Starbucks

Retail

Apt Insight

They offer standout benefits and a highly collaborative culture, though store-level pacing and corporate bureaucracy can be demanding. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, they operate as a global coffee and retail powerhouse across tens of thousands of stores worldwide. The company is in the giant enterprise size band with over 20,000 active job openings globally. Under current leadership, they maintain substantial scale across retail operations, consumer packaged goods, and digital ordering platforms.

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About

At Starbucks, we like to say that we are not in the coffee business serving people, but in the people business serving coffee. Here, our employees - who we call partners – are the heart of the Starbucks experience, and being a partner means aspiring to become part of something bigger: inspiring positive change in the world and growing in your career and in your community. It’s an opportunity to be your personal best. In everything we do, we are dedicated to our mission: To be the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world, inspiring and nurturing the human spirit — one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time. Starbucks is an equal opportunity employer. Explore opportunities, benefits and more at careers.starbucks.com

Founded1971

HeadquartersSeattle, WA

IndustryRetail

Websitewww.starbucks.com

Employees195.0K

Total Funding$900M

Why people join & leave

Why join

Industry-leading healthcare and ASU tuition benefitsFlexible part-time scheduling optionsInclusive team culture and community focusHigh global brand reach and operational scale

Why leave

High physical stress during peak store rushesInconsistent hourly shift allocationBureaucratic, top-down management structureStrained labor relations and union tensions

Company Pulse

Raised

$900Mtotal

In the News

CEO Brian Niccol Just Announced Incredible News for Starbucks Investors | The Motley Foolfool.com · Sep 5, 2026

Starbucks' Sales Slump Reverses: Surprise Comeback Against Twosome Place as Card Payments Rebound - The Asia Business Dailyasiae.co.kr · Sep 5, 2026

Starbucks anti-unionization case brought by NLRB narrowed by US appeals court - SRN Newssrnnews.com · Sep 4, 2026

Starbucks stops using drink powder after baristas complain of it causing coughing, irritation, hives | Fortunefortune.com · Sep 1, 2026

Starbucks hires Nike veteran to lead supply chain operations | Supply Chain Divesupplychaindive.com · Sep 1, 2026

Employee Experience

3.5/5

Career Opportunities

3.3

Compensation & Benefits

3.7

Culture & Values

3.4

Diversity & Inclusion

3.9

Senior Management

2.9

Work-Life Balance

3.3

Quick Take

Strengths

Strong benefits packageRated 74 out of 100 for compensation and benefits, featuring health coverage for part-time workers and full college tuition coverage.

Global sales momentumDelivered four consecutive quarters of global same-store sales growth, reaching an increase of 7.9% in Q3 FY2026.

Watch out

Low leadership approvalCEO rating stands low at 36 out of 100 alongside ongoing scrutiny surrounding store labor relations.

Note

Massive hiring footprintActively recruiting with over 22,000 open roles across retail stores, supply chain hubs, and corporate tech offices.

Things to consider

Centralized decision making — Employees note that top-down organizational layers can significantly reduce team autonomy and slow project velocity.

Store-level work intensity — Frontline retail roles face unpredictable scheduling, intense customer rushes, and heavy physical demands.

Leadership

Brian NiccolChairman and Chief Executive Officer

Brady BrewerCEO, Starbucks International

Molly LiuCEO, Starbucks China

Cathy SmithEVP, Chief Financial Officer

Anand VaradarajanEVP, Chief Technology Officer

Mike GramsEVP, Chief Operating Officer

What They Build

They build large-scale retail commerce systems, digital order fulfillment pipelines, and mobile loyalty applications serving tens of millions of customers globally. Technical teams focus on cloud-native infrastructure, supply chain analytics, and high-availability point-of-sale platforms. The engineering culture emphasizes reliable enterprise services, modern data warehousing, and seamless digital customer experiences.

Digital Commerce

Loyalty Platforms

Supply Chain Systems

Point of Sale

Enterprise Data Platforms

Domains

Backend Engineering

Cloud Infrastructure

Data Engineering

DevOps

Mobile Engineering

Tech Stack

Java

Kotlin

Spring Framework

Nodejs

React

GraphQL

Apache Kafka

RabbitMQ