UK

United Kingdom · Corporate Strategy · Principal/Manager (12-16 years)

Director of Strategic Planning

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, a real day, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

  • Experience bandPrincipal/Manager (12-16 years)
  • Direct reports2-4 reports
  • Reports toVP of Corporate Strategy
  • UK framework levelUsually someone running a function, or a director

Also advertised as Head of Corporate Strategy · Strategy Lead, Business Development · Principal, Strategic Initiatives

Built on an analysis of 43,079 real UK job descriptions · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

Start with a free Future Fluency check, tuned to Director of Strategic Planning

Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this role rather than a generic one. About five minutes, and no card.

Start the check, free

1What this role really is

This isn't just about making pretty slides; it's about owning a major chunk of our company's future. You'll be the one shaping where we invest, what markets we enter, and how we actually win. Think of yourself as the architect of our next big thing, responsible for turning high-level ambition into a concrete plan that actually gets built. It's a high-stakes role, no doubt, but incredibly rewarding if you like seeing your ideas become reality.

2What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

ExcelExpert

Mastering VBA for automation, building dynamic scenario/sensitivity analysis, auditing complex models for errors, and directing junior team members on model architecture. You're the go-to for anything complex.

Tableau / Power BIArchitect

Governing data visualisation standards, defining enterprise-level KPIs, and using Tableau Server/Power BI Premium for executive and board reporting. You'll be directing how we tell our data story visually.

Anaplan / PigmentStrategic

Leading platform selection/implementation for planning tools, designing the overall planning architecture, and ensuring it aligns seamlessly with enterprise strategy. You're the owner of how we plan at scale.

SQL (PostgreSQL)Architect

Understanding our data architecture, working with data engineering to define schemas and data pipelines needed for strategic analysis, and occasionally writing complex queries to validate team's data pulls.

Miro / FigJamStrategic

Using these tools to visually communicate complex strategies to the board and executive team, facilitating high-level brainstorming sessions, and directing team on collaborative strategic workshops.

PitchBook / CB InsightsExpert

Using these platforms to identify non-obvious market trends, build data-driven M&A theses, track venture capital flows, and inform capital allocation decisions. You're extracting deep competitive intelligence.

Diligent / BoardVantageAdvanced

Managing the entire board reporting process through the platform, ensuring secure delivery of all strategic materials, and advising on best practices for board engagement. You're the gatekeeper for board communications.

3What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing inWhere you are nowThe step above
Strategic Pillar Definition & ScopeNo authority. Executes tasks within defined pillar.Proposes minor adjustments to pillar scope; consults manager.Recommends significant changes to pillar scope; requires Director/VP input.
Project Budget Allocation (within pillar)No authority. Follows budget guidelines.Manages small project budgets (<£5K); escalates overruns.Approves project budgets up to £50K; consults Director for larger amounts.
Team Hiring & PerformanceNo authority. Provides feedback on candidates.Participates in interviews; provides input on performance reviews.Leads hiring for junior roles; conducts performance reviews for direct reports.
M&A Target Identification & Initial AssessmentResearches companies based on defined criteria.Proposes potential targets; conducts initial screening.Develops M&A thesis for specific targets; leads initial outreach.
External Vendor Selection (for strategic projects)No authority. Uses approved vendors.Recommends vendors based on pre-defined criteria.Selects vendors for projects up to £25K; consults Director for larger engagements.

4How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, honestly: the hard targets, how often each one is actually looked at, and the quiet human signals that never make it onto a dashboard.

P&L Impact from Strategic Initiatives
Measurable contribution of your strategic pillars to new market revenue, cost savings, or margin improvement.
Target · Directly contribute to £5M-£10M in new revenue or cost savings annually, or improve divisional EBIT by 1-2 percentage points.

Leading the entry into a new market that generates £7.5M in year one revenue, or identifying supply chain optimisations that save £6M in COGS.

Capital Allocation ROI
Return on Investment for strategic projects or M&A activities under your purview, compared against the company's hurdle rate.
Target · Achieve an average ROI that exceeds the corporate hurdle rate by at least 200 basis points (2%).

A project you championed had a projected ROI of 15% against a 10% hurdle rate, and actual returns came in at 13.5% (still beating the hurdle).

Board Approval Rate for Recommendations
The percentage of strategic recommendations you present to the board or executive committee that get approved for funding or implementation.
Target · >90% approval rate for major strategic proposals.

Presenting three major strategic proposals over the year, with two getting full approval and one getting conditional approval after minor adjustments.

Strategic Plan Adoption & Execution
How well your strategic plans are actually adopted and executed by the business units, not just approved.
Target · 80% of key strategic initiatives within your pillar have clear ownership, funding, and are on track against their OKRs.

After a Q2 strategic review, 7 out of 9 major initiatives you designed are actively being pursued by the relevant business units with clear milestones and resources.

Quality of Strategic Insights
The depth, originality, and actionability of your market analysis, competitive assessments, and strategic recommendations.
  • SVP and executive peers proactively seek your input on complex problems
  • your insights lead to new strategic questions or shifts in direction
  • your presentations are consistently praised for clarity and strategic foresight
  • you're often asked to present to the board.
Organisational Capability Building
Your success in building and developing the strategic planning function, including mentoring managers and improving team processes.
  • Your direct reports are consistently rated as high performers
  • you've implemented new tools or methodologies that improve team efficiency
  • your team is seen as a talent pipeline for other parts of the business
  • you're known for giving candid, helpful feedback.
Cross-Functional Influence & Alignment
Your ability to get different departments and business units on the same page regarding strategic priorities and resource allocation.
  • You're regularly asked to mediate disagreements between business units on strategic direction
  • conflicting priorities are resolved efficiently with your involvement
  • you've successfully championed a cross-functional initiative that required significant buy-in from multiple leaders.
Proactive Risk Identification
Your foresight in identifying potential strategic risks (market shifts, competitive threats, regulatory changes) and proposing mitigation plans.
  • You've flagged emerging threats months before they become critical
  • your risk assessments are integrated into executive decision-making
  • you regularly bring up 'what if' scenarios that others hadn't considered.

5Would you like it

The honest version. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Shaping the Future

You get a real buzz from seeing your strategic recommendations turn into actual company initiatives and knowing you've played a key part in where the business is heading. You're driven by the idea of building something lasting.

Spending late nights refining a new market entry strategy, then seeing the board approve the £20M investment, knowing you've set the wheels in motion for a new revenue stream.

Solving Complex Puzzles

You thrive on taking huge, ill-defined business problems and breaking them down into solvable pieces. The messier the problem, the more interesting it is to you. You love the intellectual challenge of strategy.

Being asked to figure out why a new product launch isn't gaining traction, then digging into market data, competitor moves, and internal capabilities to propose a turnaround plan.

Impact and Influence

It's not just about doing good work; it's about seeing that work actually make a difference and influencing senior leaders. You want your voice to be heard and your ideas to be acted upon.

Successfully convincing the CEO to pivot away from a long-standing but underperforming business line, based on your compelling analysis and strategic rationale.

What frustrates people
  • The 'Ivory Tower' Syndrome: Spending months crafting a beautiful strategy deck, only to see it shelved because it's disconnected from operational reality or simply ignored.
  • Professional Antagonist: Your job is often to be the one who says 'no' to pet projects or challenges assumptions, making you the villain who 'kills innovation' in the eyes of business unit leaders.
  • Data Janitor: You'll still spend a significant amount of your time (frankly, more than you'd like) chasing down, cleaning, and reconciling inconsistent data from siloed departments who use different definitions for the same metric.
  • The 'Shiny Object' CEO: The CEO returns from a conference with a 'brilliant idea' that derails the entire quarterly strategic focus and sends your team into a fire-drill frenzy, often for something that won't last.
  • Consensus is a Mirage: Getting heads to nod in a meeting, only to have stakeholders quietly sabotage the plan offline because it threatens their budget or headcount. You'll learn that agreement in a room doesn't always mean commitment.
  • The Execution Gap: Being blamed when the strategy 'fails,' even though the plan was sound but the execution by operational teams was flawed or under-resourced. You're accountable for strategy, but not always for delivery.
  • Forecast Fall Guy: When your meticulously built forecast is wrong due to unforeseen market events (and they always happen), you're often the first one called to the mat to explain why, even if it was outside your control.
What this role does not give you
  • Guaranteed direct control over execution (you influence, you don't always command).
  • A predictable, unchanging work environment (expect constant shifts and new priorities).
  • Immediate gratification for every piece of work (some strategic initiatives take years to bear fruit).
  • A quiet, solitary role focused purely on analysis (it's highly collaborative and often political).

6Who you work with

This role directly shapes our organisation's long-term growth, profitability, and competitive positioning. Your decisions on capital allocation and market entry could literally make or break our next big revenue stream. You're not just advising; you're setting the direction for significant parts of the business. The quality of your strategic recommendations dictates where millions of pounds are invested, or not invested, and ultimately, how successful we are in the market.

Inside the business
  • SVP and Executive Peers (Product, Sales, Marketing, Finance)
  • Business Unit Managing Directors
  • Head of Corporate Development
  • Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Outside the business
  • Industry Bodies and Associations
  • Strategic Partners and Key Vendors
  • M&A Targets and Investment Banks

7What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • Proven experience (12+ years) in corporate strategy, strategic consulting (e.g., McKinsey, Bain, BCG), or corporate development roles within a large, complex organisation.
  • A track record of leading significant strategic initiatives from concept to executive approval, demonstrating clear impact on business outcomes.
  • Extensive experience managing and mentoring junior strategy professionals, with a focus on developing their analytical and communication skills.
  • Demonstrable expertise in advanced financial modelling, valuation techniques, and scenario planning, including M&A-specific analyses.
  • A strong understanding of how to translate strategic theory into practical, actionable plans that resonate with operational teams.
  • Experience presenting complex strategic recommendations to senior executive teams and, ideally, board members.

8What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Advanced Predictive Modelling & Forecasting

Moving beyond traditional regression to incorporate more sophisticated machine learning techniques for forecasting market demand, competitive reactions, and strategic initiative outcomes. This will allow for more precise and dynamic long-range plans.

Time Series Forecasting (ARIMA, Prophet) · Machine Learning for Prediction · Model Interpretability

  • This month: Review recent academic papers or industry reports on advanced forecasting techniques relevant to our sector.
  • Next quarter: Collaborate closely with our Data Science team on one of their predictive modelling projects to understand the methodologies.
  • Month 4-6: Direct your team to pilot a new predictive model for a key strategic metric, using more advanced techniques.
  • Month 7-9: Evaluate the performance of these advanced models against traditional methods and present findings to leadership.

Quick win: Ask your team to explore open-source libraries (e.g., Python's `statsmodels` or `scikit-learn`) for basic time series analysis on a small dataset today.

9Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly attending industry conferences and thought leadership events to stay abreast of market trends and emerging technologies.
  • Participating in executive education programmes focused on strategic leadership, M&A, or digital transformation.
  • Engaging with peer groups or professional associations for strategic leaders to share best practices and expand your network.
  • Mentoring junior talent within and outside your immediate team, as teaching often solidifies your own understanding and leadership skills.

10How the AI economy is changing work like this

Before we ask anything of you, here's what we can already say about AI and work of this kind:

The new skill this role is being asked for: Ethical AI in Strategic Decision-Making

As we use AI more and more for market intelligence, scenario planning, and M&A screening, understanding its biases, limitations, and ethical implications becomes paramount. A flawed AI input could lead to a flawed multi-million-pound strategic decision, and we need to be ahead of that.

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

Your PlanIllustration

Built for Director of Strategic Planning

4 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Manage a programme of complementary projectsChartered Management Institute · covers 2 of 7 standardsLevel 7
  2. Data Analysis and VisualisationOTHM Qualifications · covers 2 of 7 standardsLevel 7
  3. Develop a business strategyChartered Management Institute · covers 1 of 7 standardsLevel 7
  4. Organisational StrategySFEDI Enterprises Ltd. T/A SFEDI Awards · covers 1 of 7 standardsLevel 7
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

Ethical AI in Strategic Decision-Making

As we use AI more and more for market intelligence, scenario planning, and M&A screening, understanding its biases, limitations, and ethical implications becomes paramount. A flawed AI input could lead to a flawed multi-million-pound strategic decision, and we need to be ahead of that.

  • Algorithmic Bias Detection
  • Explainable AI (XAI)
  • Data Governance for AI
  • AI Risk Frameworks

Advanced Data Storytelling & Visualisation

While we already use Tableau and Power BI, the ability to weave complex data into a truly compelling, emotionally resonant story for executives and the board is becoming a differentiator. It's not just about showing charts; it's about making the data speak to the strategic imperative, especially as data volumes explode.

  • Narrative Structures for Data
  • Visual Grammar & Cognitive Load
  • Interactive Dashboards for Decision-Making
  • Emotional Intelligence in Data Presentation

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Financial Modelling & Valuation
  • Market Sizing & Opportunity Analysis (TAM/SAM/SOM)
  • Competitive Strategy Frameworks
  • Scenario & Sensitivity Planning
  • Objectives & Key Results (OKR) Formulation
  • Corporate Portfolio Management (BCG Matrix / GE-McKinsey)

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Senior Manager / Principal, Corporate Strategy

    3-5 years in previous role

    Skills to master

    • Leading complex projects end-to-end, managing small teams, presenting to executive committees, deep expertise in 2-3 core strategic frameworks.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently delivers high-quality strategic analyses and recommendations.
    • Trusted advisor to Business Unit Directors, often sought out for advice.
    • Successfully mentored 2-3 junior analysts to promotion.
    • Can independently scope and manage a strategic project from start to finish.
  2. 2

    Consulting Manager / Principal (Top-Tier Firm)

    8-10 years in consulting

    Skills to master

    • Structured problem-solving, client management, executive communication, deep industry knowledge across multiple sectors, managing project teams.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Led multiple client engagements with significant strategic impact.
    • Strong track record of developing and presenting actionable recommendations.
    • Proven ability to manage and develop consulting teams.
    • Comfortable with ambiguity and fast-paced problem-solving.
  3. 3

    Head of Corporate Development / M&A

    4-6 years in corporate development

    Skills to master

    • Full M&A lifecycle (sourcing, due diligence, valuation, integration), deal negotiation, financial modelling, understanding of capital markets.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully executed 2-3 M&A transactions with positive post-deal integration.
    • Strong network within investment banking and private equity communities.
    • Deep expertise in financial valuation and deal structuring.
    • Ability to manage cross-functional teams during due diligence.

11Where this role leads

The long view:Your journey here isn't just a job; it's a launchpad. We're investing in leaders who want to make a tangible impact and grow into the next generation of C-suite executives. If you're ready for a challenge that will push you, develop you, and reward you with real influence, then let's talk.

Pay & demand

Pay and demand for this role will appear here, each figure traced to a named authoritative source (e.g. the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, under the Open Government Licence). We don’t show numbers we can’t attribute.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Director of Strategic Planning is actually changing. In about two minutes, the free confidence check asks where you stand on each of the ten. That's the whole check, and it's what makes the plan yours rather than generic.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

12The team that's yours

No two people are taught the same way. This is one-to-one, not one-to-many.

Zavmo is a hyper-personalised AI learning platform. Twelve virtual tutors, each with a different way of teaching, and one orchestration agent that picks the right one for the moment. So every single lesson is shaped around you, your role, and the way you learn. Not a course everyone sits through. A conversation built for you, and no one else.

…and nine more, matched to you after your first chat. Meet all twelve

Start free and meet yours

13What it feels like

A conversation, not a course

Because your tutor knows your role, your projects and your last session, learning sounds like this. And it's different for every single person:

Manage a programme of complementary projectsLevel 7

Applied to your work in Director of Strategic Planning

By completing this unit, learners will understand programme management principles, processes, tools, and techniques, and be able to develop, communicate, monitor, and evaluate programme plans.

How the thinking builds
  1. Remember
  2. Understand
  3. Apply
  4. Analyse
  5. Evaluate
  6. Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

One to one, not one to many

No two people run this the same way

A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.

  1. Your actual work Every lesson is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
  2. What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
  3. The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
  4. How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
  5. Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.

See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.

DemonstrateIllustration

Evidenced on your work in Director of Strategic Planning

You do not finish by watching something. You finish by showing it on the work you already do, against the measures this job is judged on.

  • P&L Impact from Strategic InitiativesMeasurable contribution of your strategic pillars to new market revenue, cost savings, or margin improvement.Leading the entry into a new market that generates £7.5M in year one revenue, or identifying supply chain optimisations that save £6M in COGS.Directly contribute to £5M-£10M in new revenue or cost savings annually, or improve divisional EBIT by 1-2 percentage points.
  • Capital Allocation ROIReturn on Investment for strategic projects or M&A activities under your purview, compared against the company's hurdle rate.A project you championed had a projected ROI of 15% against a 10% hurdle rate, and actual returns came in at 13.5% (still beating the hurdle).Achieve an average ROI that exceeds the corporate hurdle rate by at least 200 basis points (2%).
  • Board Approval Rate for RecommendationsThe percentage of strategic recommendations you present to the board or executive committee that get approved for funding or implementation.Presenting three major strategic proposals over the year, with two getting full approval and one getting conditional approval after minor adjustments.>90% approval rate for major strategic proposals.
  • Strategic Plan Adoption & ExecutionHow well your strategic plans are actually adopted and executed by the business units, not just approved.After a Q2 strategic review, 7 out of 9 major initiatives you designed are actively being pursued by the relevant business units with clear milestones and resources.80% of key strategic initiatives within your pillar have clear ownership, funding, and are on track against their OKRs.
These are this job's own measures, with its own targets. Nothing is marked evidenced, because nobody has started this yet. Yours would fill in from the work you bring.

Your passport

This isn't a certificate you file away. It's a passport to the life you're designing.

Every credit you earn and every fluency you build adds up: evidence where it counts, carried with you. Zavmo keeps the map: where you are, where you're heading, and the next step, at your pace, around your life. From Director of Strategic Planning to VP of Corporate Strategy (L6), and whatever you decide comes after.

Level 6 · in progressAI Fluency→ VP of Corporate Strategy (L6)→ your design
Where this takes you

Your journey here isn't just a job; it's a launchpad. We're investing in leaders who want to make a tangible impact and grow into the next generation of C-suite executives. If you're ready for a challenge that will push you, develop you, and reward you with real influence, then let's talk.

See Your Progress GrowIllustration
Director of Strategic Planning
  • Financial Modelling & Valuation
  • Market Sizing & Opportunity Analysis (TAM/SAM/SOM)
  • Competitive Strategy Frameworks
  • Scenario & Sensitivity Planning
  • Objectives & Key Results (OKR) Formulation
  • Corporate Portfolio Management (BCG Matrix / GE-McKinsey)
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

14The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Director of Strategic Planning is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. VP of Corporate Strategy (L6)

    3-5 years in current role

    From owning a strategic pillar to owning the entire annual strategic planning process and being the primary strategic advisor to the C-suite.

    • Enterprise risk management integration into strategy
    • Advanced organisational design principles
    • Navigating complex regulatory landscapes for multi-market strategies
    • Driving multi-year transformation programmes
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be honest, strategic planning involves a fair bit of grunt work – sifting through data, summarising reports, and drafting initial analyses. What if you could offload a significant chunk of that to AI, freeing you up to focus on the real strategic thinking? Our AI Productivity Hub is designed to do just that.

We're not talking about replacing your brain; we're talking about giving you a powerful co-pilot. For a Director of Strategic Planning, this means less time on tedious data aggregation and first drafts, and more time on high-level analysis, stakeholder influence, and truly shaping the company's future. Think of it as having a highly efficient, tireless assistant for your strategic work.

Automated Market Intelligence Briefing

Imagine waking up to a curated email that summarises all the critical market news, competitor earnings calls, and industry trends, tailored specifically to your strategic pillar. Our AI agents can scan thousands of sources daily and deliver a 'what you need to know' briefing, saving you hours of manual research. This isn't just a news feed; it's intelligence.

Accelerated Scenario Analysis

Instead of manually tweaking your financial models to run a few 'what if' scenarios, feed your core assumptions into an AI tool. It can instantly generate and visualise hundreds of potential futures – 'What happens to our LRP if interest rates rise 100bps and logistics costs increase 8%?' You'll get insights into risks and opportunities in minutes, not days.

First-Pass M&A Screening

When you're looking for acquisition targets, AI can be a game-changer. Define your strategic criteria (e.g., 'private SaaS companies with <£50M ARR, >60% YoY growth, and specific tech stack'). The AI will analyse vast databases (like PitchBook) to generate a ranked shortlist with initial summaries, cutting down your initial screening time dramatically.

Executive Summary & Deck Generation

After you've done the heavy analytical lifting, feed your key data tables, charts, and bullet-point insights into a generative AI. It can produce a solid first draft of your executive summary and a slide-by-slide narrative for your strategy deck. This frees you up to focus on refining the message, adding your unique strategic flair, and preparing for tough questions.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Director of Strategic Planning?

Common routes in include Senior Manager / Principal, Corporate Strategy (3-5 years in previous role), Consulting Manager / Principal (Top-Tier Firm) (8-10 years in consulting) and Head of Corporate Development / M&A (4-6 years in corporate development). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Director of Strategic Planning progress to?

This role can lead on to VP of Corporate Strategy (L6) (3-5 years in current role), depending on the skills you build.

What level is a Director of Strategic Planning in the UK?

This role aligns to RQF Level 6 on the UK framework, a guide to the depth of qualification it maps to, not a hard entry bar.

What new skills matter most for a Director of Strategic Planning?

Increasingly, Ethical AI in Strategic Decision-Making and Advanced Data Storytelling & Visualisation. These are the areas where the higher-paid, future-proof work is heading.

The honest bit

You’ve started things before

Most of them were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.

There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.

And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.

What it costs

Less than one coaching session. Every month.

A single career-coaching hour costs more than a month of this, and it ends when the hour does. Zavmo doesn't. It's £70 a month, about £2.30 a day, for a companion that knows a Director of Strategic Planning, works on the job you actually do, and keeps going at your pace rather than a timetable's.

  • Searching and planning stay free. You only pay when you start learning.
  • Your credits are yours. Regulated, and they don't vanish when a subscription ends.
  • Cancel any time and billing stops. No notice period, no minimum term.

Your path, personalised

You have the map. Walking it is the part we do together.

This route runs to 7 national skill standards. That is a real journey.

Zavmo shapes a learning experience as unique as you are. It fits how you learn, your pace and the work you already do. Every step stays benchmarked to recognised national standards. That’s the plan for becoming a Director of Strategic Planning: personal to you, and it still counts. The first steps are free.

Independent research finds well-designed intelligent tutoring performs nearly as well as one-to-one human tutoring: VanLehn (2011), Educational Psychologist.

A private tutor in the UK averages £35–40 an hour . Zavmo is £70/month.

A real plan on learn.zavmo.ai: Ofqual-regulated units, credits, and a three-month run at your own pace.
Start free No commitment. See your first steps free.

15Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 6

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

Other roles in Corporate Strategy

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.

If you leave this industry

The strategic toolkit you'll build in this role is highly transferable. We've seen Directors of Strategic Planning successfully transition into top-tier consulting, private equity, venture capital, or even leadership roles in high-growth start-ups. Your ability to break down complex problems, influence stakeholders, and drive data-backed decisions is valuable across almost any industry.

Not sure this is the right direction?

Work out what you actually want from work first, then come back and see which roles fit it. Takes about ten minutes.

This role profile is © 2026Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Build my plan, free Here's the first ten minutes: a 2-minute confidence check → your personalised roadmap → meet the tutors matched to you. No card, cancel any time. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.