British American Tobacco confirms 9,000 job cuts and outsourcing under Fit2Win programme

On June 29, 2026, British American Tobacco (BAT) confirmed that its AI-driven Fit2Win restructuring programme will eliminate 5,500 jobs and outsource a further 3,500 roles to strategic partners, affecting about 9,000 roles in total — roughly 20% of its global workforce of 47,000, with the US market excluded from these changes .

The scale of the cuts

The job reductions break down as follows:

• 5,500 roles eliminated directly
• 3,500 roles moved to third-party providers such as Accenture, which was engaged to support the outsourcing and AI integration effort
• US workforce is not included in the restructuring
• The cuts span BAT's global operations outside the United States

Cost savings and timeline

Target	Figure
Annualised savings by 2028	£600 million
Interim savings target by 2027	£500 million
Programme launched	2025
Substantial completion	End of 2026

Strategic context: BAT's shift from cigarettes to smoke-free

Fit2Win is central to BAT's long-term strategic pivot away from traditional cigarettes and toward smoke-free products such as vaping devices (Vuse) and nicotine pouches (Velo) . CEO Tadeu Marroco has set a target for the company to generate more than 50% of revenue from "new categories" by 2035 .

The restructuring comes amid:

• Declining cigarette sales and rising regulatory pressure on traditional tobacco
• Regulatory challenges and delayed product launches that have weighed on the company's performance
• A broader push to become a "technology-oriented" company by embedding AI across operations, simplifying the corporate structure, and reducing the cost base to free up investment in the smokeless portfolio

Who is affected and how

BAT has partnered with Accenture to outsource functions including service centres in Costa Rica, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Malaysia, and parts of the UK supply chain. Additionally, some high-level roles from Poland and Romania are being outsourced to ITC Infotech in Bangalore, India . The company said most of the changes have now been confirmed with employees, with remaining consultations being carried out in compliance with local requirements .

Investment context

The Fit2Win programme is expected to incur one-time costs of about £600 million over the next two years, with approximately £100 million of that total being non-cash . The majority of spending is anticipated to occur in 2026 and 2027 as savings begin to materialise. Despite the cuts, BAT also announced a planned £1.3 billion share buyback for 2026 and reiterated its deleveraging targets .