Director, Partnerships Strategic Planning

Disney Entertainment; Santa Monica (CA); On-site; USD 208,000 - 278,000; Full time

Job summary

Disney Entertainment in Santa Monica seeks a Director of Partnerships Strategic Planning to inform global content partnership strategy through insights, cross-portfolio analysis and executive-ready decision support. The role leads a high-performing team and shapes cohesive narratives across partnerships, finance, and content strategy.

The ideal candidate has deep fluency in SVOD economics, content partner models, and the ability to balance near-term opportunities with long-term portfolio value.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or relevant equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of experience in strategic planning, business operations, investment analysis, or related roles.
• Experience as a people leader, with proven history of developing, leading, or mentoring others.
• Deep understanding of SVOD economics, content licensing models, and DTC financial frameworks.
• Demonstrated experience owning complex business cases, P&L analyses, and investment decisions.
• Strong synthesis and executive storytelling skills (memos and slides) with the ability to distill complexity into actionable insights
• Must have excellent presentation and communication skills in different forums;
• Proficient in GSuite and Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
• Proven ability to operate effectively in highly cross-functional, fast-moving environments.

Responsibilities

• Define the global partnership and add-ons portfolio strategy, structuring holistic, multi-region and multi-component strategies across global content portfolio opportunities for Disney+/Hulu and connecting individual partner opportunities across regions, business verticals, and deal types to broader DTC priorities, subscriber growth objectives, and regional business plans.
• Develop a unified global partnership narrative, identify cross-market opportunities, and maintain a consolidated partnerships and DTC portfolio repository, including a clear narrative of strategic intent, history, performance, and forward-looking opportunities.
• Lead partner opportunity and risk assessments, evaluating strategic, financial, and operational impacts across current and prospective partners.
• Provide partner insights and decision support, leveraging internal performance data, market intelligence, and research to inform deal strategy and prioritization.
• Lead partner and contract forensics, identifying points of alignment through spend concentration, portfolio dependency, and relative strategic value.
• Own partnerships market intelligence, including competitive dynamics, distribution trends, and emerging partnership models across DTC competitors.

Skills

Strategic planning

People leadership

Executive storytelling

Influencing senior stakeholders

Cross-functional collaboration

Presentation skills

Financial analysis

Education

Bachelor's Degree or relevant equivalent experience

Tools

Excel

PowerPoint

GSuite

Microsoft Office

Job description

Job Requirements

The Director, Partnerships Strategic Planning is a senior strategic leader responsible for informing global content partnership strategy through insights, analysis, and cross‑portfolio perspective. Reporting into the VP, Partnerships Strategic Planning, this role leads a high‑performing team and serves as a trusted thought leader for the entire DTC Content & Planning & Partnerships organization, ensuring partner decisions, portfolio investments, and our increasingly complex content partner models translate into durable value at scale.

Job Requirements

The Director, Partnerships Strategic Planning is a senior strategic leader responsible for informing global content partnership strategy through insights, analysis, and cross‑portfolio perspective. Reporting into the VP, Partnerships Strategic Planning, this role leads a high‑performing team and serves as a trusted thought leader for the entire DTC Content & Planning & Partnerships organization, ensuring partner decisions, portfolio investments, and our increasingly complex content partner models translate into durable value at scale. This leader owns the development of cohesive strategic narratives and opportunity framing across the full spectrum of content partnerships, working closely with the other Directors and members of the Partnerships Strategic Planning team to build through-lines between the businesses. Operating at the intersection of strategy, content and finance, the Director translates complex market dynamics and partnership structures into clear insights, investment frameworks, and executive‑ready decision support. The role plays a critical connective function across the entire partnership organization, aligning internal stakeholders and external signals into a single, coherent view of partnership performance, risk, and opportunity, while ensuring that content partnership strategies are grounded in financial rigor, market intelligence, and long‑term portfolio value creation. Success in this role requires the ability to operate as both a strategic architect and a strong people leader, combining intellectual rigor with practical execution. The ideal candidate brings deep fluency in SVOD economics and content partnership models, paired with the judgment to balance near‑term opportunities against long‑term portfolio value.

Responsibilities Include

Global Partner Strategy

• Define the global partnership and add‑ons portfolio strategy, structuring holistic, multi‑region and multi‑component strategies across global content portfolio opportunities for Disney+/Hulu and connecting individual partner opportunities across regions, business verticals, and deal types to broader DTC priorities, subscriber growth objectives, and regional business plans.
• Develop a unified global partnership narrative, identify cross‑market opportunities, and maintain a consolidated partnerships and DTC portfolio repository, including a clear narrative of strategic intent, history, performance, and forward‑looking opportunities.
• Lead partner opportunity and risk assessments, evaluating strategic, financial, and operational impacts across current and prospective partners.
• Provide partner insights and decision support, leveraging internal performance data, market intelligence, and research to inform deal strategy and prioritization.
• Lead partner and contract forensics, identifying points of alignment through spend concentration, portfolio dependency, and relative strategic value.
• Own partnerships market intelligence, including competitive dynamics, distribution trends, and emerging partnership models across DTC competitors.

P&L Assessment & Strategic Analysis

• Lead end‑to‑end business case development for opportunistic and emerging content initiatives, including opportunity identification, framing, sizing, and executive‑level recommendations.
• Own P&L impact assessment and financial sizing for initiatives, translating content and distribution concepts into clear financial outcomes.
• Develop and maintain content licensing models and analytical frameworks to evaluate incremental value, trade‑offs, and long‑term implications of content & partnerships decisions.
• Build rapid‑response scenario models and leadership POVs for enterprise‑level strategy shifts (e.g., windowing, distribution changes, cost allocations).
• Produce strategic reporting and executive narratives that clearly articulate risks, opportunities, and decision pathways for senior leadership forums.

Budget Planning

• Lead global budget planning and investment oversight, including tracking investment levels, forecast movements, and financial impacts to inform near‑ and long‑term decision‑making.
• Build and operate a portfolio‑level investment management framework that connects bottom‑up content strategies with top‑down financial targets and investment scenarios.
• Partner closely with Content Finance and CP&A teams to ensure alignment between content strategy, capital allocation, and operating plans.
• Serve as the GE content liaison for CSLO, Content Finance, and valuation teams for our 1P portfolio, ensuring consistency in assumptions, methodologies, and strategic intent.

Influence & Team Leadership

• Act as a strategic advisor to senior Content/Partnerships and DTC leadership, influencing decisions through insight, clarity, and structured analysis.
• Drive alignment across highly matrixed teams, influencing without authority and translating competing priorities into coherent strategic outcomes.
• Lead and develop a high‑impact team, setting clear priorities, goals, and success metrics aligned to DTC and Content Partnerships objectives.
• Ensure work is well‑structured, clearly synthesized, and executive‑ready, with consistent throughlines across analyses, narratives, and recommendations.
• Coach and mentor team members to deepen financial acumen, and executive‑level storytelling, raising the overall quality and influence of the team’s output.
• Foster a culture of intellectual curiosity, ownership, and collaboration, encouraging proactive problem‑solving and continuous improvement.
• Actively partner with cross‑functional leaders to ensure the team is effectively embedded in Content, Finance, Strategy, and Distribution workflows, maximizing leverage and impact.

Qualifications

• Bachelors Degree or relevant equivalent experience
• 10+ years of experience in strategic planning, business operations, investment analysis, or related roles, ideally within media, streaming, or consumer subscription businesses.
• Experience as a people leader, with proven history of developing, leading, or mentoring others.
• Deep understanding of SVOD economics, content licensing models, and DTC financial frameworks.
• Demonstrated experience owning complex business cases, P&L analyses, and investment decisions.
• Strong synthesis and executive storytelling skills (memos and slides) with the ability to distill complexity into actionable insights
• Must have excellent presentation and communication skills in different forums;
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders and operate as a strategic thought partner.
• Proficient in GSuite and Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
• Proven ability to operate effectively in highly cross‑functional, fast‑moving environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working closely with content, finance, and distribution organizations in a streaming or media context and familiarity with wholesale, platform partnerships and hybrid distribution models strongly preferred.

Disability accommodation for employment applications

The Walt Disney Company and its Affiliated Companies are Equal Employment Opportunity employers and welcome all job seekers including individuals with disabilities and veterans with disabilities. If you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation in order to search for a job opening or apply for a position, email [e-mail] with your request. This email address is not for general employment inquiries or correspondence. We will only respond to those requests that are related to the accessibility of the online application system due to a disability. The Walt Disney Company is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Disney champions a business environment where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a constantly evolving world.

Disclaimer

PAY TRANSPARENCY

The hiring range for this position in California is $207,600.00 to $278,400.00 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job–related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long‑term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered. This position is with Hulu, LLC, which is part of a business we call Disney Direct to Consumer. To learn more about Disney's guidelines on the use of AI for candidates, click here. Hulu, LLC is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Disney champions a business environment where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a constantly evolving world.

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION FOR EMPLOYMENT APPLICATIONS

The Walt Disney Company and its Affiliated Companies are Equal Employment Opportunity employers and welcome all job seekers including individuals with disabilities and veterans with disabilities. If you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation in order to search for a job opening or apply for a position, visit the Disney candidate disability accommodations FAQs. We will only respond to those requests that are related to the accessibility of the online application system due to a disability. Having technical issues? View the FAQs for help.