As a trusted advisor to senior leaders, they will translate emerging trends, risks, and opportunities into actionable recommendations that support business performance, compliance readiness, and long-term circularity goals.
Requirements
- 10+ years of experience in circularity strategy, sustainability, environmental policy, or a related field, with a deep understanding of circularity, policy, and market dynamics.
- Demonstrated people leadership and a track record of leading cross-functional initiatives, influencing senior leaders, and building alignment across complex organizations.
- Experience developing circularity strategies and action plans and integrating compliance risk into business decisions.
- Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills, including experience representing an organization externally.
Nice To Haves
- Advanced degree in environmental science, engineering, sustainability, public policy, or a related discipline preferred.
Responsibilities
- Lead Starbucks' strategy for packaging recovery systems and external industry engagement, including coalition leadership, recovery infrastructure development, recycling access, market development, and partnerships that improve packaging recovery outcomes and support long-term compliance readiness.
- Lead Starbucks amazing waste strategy and operations team, advancing solutions that improve the partner and customer experience, strengthen compliance readiness, reduce waste, and enable recovery at scale.
- Foster organizational capability in waste reduction, recovery systems, industry engagement, and partnership development while building a high-performing team that translates strategy into measurable business and environmental outcomes.
- Represent Starbucks in industry coalitions, producer responsibility organizations (PROs), policy forums, and strategic partnerships, building relationships with NGOs, recyclers, recovery system stakeholders, and external experts to advance packaging recovery and waste outcomes.
- Inform and influence Starbucks' packaging transformation and cross functional teams translating external developments into strategic recommendations and business implications.
- Provide subject matter expertise and thought leadership on packaging recovery systems, including EPR implementation, recycling access and acceptance, recycling-rate performance, recovery infrastructure, end-market development, and industry best practices.
- Advise Starbucks key teams on packaging recovery, waste, compliance developments, industry trends, and strategic decisions that impact compliance readiness, business performance, and circularity outcomes.
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
- access to other educational opportunities
- backup care
- DACA reimbursement
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
