senior manager, Partnerships

Starbucks•Seattle, WA

12h•Onsite

About The Position

Starbucks is seeking a culture-obsessed, commercially minded, and highly strategic leader to join their Brand Engagement team as a senior manager of partnerships. This role will lead the identification, development, negotiation, and execution of breakthrough partnerships that drive customer engagement, strengthen brand affinity, and deepen Starbucks' relevance across culture. The ideal candidate combines strong business acumen, partnership expertise, exceptional relationship-building skills, and a deep understanding of consumer culture. They are equally comfortable building long-term strategic roadmaps, negotiating complex deals, and bringing innovative collaboration concepts to life. This role will serve as a key architect of Starbucks' partnership strategy, working alongside team leads for sports, music, entertainment, fashion, beauty, and merch to unlock opportunities grounded in customer insights, driving fandom and strengthening brand affinity.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, licensing, entertainment marketing, brand collaborations, or related fields.
Proven track record of sourcing, negotiating, and executing high-impact partnerships with measurable business results.
Deep understanding of the partnership, licensing, sponsorship, and collaboration landscape across culture-driving industries.
Strong negotiation skills with experience in structuring complex business agreements and navigating legal frameworks.
Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and drive alignment across highly matrixed organizations.
Exceptional storytelling, communication, and presentation skills.
Strong analytical and financial acumen with experience building business cases and evaluating ROI.
Experience leading cross-functional teams and managing multiple high-priority initiatives simultaneously.
Ability to thrive in ambiguity, navigate white space, and bring structure to emerging opportunities.
Deep passion for culture and an understanding of the trends, communities, and experiences shaping consumer behavior.
Bachelor’s degree in business, Marketing, Communications, or related field required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.

Nice To Haves

A connector with a strong external network across brands, agencies, talent, and rights holders.
Naturally curious about culture and emerging trends.
A strategic thinker who can connect brand relevance with business outcomes.
Comfortable influencing executives and representing Starbucks externally.
Equally skilled in creative ideation and commercial negotiation.

Responsibilities

Develop and shape Starbucks' partnership strategy, identifying opportunities that advance brand, customer, and business objectives.
Leverage customer insights, cultural trends, and marketplace intelligence to build compelling partnership narratives and business cases.
Identify, evaluate, and cultivate new partnership opportunities across key culture verticals including sports, music, entertainment, fashion, beauty, and lifestyle.
Establish partnership evaluation frameworks that assess brand strategic alignment, customer impact, financial return, and brand equity.
Monitor competitive activity, consumer behavior shifts, and industry trends to proactively identify white-space opportunities.
Build annual and multi-year partnership roadmaps that support Starbucks' cultural relevance and growth ambitions.
Source, develop, and maintain a robust pipeline of partnership opportunities and strategic relationships. Serve as a trusted ambassador for Starbucks with external partners, agencies, and key industry stakeholders.
Lead partnership negotiations, including business terms, marketing rights, intellectual property usage, financial commitments, and marketing activation frameworks. Drive partnership agreements from concept through execution.
Partner closely with Legal, Finance, Accounting and Sourcing teams to structure and execute partnership agreements.
Own and manage the end-to-end partnership pipeline, ensuring visibility, prioritization, and governance across senior leadership stakeholders.
Develop and refine partnership processes, tools, scorecards, and operating models that improve efficiency and decision-making.
Create scalable frameworks for evaluating partnership performance and long-term value creation.
Ensure cross-functional alignment across all phases of partnership development and activation.
Establish KPIs and measurement frameworks to assess partnership effectiveness across brand, customer, and commercial objectives.
Regularly evaluate partnership performance and identify opportunities for optimization and growth.
Deliver executive-ready recommendations, business updates, and performance insights to senior leadership.
Translate data, customer insights, and market trends into actionable strategies that inform future partnership investments.

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.