VodafoneThree - Lead Business Planning Manager

Vodafone; Newbury; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading telecommunications company in the UK is seeking an experienced leader to manage its Business portfolio and drive strategic initiatives. You will oversee capex investments, ensuring alignment with organizational goals while fostering stakeholder engagement. The ideal candidate has strong commercial acumen and a proven track record in portfolio management. You will be integral to enhancing planning processes, collaborating across teams, and leading high-performing groups to achieve impactful results.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Bonus

Flexible working arrangements

Comprehensive benefits package

Qualifications

• Strong communicator and influencer with ability to build trusted relationships.
• Proven experience in leading complex portfolios with skills in prioritisation.
• Deep understanding of capex planning and investment governance.

Responsibilities

• Lead the planning and governance of all B2B initiatives.
• Oversee the lifecycle of B2B capex investment.
• Provide portfolio reporting and insights to senior leaders.
• Collaborate across teams to ensure alignment and manage delivery.
• Champion continuous improvement in planning processes.

Skills

Stakeholder engagement & influence

Strategic portfolio management

Commercial acumen & capex governance

Resilience

Leadership

Job description

Location

Newbury or London + Hybrid

Salary

Excellent basic salary plus bonus and Vodafone benefits

Working Hours

Full time hours per week – Monday to Friday

Hybrid

We believe that through collaboration and connection with our colleagues we can achieve great things. Our hybrid working approach allows our people to work both in the office and at home, providing the flexibility and resources you need to succeed in your role. We don't require you to be in on specific days; instead, we ask people to come into the office 2-3 days each week, for at least 8 days per month. You should work with your line manager to understand what their expectations are for you, your specific role and your team.

Who We Are

We’re here to build a network the UK can count on – one that connects people, places and potential. Because no matter where you live, what your background is, or how you get online – we think everyone deserves the same chance to stay connected, and with VodafoneThree, that future’s being built – today.

We’re creating more than the UK’s best network. We’re helping close the digital divide, empower communities and drive meaningful progress.

We believe that everyone should feel they belong. Whoever you are and whatever your story, there’s space for you here. We’re building a workplace where different perspectives are welcomed, voices are heard, and everyone feels safe to show up as themselves.

You’ll join a team that genuinely cares – about each other, about our customers, and about the future we’re building. From day one, you’ll be welcomed, valued and encouraged to bring your whole self to work.

Why VodafoneThree

Join us and you’ll be at the heart of change. That means building responsibly, investing sustainably and creating opportunities that last.

We’re not just expanding connectivity; we’re reimagining what a connected nation looks like. With £11bn invested in 5G and digital infrastructure, your work will directly power businesses, services, and communities across the country.

You’ll work on real challenges, with real impact, across every corner of the country. Wherever you join us, whatever your role, you’ll be helping to build a future that works better for everyone.

We move at pace, because what we’re building matters – and we’re learning as we go. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, but we’re just getting started.

Be part of our Business UK function, a team that are revolutionising how customers use technology and connectivity. With our extensive range of products and services, we help all kinds of organisations – from small, local businesses to multi-national corporations – unlocking the potential of new technologies, including 5G, AI and the Internet of Things (IoT).

What you’ll do

This role will lead the planning and prioritisation of VodafoneThree’s Business portfolio, ensuring every initiative is aligned to strategic goals and delivers measurable value. You’ll be accountable for the end-to-end governance of all B2B capex investment—driving transparency, rigour, and return across our transformation roadmap.

You will partner with a wide set of stakeholders in Business, Technology, Finance and Strategy, you’ll lead the orchestration of our transformation portfolio, ensuring that every programme and project is purposefully prioritised, resourced, and sequenced to deliver maximum business impact. With a sharp eye for dependencies, risks, and value, you’ll ensure our transformation efforts stay focused, coherent, and on track.

• Own the Business portfolio: Lead the planning, prioritisation and governance of all B2B initiatives, ensuring alignment to strategic goals and commercial outcomes.
• Accountable for Business capex investment: Oversee the full lifecycle of B2B capex investment, from ideation and business case through to benefits realisation, driving transparency, value and return on spend.
• Accountable for portfolio governance and enable strategic decision making: Provide clear portfolio reporting, insights and recommendations to senior leaders, providing full transparency and accountability to enable informed decision making on trade-offs, sequencing and resource allocation.
• Drive cross-functional alignment: Collaborate across Business and technology delivery teams to ensure portfolio plans are aligned to available capacity, spend profiles are proactively managed, interdependencies are managed, and delivery is coordinated. Identify and unblock issues.
• Drive continuous improvement and team excellence: Lead the portfolio planning team with a focus on high performance, accountability and growth. Champion continuous improvement in planning processes, tools and ways of working, setting high standards and fostering a culture of ownership, collaboration and impact.

Who you are

• Stakeholder engagement & influence: Strong communicator and influencer, able to build trusted relationships across senior leadership and cross-functional teams to drive alignment and action.
• Strategic portfolio management: Proven experience in leading complex portfolios, with strong skills in prioritisation, sequencing and value-based decision making.
• Commercial acumen & capex governance: Deep understanding of capex planning and investment governance with track record of managing large-scale budgets and driving return on investment. Ideally good understanding of commercial dynamics of a large telco business.
• Resilience: Ability to multi-task and prioritise across a range of conflicting interests, dealing with rapidly evolving priorities.
• Leadership: Experience developing high-performing teams, setting clear standards and embedding continuous improvement in ways of working.