Anaplan Platform Lead

Our client - a large, mature and complex, financial services business seeking an experienced Anaplan Platform Lead to own the strategic direction, architecture, governance and ongoing development of the enterprise Anaplan ecosystem.

This is a high-profile role with the opportunity to shape how planning and decision-making are delivered across the organisation.

Working closely with senior Finance, Technology and Business leaders, you will define the platform roadmap, establish best practice, and ensure Anaplan continues to deliver scalable, high-quality planning capabilities that support the future ambitions of the business.

This role offers a unique opportunity for an experienced Anaplan leader to combine strategic platform ownership with hands-on solution leadership in a complex and highly regulated environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and deliver the long-term vision, strategy and roadmap for the Anaplan platform.
• Act as the platform owner, ensuring alignment between business objectives, planning processes and technology capabilities.
• Establish and maintain enterprise standards covering model design, governance, performance, security and data quality.
• Drive continuous improvement and identify opportunities to enhance planning, forecasting and performance management processes.
• Champion best practice across the Anaplan community and wider stakeholder groups.
• Provide architectural leadership across the Anaplan landscape.
• Design and oversee the delivery of scalable, high-performing planning solutions.
• Lead the evolution of forecasting, budgeting, reporting and performance management models.
• Ensure models remain aligned to business requirements while maintaining technical excellence and scalability.
• Drive optimisation initiatives to improve user experience, performance and maintainability.

Stakeholder & Transformation Leadership

• Partner with senior Finance, FP&A, Operations and Technology leaders to define future planning requirements.
• Act as the primary point of contact for Anaplan strategy, governance and platform development.
• Lead the successful delivery of platform enhancements and transformation initiatives.
• Influence and challenge stakeholders to drive adoption of best practice planning approaches.
• Support executive decision-making through improved planning, reporting and insight capabilities.

Governance & Operational Excellence

• Own platform governance, release management, testing and application lifecycle processes.
• Ensure robust controls around security, access management and regulatory compliance.
• Drive consistency across models, processes and data structures.
• Maintain platform stability, performance and scalability.
• Oversee ongoing enhancement and support activities.

Capability Development

• Develop and mentor internal Anaplan practitioners.
• Build and promote an Anaplan Centre of Excellence mindset across the organisation.
• Drive knowledge sharing, user enablement and platform adoption.
• Support the growth of enterprise planning capability across Finance and the wider business.

Required Experience

• Significant experience leading enterprise Anaplan platforms and complex planning environments.
• Proven track record delivering end-to-end Anaplan implementations and platform transformations.
• Deep expertise in:
• Platform governance and best practice
• Model optimisation and performance tuning
• Data integration and planning ecosystems
• Strong understanding of budgeting, forecasting, planning and performance management processes.
• Experience operating within complex, regulated organisations.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, including engagement with executive and senior leadership teams.
• Strong commercial awareness and ability to translate business challenges into planning solutions.
• Exceptional communication, leadership and influencing skills.

Highly Desirable Experience

• Financial services, banking, lending or insurance sector experience.
• Experience establishing or leading an Anaplan Centre of Excellence.
• Advanced financial modelling expertise.
• Understanding of capital planning, stress testing or risk management frameworks.
• Experience leading teams, vendors or external implementation partners.
• Background delivering enterprise planning transformation programmes.