Position Title:  Director, Strategic Partnerships/Events

Be a part of a revolutionary change! 

At Philip Morris International (PMI), we’ve chosen to do something incredible. We’re totally transforming our business and building our future on one clear purpose – to deliver a smoke-free future. 

With huge change, comes huge opportunity. So, if you join us, you’ll enjoy the freedom to dream up and deliver better, brighter solutions and the space to move your career forward in endlessly different directions. Our success depends on people who are committed to our purpose and have an appetite for progress.  

Our beautiful HQ in Stamford, CT is just steps away from the Stamford Metro-North Train Station and easily accessible from NYC. 

The Director Strategic Partnerships and Events leads the strategy and execution for strategic partnerships, events, and experiential activations that build brand equity and drive consumer engagement across priority audiences and communities. The role develops the annual partnerships and events roadmap, manages partner ecosystems, and ensures delivery of best-in-class, compliant experiences across owned and third-party environments, in coordination with Brand, Media, CX and Commercial Ops. Evolves partnerships and events from tactical activations into scalable brand experience platforms that elevate consumer ecosystem priorities and embraces multi-category portfolio strategy where relevant. Acts as the cultural amplification engine of the brands; identifying platforms/ passion points (e.g., sports, music, lifestyle, innovation) that unlock relevance, premium positioning, and category education in a regulated environment and in service of brand equity amplification. Ensuring partnerships are not standalone sponsorships, but structured, measurable growth engines integrated with Brand, Media, and CX.

Your ‘day to day’:

• Strategic Partnerships Platforms Architecture: Identify, evaluate, and structure partnerships that advance brand and portfolio objectives across categories. Develop multi-year partnership strategies spanning cultural, experiential, and community platforms. Ensuring partnerships are strategically differentiated, commercially sound, and aligned with brand guardrails set by Brand Directors. Identify, evaluate, and negotiate partnerships as scalable platforms (not one-off deals), with clear role in acquisition, education, engagement, experience and premiumization within the broader consumer ecosystem.
• Events Strategy and Experiential Ecosystem: Lead the strategy and orchestration of enterprise-level events and experiential touchpoints. Ensure events are not one-off executions, but integrated platforms, connected to broader brand and commercial objectives. Drive clarity on purpose, audience targeting, and ROI expectations.
• Consumer Activation Ecosystem: Design and oversee scalable consumer engagement frameworks, including LAMPs, experiential campaigns, and regional activation models. Ensure local activation efforts to reinforce national brand strategies while allowing for hyper-local customizations. Establish governance standards, toolkits, and measurements for consistency and effectiveness. Lead end-to-end planning and delivery of experiential activations (product launches, festivals, community activations, LAMPs, brand-owned events) including staffing models and vendor governance. Embed structured learning loops across events and partnerships to optimize impact and inform future portfolio and brand decisions.
• Consumer Engagement and Touchpoint Integration: Oversee the integration of partnerships and experiential activation across consumer-facing channels. Ensure consistent brand expression and measurable impact across engagement moments. Ensure consistent application of brand, marketing, and consumer experience guidelines across one-to-one and one-to-many experiences.
• Execution Standards and ROI Accountability: establish operational standards (safety, compliance, training, playbooks) for event execution across internal teams, contractors, and partners. Define clear success metrics for partnerships and activation platforms, linking consumer engagement outcomes to commercial performance indicators. Partner with Portfolio Strategy, Commercial Transformation, Commercial Operations to assess return thresholds and optimize investment allocation across partnership initiatives. Define and track event/partnership KPIs (traffic, leads, conversion, NPS/experience measures, cost efficiency) and drive post-event learning and optimization. Manage budgets, contracts, and supplier performance; ensure financial discipline and measurable outcomes.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Brands and Commercial Operations to ensure alignment with brand positioning and portfolio priorities as well as execution excellence. Engage Corporate Communications to align flagship partnerships with broader corporate narrative and reputation strategy. Collaborate with Global teams where relevant to leverage or localize global platforms.
• Team Leadership & Capability Development: Lead and develop a high-performing partnership and events team capable of negotiating, structuring, and executing complex activation platforms. Build capabilities in partnership valuation, experiential design, stakeholder management, and performance measurement.

Who we’re looking for:

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of experience in experiential marketing, events, partnerships, or activation roles; leadership experience required.
• Proven ability to manage complex event portfolios, partner negotiations, and vendor ecosystems in regulated environments. Demonstrated experience in structuring multi-year partnership agreements with measurable commercial outcomes.
• Experience leading consumer-facing activation platforms across multiple channels.
• Strong commercial acumen with exposure to ROI measurements and investment evaluation
• Strong project management and operational discipline; ability to execute at pace with high quality.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and negotiation skills.
• Experience operating in matrixed organizations with cross-functional interdependencies.
• Experience with both regulated, compliance intensive and commercially dynamic consumer sectors
• Legally authorized to work in the US without sponsorship now and in the future

Annual Base Salary Range: $242,000 - $302,500

What we offer  

• We offer a competitive base salary, annual bonus (applicable based on level of position), great medical, dental and vision coverage, 401k with a generous company match, incredible wellness benefits, commuter benefits, pet insurance, generous PTO, and much more!  
• We have implemented Smart Work, a hybrid model of working that promotes flexibility in the workplace. 
• Seize the freedom to define your future and ours. We’ll empower you to take risks, experiment and explore.
• Be part of an inclusive, diverse culture where everyone’s contribution is respected; Collaborate with some of the world’s best people and feel like you belong.
• Pursue your ambitions and develop your skills with a global business – our staggering size and scale provides endless opportunities to progress.
• Take pride in delivering our promise to society: To improve the lives of millions of smokers.

PMI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. 

PMI is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., and its U.S. affiliates have more than 2,300 employees.  

PMI has been an entirely separate company from Altria and Philip Morris USA since 2008. PMI’s affiliates first entered the U.S. market following the company’s acquisition of Swedish Match in late 2022. 

Philip Morris International and its U.S. affiliates are working to deliver a smoke-free future. Since 2008, PMI has invested $12.5 billion globally to develop, scientifically substantiate and commercialize innovative smoke-free products for adults who would otherwise continue to smoke with the goal of transitioning legal-age consumers who smoke to better alternatives. In 2022, PMI acquired Swedish Match – a leader in oral nicotine delivery – creating a global smoke-free champion led by the IQOS and ZYN brands. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized versions of PMI’s IQOS electronically heated tobacco devices and Swedish Match’s General snus as Modified Risk Tobacco Products and renewal applications for these products are presently pending before the FDA. For more information, please visit www.pmi.com/us and www.pmiscience.com.

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