Business Planning and Analysis Director

ALU is a higher education institution dedicated to empowering students to tackle global challenges. They are seeking a Business Planning & Analysis Director to drive organizational excellence, manage business planning cycles, and ensure alignment across teams through data-driven insights and operational improvements.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the annual and multi-year business planning cycle, translating strategic priorities into measurable operational and financial targets
• Coordinate institutional planning inputs from departments and campuses, ensuring coherence and resource alignment
• Develop and maintain the organizational performance framework, aligned to organizational goals and KPIs, and planning calendar, that integrates finance, operations, and strategic milestones
• Partner with Finance and all departments to align forecasts, enrollment targets, and investment plans with institutional priorities
• Develop forward-looking models and business cases to guide decision-making and growth planning
• In collaboration with the Finance Performance team and the Data team, drive periodic performance reviews, building dashboard and analysis, and consolidating insights from across functions
• Develop performance dashboard and report, from Management committees to board updates
• Lead the process mapping and optimization agenda, ensuring that core business processes are efficient, standardized, and scalable
• Identify operational bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and duplication across the value chain (e.g., admissions, finance, academic delivery)
• Design and implement systems and metrics to measure process adherence, efficiency, and effectiveness
• Oversee implementation of improvement initiatives in collaboration with function heads and the transformation office to drive standardization, automation and continuous improvement
• Partner with function heads to ensure processes are embedded, followed, and continuously improved
• Partner with the Systems and Data teams to ensure automation, process integration, and digital enablement
• Serve as custodian of the institutional risk register, ensuring systematic identification, assessment, and mitigation of risks
• Lead quarterly risk reviews with ExCo and ensure linkages between risk management, performance, and planning
• Partner with Legal, Finance, and People & Culture to strengthen enterprise governance and business continuity strategies that enhance organizational resilience, agility, and sustained performance
• Embed risk awareness into planning and project management processes
• Coordinate with department heads to ensure that controls are effectively integrated into day-to-day operations
• Provide training and support to staff on control processes and compliance requirements
• Partner with Data teams to ensure consistency and reliability of institutional data sources
• Develop dashboards and reports that track both performance outcomes and process adherence indicators
• Conduct analysis and scenario modeling to assess process impact on institutional performance and guide decision-making
• Ensure the safety and well-being of all young persons and vulnerable adults with whom we deal, by adhering to ALU’s comprehensive safeguarding policy, maintaining a zero-tolerance approach to any violations of safeguarding standards

Requirements:

• 8–12 years' experience in business performance management, strategic planning, operational excellence management, financial planning analysis or related roles
• Proven experience leading planning or performance cycles in complex, multi-unit organizations
• Strong analytical and modeling skills; proficiency in dashboards and performance reporting tools (Excel, Power BI, Google Suite, or equivalent)
• Demonstrated success in process improvement, risk management, and data-driven decision support
• Exposure to risk management frameworks and organizational governance preferred
• Experience in education, mission-driven, or growth-stage organizations is an advantage
• Project management experience
• Systems thinking and structured problem solving
• Strategic and operational planning
• Process mapping and continuous improvement
• Data-driven analysis and storytelling
• Risk awareness and mitigation planning
• Stakeholder alignment and influence across functions