This role in 3 words: Partner, Agile, Driven 

Top 3 qualities for this role: Collaborative, Dynamic, Story Telling  

In the words of the team, you should leave your current role for this one because….

“If you want to be part of something great, building for the future and making a real difference to the lives of our customers and our business, working within our Forecasting & Planning Team offers this and so much more.  Fast paced, agile & exciting, we’re an integral part of the business, operating at its very core to help drive and deliver our strategic goals, whilst supporting the business in the here and now.” 

Everyone belongs at OVO
At OVO, we are on a mission to solve one of humanity's biggest challenges, the climate crisis. And we know it takes all of us to change the world. That's why we need diverse people from all gender identities, ethnicities, ages, sexual orientations, life experiences and backgrounds to join us.

Teamworking for the planet
Everything we do here spins around Plan Zero. So, naturally, the team you’ll be joining plays a gigantic role in making that happen. Here’s how:

We’re hiring world-changers.  Our Forecasting & Planning Team provides an end to end cohesive operational planning solution, with a simplified business partnering approach integrating the team into the market, planning for the full customer life cycle to deliver our Plan Zero mission.This role in a nutshell:

You’ll be working as part of the Forecasting and Planning Team within OVO Retail and will be at the heart of enabling our operations through planning for our customers’ needs across the OVO business. You’ll champion customer excellence and be empowered to make a difference on a global scale through enabling our Plan Zero objectives.

Your key outcomes will be:
You’ll work as an integral part of the F&P department, with responsibility for providing guidance, support and decision making within the team, for stakeholders and our customers delivering end to end planning solutions.  You will influence and support the design of our wider operating model and business strategy, ensuring our contact centres are there when our customers need us.

Leading a team of professional planners, you’ll hold responsibility for the delivery of capacity Supply and Demand plans to meet our customers’ needs, whilst supporting business transformation and underpinning the successful delivery of OVO’s broader business objectives.

• Operating as an essential colleague in an integral, fast paced high performing unit, leading and developing a team of professional planners.
• Building and maintaining excellent relationships with key stakeholders across the business, challenging thinking where appropriate, whilst operating as a trusted colleague and subject matter expert across the organisation.
• Directing the effective use and application of planning tools to deliver robust Supply & Demand resourcing plans, with governance of the planning process, securing organisational alignment on inputs that drives quality and accuracy of outputs.
• Defining supply labour strategies to meet demand across both internal and outsourced partner resource types, with a joined-up approach across Operations and Shared Services to underpin effective delivery.
• Influencing to deliver the most optimal operating model, ensuring we provide the best customer experience, whilst aligning to business strategy and budget envelope.
• Preparing simple and concise updates from complex data sets to key stakeholders, outlining options and mitigation, whilst articulating drivers to any variances to plan.
• Supporting and evaluating business change, assessing operational and organisational impacts, whilst driving improvements to business capabilities, that include operational efficiency, business growth, and improved customer and colleague experience.
• Driving a process of continuous improvement, innovation and simplification, supporting the team to enhance processes, tools and systems increasing efficiency.
• Promoting and facilitating interdepartmental learning and information flow to support operational planning and improved execution.
• Playing a key role in shaping and defining our People Plan across F&P Directorate creating a great place to work where our people excel and develop.

You’ll be a successful Senior Planning Manager here at OVO if you…

• Have extensive experience in a front and back office contact centre complex planning, financial or senior operational role having worked within the Contact Centre industry, in a customer focused position supporting senior stakeholders.
• Have a sound understanding of resource planning tools and techniques, WFM and forecasting systems & planning solutions.
• Have strong data analytics skills, with the ability to interpret and communicate complex data into simplex outputs.
• Are resilient, with the ability to work under pressure, during periods of change and to tight deadlines.Strong influencing abilities, with the emphasis on business partnering to senior stakeholders.
• Have excellent communication skills, tailoring approach to suit the audience.
• Are restless and driven to deliver business improvement opportunities, using initiative to gain broader cross functional support.
• Have excellent people leadership skills, with a proven track record of managing and developing highly successful teams.
• Have strong business acumen, understanding commercial strategy and financial performance. Demonstrating data driven decision making.
• Have energy sector knowledge (desirable).
• Have formal training and certifications or equivalent business experience in resource planning and analysis, such as BCS or equivalent (desirable).
• Have formal training in lean process design, such as lean six sigma (desirable).
• Have formal training in agile delivery methodology such as certification as a scrum master or product owner (desirable).
• Have formal leadership or coaching / mentoring training or certification (desirable).

You won’t like this role if you…

• Aren’t resilient and able to manage change working at pace
• Aren’t versatile and able operate at a macro level to give guidance & put forward business solutions

Let’s talk about what’s in it for you

We’ll pay you between £65,000 and £70,000, depending on your specific skills and experience. If your expectations are a little different, have a chat with us!

We keep our pay ranges broad on purpose to give us, and you, flexibility to match your experience to our zero carbon mission.

You’ll be eligible for an on-target bonus of 15%. We have one OVO bonus plan that focuses on the collective performance of our people to deliver our Plan Zero goal. 

We also offer plenty of green benefits and progressive policies to help you feel like you belong at OVO…and there’s flex pay.  It’s an extra 9% of your salary on top of your core pay to use as you like. You can take it as cash, add to your pension, or choose to spend it on a huge range of flex benefits.

Here’s a taster of what’s on offer: 

For starters, you’ll get 34 days of holiday (including bank holidays).

For your health
With benefits like a healthcare cash plan or private medical insurance depending on your career level, critical illness cover, life assurance, health assessments, and more

For your wellbeing
With gym membership, gadget, travel and cyber insurance, workplace ISA, will writing services, DNA testing, dental insurance, and more

For your lifestyle
With extra holiday buying, discount dining, culture cards, tech loans, and supporting your favourite charities with give-as-you-earn donations

For your home 
Get up to £300 off any OVO Energy plan (when you pay by Direct Debit), plus personal carbon offsetting and great discounts on smart thermostats and EV chargers

For your commute
Nab a great deal on ultra-low emission car leasing, plus our cycle to work scheme and public transport season ticket loans

Want to hear about our full range of flexible benefits and progressive people policies? Our People Team can tell you everything you need to know.

For your Belonging
To find better ways to support our people, we need to listen to each other’s experiences and find ways to build a truly inclusive and diverse workplace. As part of this, we have 8 Belonging Networks at OVO. Led by our people, for our people - so when you join OVO, you can play a part - big or small - with any of the Networks. It's up to you.

Oh, and one last thing...
We’d be thrilled if you tick off all our boxes yet we also believe it’s just as important we tick off all of yours. And if you think you have most of what we’re looking for but not every single thing, go ahead and hit apply. We’d still love to hear from you! If you have any additional requirements, there’s a space to let us know on the application form; we want to make the process as easy and comfortable for you as possible.