Director, Partnerships Strategic Planning

DTC offers premium streaming services with Hulu, a premium streaming service that offers originals, current season TV, a massive library of hit series and movies, and live television. It also offers Disney+, the Disney-branded streaming service featuring an incomparable collection of content from its brands and franchises recognized and respected all over the world including Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Disney, and NatGeo. Our DTC team is looking for impactful team-players to join the Viewer Experience (VX) team, who will thrive upon the legacy of Disney and Hulu, embrace unconventional thinking, and who are passionate about contributing to The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) experience through strategic hard work and determination.

The DTC Content Planning & Partnerships team is seeking a Director, Partnerships Strategic Planning. This leader is responsible for informing global SVOD 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.

In this role you will own the development of cohesive strategic narratives and opportunity framing across the full spectrum of content partnerships, working closely with the Directors and other 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.

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. This leader must be comfortable owning ambiguity, synthesizing disparate inputs, and building clear narratives that enable confident decision making at the most senior levels.

*This role sits in Santa Monica, CA

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Own and maintain a consolidated SVOD partnerships and DTC portfolio repository, including a clear narrative of strategic intent, history, performance, and forward‑looking opportunities.
• Develop and distribute a monthly executive‑level partnerships update, synthesizing movements, performance, risks, opportunities, and strategic implications.
• 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 SVOD partnerships market intelligence, including competitive dynamics, distribution trends, and emerging partnership models across DTC competitors.

P&L Assessments & Strategic Analysis

• Lead end‑to‑end business case development for opportunistic and emerging SVOD content initiatives, including opportunity identification, framing, sizing, and executive‑level recommendations.
• Own P&L impact assessment and financial sizing for SVOD 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 SVOD content decisions.

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.
• 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.
• Lead and develop a high‑impact team, setting clear priorities, goals, and success metrics aligned to DTC and Content Partnerships objectives.
• Coach and mentor team members to deepen financial acumen, and executive‑level storytelling, raising the overall quality and influence of the team’s output.

Required Education, Experience/Skills/Training:

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent relevant 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.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders and operate as a strategic thought partner.
• Proficient in Google Suite and Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
• Strong synthesis and executive storytelling skills (memos and slides) with the ability to distill complexity into actionable insights

Nice to Haves:

• 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
• Proven ability to operate effectively in highly cross‑functional, fast‑moving environments

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 to search for a job opening or apply for a position, email Candidate.Accommodations@Disney.com 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 fosters a business culture where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a rapidly changing world.

The hiring range for this position in Santa Monica, California is $204,500.00 - $274,200.00 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.