Job Summary
The Strategic Workforce Planning Manager plays a key role in enabling long-term workforce strategy, position governance, and workforce cost optimization through data-driven insights and forward-looking analysis.
This role leads enterprise-level workforce and position planning, including budget planning and cost management, ensuring alignment between business strategy and headcount investment. The role operates with a high degree of independence and partners closely with HR, Finance, and business leaders to support organizational growth, optimization, and transformation.
Key Responsibilities
1. Strategic Workforce Planning & Position Management
- Lead enterprise workforce planning cycles, including headcount planning, forecasting, and workforce segmentation.
- Own position management governance aligned with approved organizational structures and budgets.
- Drive workforce scenario modeling (e.g., growth, restructuring, cost trade-offs).
- Ensure alignment between workforce plans and business/financial strategy.
2. Workforce Cost Management & Budget Planning
- Develop workforce cost models to support planning cycles.
- Partner with Finance to ensure alignment between workforce and financial plans.
- Monitor budget versus actual workforce spends and identify variances.
3. Workforce Analytics & Strategic Insights
- Build workforce analytics frameworks focusing on composition, productivity, and cost efficiency.
- Integrate workforce, financial, and operational data to generate holistic insights.
- Deliver executive-level insights and business cases for investment prioritization and decision-making.
4. Workforce Planning Governance & Operating Model
- Establish governance frameworks for workforce planning, position management, and cost control.
- Define processes, approval workflows, and controls for position lifecycle and budget adherence.
- Ensure data integrity, audit readiness, and compliance across HR and financial systems.
- Drive standardization and continuous improvement of planning and budgeting processes.
5. Planning Tools, Systems & Integration
- Serve as key point of contact for workforce planning tools (e.g., Adaptive Planning, Workday).
- Partner with HR Systems and Finance to align headcount, position data, and cost structures.
- Enhance system capabilities for scenario planning, forecasting, and budget tracking.
6. Stakeholder Advisory & Strategic Partnership
- Lead workforce and cost optimization initiatives (e.g., organizational redesign, restructuring, cost transformation).
- Define success metrics such as cost efficiency, productivity, and ROI of workforce investments.
- Ensure cross-functional alignment and disciplined execution.
Qualifications
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Statistics, Economics, Industrial Engineering, Business Analytics, HR, or a related discipline
- Postgraduate qualifications or certifications in Analytics or Project Management are an advantage
Professional Certifications
- Certifications in Analytics, Project Management, or HR-related disciplines
- Exposure to Workday HCM and Strategic Workforce Planning (required)
Knowledge & Technical Expertise
- Strategic workforce planning methodologies and organizational analytics
- Advanced data analysis, modeling, and visualization techniques
- Strong understanding of HR systems, particularly Workday
Skills & Competencies
- Advanced proficiency in Excel and Power BI
- Working knowledge of Python, SQL, Power Query (M), VBA, or similar tools
- Strong project management and delivery capabilities
- Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and critical-thinking skills
- Strong stakeholder management and executive communication skills
- High attention to detail with strong governance discipline
Experience
- 4–6 years of relevant experience in workforce planning, workforce analytics, or HR analytics
- Proven experience leading analytics-driven or HR-related projects
