Senior Director Business Operations & Annual Planning

The Role

The Senior Director of Business Operations and Annual Planning will focus on transformational initiatives across the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) organization. This leadership role will partner with stakeholders to drive successful Business Architecture strategies for the commercial organization that enhance organizational effectiveness and support our strategic objectives. This role will also be a critical driver to lead and partner on annual planning initiatives and work across Lumen to manage our Commercial Kick Off event. 

The Main Responsibilities

• Annual Planning PMO: Lead your annual planning team to help define inputs and outputs against the yearly planning process, drive completion of planning milestones and establish key events within the year to land annual planning & define related outputs (Commercial kick off, strategy memos etc).
• Annual Planning Process: Partner with Commercial Strategy, Sales Ops, Compensation, Finance, and HR to align planning with compensation, account planning, quota, and organizational design timelines. Be the driver for the planning process by bringing together the stakeholders needed to meet the relevant timelines.
• Modeling & Decision Making: Own the modeling behind planning in partnership with Analytics & Commercial Strategy to design proposals and drive the strategic decision-making process from ideation through to final sign off with executive stakeholders.
• Partner with Commercial Strategy, Enablement and Marketing to lead the Commercial Kick-Off event (from idea to execution), as the core Commercial event to land planning outputs and launch the year.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Build strong relationships with stakeholders at all levels to understand their needs and ensure buy-in for initiatives related to business architecture and annual planning.
• Communication Planning: Design and execute communication plans to keep all stakeholders informed and engaged throughout the Annual Planning process.
• Impact Assessment: Partner with the Change Practices team to conduct assessments to evaluate the impact of changes in business Architecture or annual planning process on business operations and employee performance, providing insights for continuous improvement.
• Monitoring and Reporting: Build portfolio tracking to evaluate progress against annual planning, providing regular updates to leadership and stakeholders, and adjusting strategies as needed based on feedback and results.
• Partner with Commercial Strategy, Experience, Finance, Analytics, Compensation, Sales Operations and HR to align planning with compensation, quota, and organizational design timelines.
• Business Operations: Develop and refine management system to ensure visibility by consistent monitoring of the business objectives, including all key leading indicators from a financial and operational perspective
• Advisement: Critical adviser to the business unit’s Senior Vice President and subsequent leadership team in progressing key objectives and identifying and solving challenges
• Business Planning: Develop instrumentation approach for the business to assess performance vs. targets, refine strategic vision and identify additional areas for improvement
• Chief of Staff: Supports the business unit’s President and operates as a member of the senior management team in developing short- and long-term plans to meet key goals and annual objectives
• Communications: Develop key messages and create presentations on behalf of senior executive by representing and communicating the priorities of leadership across the entire Lumen organization

What We Look For in a Candidate

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Organizational Development, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.
• 14+ years of experience in change management, organizational development, annual / fiscal year planning, preferably in a tech or high-growth environment.
• Change management certification (e.g., Prosci, ACMP, Six Sigma, or similar) is required.
• Proven track record of successfully managing teams and driving change initiatives to achieve organizational goals
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and interpersonal skills, with executive presence and the ability to influence and engage stakeholders and executives.
• Analytical mindset with the ability to assess complex situations and propose effective solutions.
• Experience working in a project-based environment, leading teams with multiple initiatives and portfolios simultaneously.
• Experience working in a highly matrixed organization, designing strategy aligned to multiple executive stakeholders with common goals.

Compensation

What to Expect Next