Senior Specialist - Business Planning

The Senior Specialist – Business Planning plays a key role in supporting the development, execution, monitoring, and reporting of the Marketing function's strategic objectives, annual business plans, and key initiatives. The role will ensure alignment between departmental priorities, organizational goals, and workforce plans while facilitating effective performance tracking and governance across the Marketing organization.

The incumbent will work closely with Marketing leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to drive planning cycles, monitor performance, support strategic initiatives, and provide insights that enable informed decision-making and successful delivery of business objectives.

Business Planning & Performance Management

• Support the development and coordination of the Marketing annual business plan and operational plans.
• Monitor progress against strategic objectives, KPIs, and departmental targets.
• Consolidate updates from various Marketing teams and ensure accurate reporting of performance metrics.
• Assist in the preparation of quarterly and annual business reviews.
• Track critical initiatives and ensure timely follow-up on action items and deliverables.
• Support the cascading of organizational objectives into departmental and team-level plans.

Strategic Planning & Execution

• Contribute to the development and refinement of Marketing strategic priorities and initiatives.
• Support the evaluation of strategic projects, business cases, and growth opportunities.
• Conduct research and analysis on market trends, industry benchmarks, and strategic developments.
• Prepare presentations, reports, and executive materials to support strategic discussions and decision-making.
• Monitor the implementation of strategic initiatives and flag potential risks, dependencies, and delays.

Workforce Planning & Budget Coordination

• Support workforce planning activities across the Marketing function.
• Maintain workforce planning trackers and monitor recruitment progress against approved plans.
• Coordinate with HR, Finance, and departmental stakeholders to ensure alignment between workforce requirements and business priorities.
• Assist in budget planning, tracking, and reporting activities related to Marketing initiatives and projects.
• Support resource allocation and planning exercises to ensure efficient utilization of departmental resources.

Governance & Reporting

• Prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual reports for Marketing leadership.
• Develop dashboards and performance tracking tools to improve visibility of progress against strategic objectives.
• Ensure data accuracy, consistency, and integrity across planning and reporting activities.
• Support governance meetings through agenda preparation, meeting coordination, minutes, and action tracking.
• Maintain documentation of business plans, strategic initiatives, governance decisions, and reporting outputs.

Stakeholder Management & Collaboration

• Engage with Marketing teams and cross-functional stakeholders to gather information and consolidate business updates.
• Coordinate planning and reporting requirements across multiple departments.
• Facilitate alignment between Marketing priorities and corporate strategic objectives.
• Foster strong working relationships with internal stakeholders to ensure smooth execution of planning processes.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve planning, reporting, governance, and performance management processes.
• Support the implementation of new tools, templates, and methodologies that enhance business planning effectiveness.
• Promote best practices in project tracking, reporting, and strategic execution.

Qualifications & Experience

Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Strategy, Finance, Economics, Project Management, or a related field.
• Master's degree or MBA is considered an advantage.

Experience

• 3-5 years of experience in Business Planning, Strategic Planning, PMO, Corporate Performance, Strategy, Project Management, or a related field.
• Experience within large organizations, government entities, giga-projects, destination management, real estate, tourism, entertainment, or marketing environments is preferred.
• Experience supporting executive reporting and business performance management activities is desirable.