Team Lead (IQOS Area Manager)

Position Type: Full-Time, Contract
Contract Term: Through December 31, 2026, with potential for extension

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS JOB //
The Story House team is dedicated to delivering impactful experiences for our clients. Our work takes many forms, including local marketing, small pop-up events, large scale event productions and digital experiences.

The IQOS Area Manager leads and develops field teams that deliver exceptional experiences for legal-age adult nicotine consumers through meaningful conversations, active listening, tailored guidance, expert product knowledge and visible coaching leadership.

By creating a culture centered on communication, empathy, consumer understanding and disciplined execution, the Area Manager builds team capability, supports informed consumer decisions and elevates the quality of every interaction. Success is achieved through people, conversations and consumer experiences, supported by rigorous operational leadership and uncompromising compliance.

WHAT YOU’LL DO //

PRIMARY ACCOUNTABILITIES – CONSUMER EXPERIENCE AND TEAM COACHING: 80%

• Spend most of the field time observing live consumer interactions and providing timely, specific, behavior-based coaching.
• Set and personally demonstrate the standard for active listening, discovery, tailored communication, product explanation, guided trial and appropriate resolution.
• Develop team members who can confidently execute within approved information, processes and communication guardrails.
• Coach team members to understand consumer motivations, routines, questions and barriers before sharing relevant IQOS information.
• Ensure each interaction is personalized to what the consumer has expressed without changing approved facts or making unsupported claims.
• Build coaching plans based on observation, consumer feedback and performance data; follow up to confirm behavior change.
• Role-model key behaviors: personable, relatable, responsive and resolution-oriented.
• Create safety for team members to ask questions and acknowledge uncertainty while maintaining clear accountability.
• Lead structured field coaching, one-to-ones, team check-ins, role-play and capability development activities.
• Maintain personal readiness to conduct a high-quality, compliant guided trial and support field coverage when required.
• Recognize strong behaviors and share field examples that help the team grow, understand what excellent looks like.
• Own channel KPI performance by coaching, developing and recognizing team members, while sharing field best practices that define and elevate standards of excellence.

OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES: 20%

• Oversee schedules and coverage across retail locations, key account convenience stores and legal-age meeting point activations.
• Validate payroll, approve expenses and maintain accurate, timely reporting.
• Partner with stock and operations teams to ensure optimal inventory levels, operational readiness and alignment with retail standards and SOPs.
• Maintain the physical integrity, safety and execution standards of brand retail locations and activations.
• Analyze sales, trial, conversion and retention indicators to identify performance patterns and coaching priorities.
• Lead required business calls and provide concise updates on performance, risks, opportunities and field insights.
• Conduct field audits and close operational or compliance gaps promptly.
• Team Onboarding:
  • Recruit, select, develop, performance-manage and retain a strong team.
  • Ensure effective onboarding, certification completion, training compliance and successful completion of 30-, 60- and 90-day milestones for all new hires.

COMPLIANCE: HOW THE ROLE OPERATES

• Model compliant consumer engagement in every interaction.
• Coach only to approved information, language, tools and processes.
• Ensure personalization never becomes unauthorized improvisation.
• Maintain Tobacco 21+, age-verification, privacy and responsible-engagement standards.
• Address potential compliance concerns immediately and escalate appropriately.
• Never trade compliance for speed, conversion or any performance result.

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

• Act as the area expert and trusted liaison between field teams, the Channel Manager, the PMI City Manager and relevant partners.
• Translate recurring consumer questions, barriers and team needs into actionable recommendations.
• Distinguish isolated issues from systemic patterns and close the feedback loop with field teams.
• Build collaborative relationships while maintaining clear ownership and accountability.

YOUR EXPERIENCE //

• 3+ years of multi-unit or field leadership experience.
• Demonstrated leadership in a consumer-facing, multi-site, experiential, hospitality, premium retail or field environment.
• Strong evidence of coaching through live observation and improving behavior over time.
• Experience managing performance, people and operational routines.
• Demonstrated experience engaging legal-age adult smokers in confident, compliant conversations about IQOS features and benefits, ideally with evidence of successfully supporting a smoker’s conversion from cigarettes to IQOS.
• Experience in premium hospitality, consumer technology, luxury retail, regulated consumer products or experiential marketing.
• Experience using performance data and field observation together to determine coaching action.
• Experience partnering with senior stakeholders, managing competing priorities and driving effective communication upward, downward and across the organization.

YOUR SKILLS //

• Exceptional active listening, adaptive communication, empathy and barrier-resolution capability.
• Flexibility to relocate within the assigned state to support market needs.
• Ability to personally model a premium consumer interaction and explain complex information simply.
• Strong judgment and discipline in a regulated or policy-led environment.

DEVELOPABLE

• Detailed IQOS and HEETS product knowledge.
• Company-specific systems, reporting routines and standard operating procedures.
• Market-specific activation and retail processes.

MEASURES OF SUCCESS //

• Observable improvement in team consumer-conversation capability.
• Quality, relevance and compliance of consumer interactions and guided trials.
• Field coaching frequency, quality, follow-through and demonstrated behavior change.
• Consumer conversion, satisfaction and retention outcomes achieved through compliant execution.
• Team engagement, capability progression and performance accountability.
• Accurate and timely operational execution, reporting and issue resolution.
• Achievement of channel KPIs, business objectives and operational targets.

 YOUR REQUIREMENTS //

• Must be 24+.
• Valid driver’s license with a clean driving record.
• Ability to stand for extended periods and lift up to ~80 pounds.
• Availability to work evenings and weekends.
• Reliable transportation to your various workplaces including the office, accounts, and community events.

YOUR COMPENSATION //

• Competitive salary
• Monthly bonus based on team performance