Workforce Planning Manager

Job Description

We are seeking for a Workforce Planning Manager to own workforce and personnel-cost planning for an assigned business, country, function or multi-market scope. Working closely with People, Finance and business stakeholders, you will lead planning cycles, challenge assumptions, reconcile workforce and financial plans, and turn workforce data into clear scenarios and recommendations for business decisions. You will play a key role in strengthening planning standards, data quality and alignment between People and Finance.

Key Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end workforce planning for the assigned scope across annual budget, forecasts and multi-year planning cycles.
• Lead planning discussions with People, Finance and business stakeholders, challenging assumptions and driving alignment on headcount, capacity and personnel costs.
• Act as a subject-matter expert on workforce-planning standards, including positions, vacancies, hires, exits, compensation, transfers, recharges and restructuring impacts.
• Manage workforce assumptions and movements in Anaplan WFP and ensure alignment with the P&L module in partnership with Finance.
• Own WFP-to-P&L reconciliations, investigate variances and drive timely resolution of data or process issues.
• Lead monthly workforce performance reviews, explaining headcount and personnel-cost variances and highlighting key risks and opportunities.
• Develop workforce scenarios and sensitivities covering growth, attrition, vacancies, compensation, productivity and restructuring, and translate findings into clear recommendations.
• Maintain workforce reports and dashboards, ensuring data quality, consistency and traceability across Anaplan, Workday/HRIS and Finance sources.
• Identify planning risks and dependencies, drive follow-ups and ensure actions, approvals and deadlines are completed.
• Lead selected process improvements, including planning standards, controls, documentation, testing and adoption of workforce-planning tools.
• Provide functional guidance and quality review to analysts and planning contributors where required.

Qualifications

• 4–7 years of experience in workforce planning, HR controlling, FP&A, people analytics, financial planning or a similar analytical discipline.
• Experience owning workforce or financial planning processes across a complex business, function, country or multi-market scope.
• Strong knowledge of headcount and position management, budgeting, forecasting, personnel-cost planning, variance analysis and P&L.
• Hands-on experience with Anaplan or a comparable enterprise planning platform, including planning cycles, scenarios, inputs, outputs and reconciliations.
• Advanced Excel or Google Sheets skills, with the ability to structure, validate and analyse large datasets and create clear decision materials.
• Strong ability to connect HR and organisational changes to financial impact and translate analysis into clear options, risks and recommendations.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the confidence to challenge assumptions and drive alignment without formal authority.
• Highly structured, detail-oriented and proactive, with strong ownership and the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
• High integrity and discretion when handling sensitive employee, organisational and financial data.
• Fluent English communication skills, written and verbal.

Nice to have:

• Workday experience, particularly organisational structures, position management and headcount movements.
• Experience with Power BI, Tableau, SQL or similar data and visualisation tools.
• Experience working in a multi-country or matrix organisation with People and Finance stakeholders.
• Experience supporting reorganisations, restructuring, productivity or workforce-transformation initiatives.
• Experience providing functional guidance, quality review or coaching to analysts.

Additional Information