Thoucentric - Program Head - Planning System - Kinaxis/O9/SAP/Transformation

Description:

About Thoucentric:

Thoucentric is a niche management consulting firm focused on helping organizations overcome business challenges, maximize growth & overall performance through effective problem solving, efficient people, process, and technology solutioning, end to end execution and management.

We help clients with Business Consulting, Program & Project Management, Digital Transformation, Product Management, Process & Technology Solutioning and Execution including Analytics & Emerging Tech areas cutting across functional areas such as Supply Chain, Finance & HR, Sales & Distribution.

We are a group of seasoned professionals having diverse industry, solution and product experience thereby making us effective business liaisons. We are 300+ consultants strong coming with strong diverse background fueling our growth story in India and across four other global locations viz. US, UK, Singapore, and Australia.

Thoucentric is an Ethos that epitomizes the essence of being a good human living a life of purpose being life itself! We are an extension of ourselves together! We breed the basic human values of trust, freedom, nimbleness, compassion, integrity, passion, persistence & conviction.

Role Overview:

- Lead large-scale, Advanced Planning System (APS) transformation programs like Kinaxis, o9, SAP etc. for complex and large programs The role oversees end-to-end delivery across multiple workstreamsincluding APS functional implementation, enterprise integrations, data readiness, testing, cutover, change management, and business adoption.

- This is a strategic leadership role responsible for program governance, multi-vendor orchestration, stakeholder alignment, and delivery excellence, ensuring the APS implementation delivers measurable business value and transforms planning processes across the enterprise.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Program Leadership & Governance:

- Provide overall leadership for the APS transformation, ensuring alignment with business objectives and long-term planning strategy.

- Establish and run a comprehensive program governance structure (SteerCos, PMO, RAID management, design authority, cross-stream syncs).

- Define program charter, scope, KPIs, milestones, and value realization framework.

- Lead planning, budgeting, and execution across global and regional teams.

2. Oversight of Multi-Stream Delivery:

- Direct and coordinate all APS program workstreams, including:

- Planning functional design & configuration

- Integration with enterprise systems (ERP, WMS, MES, Data Lake, Reporting)

- Data and master data readiness

- Testing (SIT, UAT), cutover, and hypercare

- Business process harmonization

- Change management and planner adoption

- Manage dependencies and ensure seamless integration across functional and technical tracks.

3. Vendor & Partner Management:

- Work with multiple vendor partners handling APS implementation, integrations, data engineering, infra, and change management.

- Drive joint planning, milestone alignment, contractual governance, and performance tracking.

- Ensure partners deliver high-quality outputs and adhere to timelines, budget, and scope.

4. Scope, Budget, and Risk Management:

- Own and control program scope; run structured change-management processes for all new asks.

- Track and manage budgets, forecasts, invoicing, and financial health of the program.

- Identify risks early, formulate mitigation strategies, and drive issue resolution.

- Protect the program from scope creep, misalignment, and delivery slippage.

5. Stakeholder Engagement & Communication:

- Act as the primary liaison between business leadership, supply chain teams, IT, and vendors.

- Engage with senior stakeholders to drive decisions, align priorities, and communicate progress transparently.

- Produce executive dashboards, governance reports, and program-level updates.

- Facilitate decision-making forums and steer planning councils.

6. Business Alignment & Change Adoption:

- Ensure APS design aligns with business processes, planning cycles, and organizational KPIs.

- Lead process harmonization, SOP design, future-state mapping, and adoption strategy.

- Support training, onboarding, cutover readiness, and post go-live stabilization.

- Drive adoption metrics, planner engagement, and value realization tracking.

7. Quality Assurance & Delivery Control:

- Implement structured review mechanisms for design, configuration, integration, and testing.

- Ensure program deliverables meet quality standards, architectural guidelines, and business acceptance criteria.

- Maintain reusable knowledge artifactsprogram documents, templates, playbooks, and SOPs.

Required Skills & Experience

1. Functional Expertise:

- Strong understanding of Advanced Planning Systems, supply chain planning processes, and APS implementation lifecycle.

- Experience with one or more platforms preferred: Kinaxis, o9, SAP IBP, Blue Yonder, etc.

- Solid knowledge of enterprise integration landscapes, data models, and planning algorithms.

- Ability to review functional designs, validate technical architecture, and guide functional/technical teams.

2. Program Management Excellence:

- 12-18+ years of experience with at least 57 years leading large, global programs.

- Proven success running multi-stream, multi-vendor enterprise transformation programs in supply chain, IT, or planning domains.

- Strong command of program governance, RAID management, budgeting, and stakeholder management.

- Experience managing large cross-functional teams (40100+ resources) across geographies.

3. Leadership & Interpersonal Skills:

- Exceptional communication and senior stakeholder management experience.

- Ability to influence business leaders, IT architects, and global process owners.

- Strong decision-making in ambiguous or high-pressure environments.

- Highly structured, detail-oriented, and excellent at driving clarity and accountability.

Educational Background & Certifications:

- Bachelor's/MBA from Tier 1; Tier 2 college

- Certifications such as PMP, PgMP, SAFe, CSM, CSPO, or equivalent are a strong advantage.

- APS-related certifications (Kinaxis/O9/IBP/Blue Yonder) preferred but not mandatory.

Personal Attributes:

- Strategic thinker with strong ownership mindset.

- Resilient, calm under pressure, and able to work in complex stakeholder environments.

- Strong organizational and prioritization skills.

- Collaborative team player with an ability to motivate diverse teams.

- Pragmatic problem-solver with a business-outcome-first approach.

Requirements:

- You Are A Good Fit If This Sounds Like You:

- Ability to cope in a complex and fast-changing business environment and to respond calmly and rationally to changing aspirations in a deadline-driven situation.

- Works independently on complex processes and modules that may be used by one or more programs or systems.

- Strong planning and organizing skills including the ability to manage several work streams simultaneously.

- Excellent communication skills with a capacity to present, discuss and explain issues coherently and logically both in writing and verbally.

- Good influencing and persuasion skills with the ability to enthuse and inspire multidisciplinary teams and build successful relationships at all levels.

- Good team player, self-motivated and able to work on own initiative.

- Clear decision-making ability with the facility to judge complex situations and assess when to escalate issues

- Kindly note that we are working in a Hybrid Mode with base location in Bengaluru, Karnataka, this is not a remote role.

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