Strategic Planning & Forecasting Lead

ASSYSTEM; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

ASSYSTEM is seeking a senior planning professional to steer strategic planning, forecasting and performance management. You will own the annual and long-term planning cycle, translate priorities into measurable plans, and partner with leadership to assess investments and opportunities.

The role requires building a high-performing team and driving continuous improvement in planning capabilities. You will lead cross-functional collaboration across Finance, Operations, Commercial and HR, delivering

Qualifications

• Senior planning experience in a corporate environment.
• Proven ability to translate strategy into actionable plans.
• Strong analytical capability and business acumen.

Responsibilities

• Lead annual and longer-term business planning, translating priorities into clear, measurable plans.
• Develop and maintain planning frameworks, processes and governance.
• Partner with leadership to assess priorities, investments and opportunities.
• Provide forward-looking analysis and recommendations for key decisions.
• Ensure plans are aligned across functions with clear risk and dependency understanding.
• Own forecasting processes with accurate, timely forecasts.
• Establish performance measures, KPIs and reporting mechanisms.
• Monitor performance against plan and identify trends, risks and opportunities.
• Lead regular performance reviews with senior stakeholders and drive actions.
• Provide insightful commentary beyond numbers.
• Lead resource and capacity planning to ensure capability to deliver objectives.
• Identify future demand, capacity needs and constraints.
• Develop scenarios and mitigation plans with functional leaders.
• Support prioritisation of resources against high-value activities.
• Build and develop a high-performing planning team.
• Foster a planning culture based on accountability and continuous improvement.
• Act as trusted advisor to senior leaders and stakeholders.
• Build cross-functional relationships across Finance, Operations, Commercial, HR, Technology.
• Communicate complex information clearly to senior and non-technical audiences.
• Continuously improve planning methodologies, systems, tools and processes.
• Introduce scenario planning and modelling to improve decisions.
• Identify opportunities to improve quality, efficiency and consistency of planning.

Skills

Strategic planning

Analytical thinking

Stakeholder management

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in business/finance

Job description

ASSYSTEM is seeking a senior planning professional to steer strategic planning, forecasting and performance management. You will own the annual and long-term planning cycle, translate priorities into measurable plans, and partner with leadership to assess investments and opportunities.

The role requires building a high-performing team and driving continuous improvement in planning capabilities. You will lead cross-functional collaboration across Finance, Operations, Commercial and HR, delivering