British American Tobacco (BAT) is restructuring about 9,000 roles outside the U.S. as part of an AI-driven overhaul aimed at cutting costs and defending margins in a declining core business. The maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes plans to eliminate roughly 5,500 jobs outright while outsourcing about 3,500 roles to third-party firms, including Accenture.
Outsourced role locations
According to a Fox Business report, the roles moving to third parties include jobs at its existing global service hubs in Costa Rica, Mexico, Romania, and Malaysia, as well as certain roles in Pakistan and some digital and technology positions in Poland and Romania.
BAT CEO Tadeu Marroco framed the changes as part of making the company more agile, cost-disciplined, and technology-enabled.
“These changes affect many of our colleagues and we are focused on supporting them through this transition with care and respect,” said Marroco. The company said most of the role changes have been confirmed with employees, with remaining consultations underway in line with local requirements.
Savings target: $793 million by 2028
BAT is targeting $793 million in annual savings once the program is fully in place by 2028, and expects to reach most of that figure a year earlier. It follows a manufacturing streamlining effort BAT has run over the past 18 to 24 months, which included the closure of a factory in South Africa.
The cuts come as BAT’s traditional tobacco business faces structural decline. The company expects industry-wide traditional tobacco sales to fall 2.5% this year, and it is shifting investment toward alternatives, such as Vuse vapes and Velo nicotine pouches, though it trails rival Philip Morris International in that transition.
Slow U.S. regulatory approval for new smokeless products, rising import taxes, tighter regulation, and illicit trade in markets such as Australia and Bangladesh have all weighed on BAT’s traditional tobacco sales.
What does this mean for outsourcing?
BAT’s plan combines job cuts and outsourcing into a single program rather than running them as separate initiatives. For the employees affected, that means real disruption to their livelihoods. BAT has said consultations are still underway in several markets.
For BPO and MSP providers, the case demonstrates how automation and outsourcing can complement each other during enterprise restructuring. Companies with hubs in the markets BAT named, including Costa Rica, Mexico, Romania, Malaysia, and Pakistan, might see new opportunities. That includes AI-related technical work alongside standard back-office roles.
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Revell, Eric. (2026, June 29). “Top tobacco company to cut thousands of jobs.” Fox Business.
Retrieved from https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/top-tobacco-company-cut-thousands-jobs
