Tobacco giant Philip Morris opening Tampa center, plans 180 jobs

Philip Morris International, the company that made its fortunes and reputation as a cigarette manufacturer, is opening a business solutions center in Tampa.

The company signed a 10-year lease for 56,191 square feet at the Highwoods Bay Center office building in Tampa. JLL’s Caleb Lewis represented Philip Morris in the negotiations.

Philip Morris says opening the center will create 180 direct and indirect jobs in the city. The positions will be across several fields including finance, data engineering and analytics, information technology, project management, sales support and talent acquisition.

According to a statement, the move “represents a pivotal expansion of PMI U.S. operations, consolidating key functions — business solutions, distribution operations, and customer service — into a single hub.”

A spokesperson says the center is set to open late this year, and there are already Tampa-based jobs posted to the company's careers page.

Philip Morris CEO Stacey Kennedy says in the statement that the new center reflects the company’s commitment to “advance our mission of delivering a smoke‑free America.”

The company’s portfolio, according to its website, is made up of both cigarettes and smoke-free products, including heated tobacco, e-vapor and oral smokeless products — chewing tobacco. (The company's U.S. division does not sell cigarettes and e-vapor products.)

It says that as of Dec. 31, 42% of its global net revenues came from smoke-free products and that the goal is to increase that to two-thirds by 2030 with the ultimate goal of phasing out cigarettes.

Philip Morris' net revenue for the third quarter was up 5.9% to $10.8 billion when compared with the same time period the previous year, according to a November earnings report.

This story has been updated to reflect that Philip Morris U.S. does not sell combustible cigarettes and e-vapor products.