Workday Adaptive Planning Lead Consultant

About the role

As an Adaptive Planning Consultant, you’ll work in a team or independently helping our clients transform their business planning needs—budgeting, revenue, personnel, KPIs, quotas/capacity, territories, reporting & analytics—with the Workday Adaptive Planning Business Planning Cloud. You will be a specialist within your field, providing mentoring and oversight to more junior team members.

Responsibilities

• Provide expertise on the Workday Adaptive Planning solution, maintaining proficiency and certification in the suite.
• Lead all phases of Workday Adaptive Planning implementation projects:
  • Work with clients to understand their current planning process and take a consultative approach to migrate legacy models into Workday Adaptive Planning.
  • Recommend the best solution based on client requirements, budget, and timeframe, adapting scope as additional needs are identified.
  • Guide clients through facilitated design sessions and configuration decisions based on best practices.
  • Develop and configure accurate forecasting and planning models in Workday Adaptive Planning.
  • Plan and conduct training sessions for users.
  • Document the planning models and reporting delivered to clients.
  • Ensure rapid time to value by delivering engagements on time and within budget.
• Support clients to ensure success by communicating regularly, setting proper expectations, and serving as the go-to resource for project-related inquiries.
• Collaborate internally by sharing learnings and solutions with colleagues.
• Support business development activities, including producing estimates for delivery of work.
• Manage, coach, and develop a small number of staff, focusing on performance and career growth.
• Implement improvements in tools and/or processes to enhance the practice.
• Travel to customer sites in the same region (minimal out-of-region travel may also be required).

Requirements

• Comprehensive financial and/or management accounting experience, particularly in budgeting, planning, and management reporting.
• Experience designing and building complex financial planning models, with advanced Excel skills.
• Ability to conceptualize a client’s business model and translate it into a working model in software.
• Strong communication skills, able to engage with customers and colleagues with impact, credibility, and empathy, including in remote settings.
• Ability to formally present to senior client audiences.
• Broad business and technology understanding, with awareness of industry trends in Financials and Enterprise Resource Planning.
• Proven ability to lead and work effectively within teams, fostering an inclusive culture.
• Good understanding of project methodologies and their contribution to successful projects.
• Ability to work under tight deadlines and make balanced decisions under pressure.
• Strong consulting skills, including leading workshops, demonstrating, and explaining complex solutions.
• Demonstrated ability in managing, coaching, and developing team members.

Qualifications

• Desirable: Experience implementing at least one Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) system (e.g., Workday Adaptive Planning, Host Analytics, Anaplan, Oracle Hyperion).
• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, or Business (desirable).
• Qualified accountant (CIMA/ACA/ACCA) or Part Qualified Accountant with strong industry experience (desirable).

People Management

If your role involves managing people, your responsibilities may include:

• Agreeing, setting, and reviewing goals aligned with Kainos, Workday BU, and your Capability for yourself and your team.
• Supporting your team to achieve their goals.
• Reviewing and refining goals to keep performance on track.
• Conducting monthly 1:1 and/or project completion feedback meetings.
• Requesting and providing regular feedback in Workday.
• Completing End of Year reviews and agreeing on outcomes.
• Identifying training to support development for yourself and your team.
• Supporting career paths and progression for team members.
• Reviewing weekly workload forecasting, staff allocations, and timesheet checks.
• Actively participating in recruitment and interviews.
• Reviewing attrition and retention metrics.