UK

United Kingdom · Operations · Director/VP (16-20 years)

Director, Operations Planning & Strategy

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 bandDirector/VP (16-20 years)
  • Direct reports25-100+ reports
  • Reports toVP, Global Operations Strategy
  • UK framework levelUsually a director, accountable for a division and its numbers

Also advertised as Head of Global Capacity Planning · VP of Operations Strategy · Senior Director, Supply Chain Planning

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

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1What this role really is

This role isn't just about crunching numbers; it's about shaping the future of our entire operational footprint. You'll be the architect behind our ability to meet demand across all business units, ensuring we have the right people, equipment, and facilities in place, not just for next quarter, but for the next three to five years. It's a big job with even bigger impact.

2What you'd actually use

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

Microsoft Excel (Power Query, Power Pivot, VBA)Strategic

Architecting Excel-based reporting frameworks, understanding its limitations, and determining when to migrate critical models to more robust enterprise platforms. You'll set the standards, not necessarily build every model.

SQL (PostgreSQL/MS SQL Server)Architectural

Designing and governing the data pipelines that feed all strategic planning models. You'll work with data engineering to ensure data integrity and availability from source systems for enterprise-wide use.

Data Visualization (Power BI / Tableau)Strategist

Governing the organisation's BI strategy for operations, defining key performance indicators (KPIs) and ensuring dashboards drive strategic decisions at the executive and board level, not just report data.

Simulation & Planning Platforms (Anaplan / SAP IBP / Kinaxis)Visionary

Leading the selection, enterprise-wide implementation, and strategic integration of advanced planning platforms with financial (FP&A) and sales (S&OP) systems. You're defining the future of our planning tech stack.

ERP/WMS (SAP S/4HANA / Oracle NetSuite)Integrator

Influencing ERP configuration, master data management policies, and system upgrades to ensure high-quality, consistent data for strategic planning across the entire organisation. You'll work with IT and business owners to ensure the core systems support your planning needs.

Python (Pandas, Scikit-learn, SimPy)Advocate

Championing the use of programmatic tools to solve complex, novel modelling challenges and advanced analytics. You'll mentor your team on analytical best practices and the adoption of new, powerful technologies, setting the technical direction.

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 Capacity Investment (e.g., new facility)Escalate all recommendations to supervisor.Propose and justify investment options to manager.Design and recommend investment strategy to Director, with detailed business case.
Operational Planning Methodology & Tool SelectionUse existing tools and methods as directed.Propose minor improvements to existing tools/methods.Design and implement new planning models or methodologies within a workstream, recommend new tools for team.
Team Hiring & Organisational DesignNo hiring authority.Participate in interviews for junior roles.Interview and provide feedback for junior roles, mentor new hires.

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.

Cost Optimization & Efficiency
Annual operational savings identified and realised through improved labour or asset utilisation, driven by your strategic capacity plans.
Target · Identify and realise £2M+ in annual operational savings.

Your strategic plan for Q1-Q4 2024 led to a 10% reduction in overtime costs across our logistics network, saving £2.5M, while maintaining service levels.

Service Level Attainment & Customer Experience
The direct contribution of your capacity plans to consistently achieving and exceeding customer service level agreements (SLAs) across all operational channels.
Target · Capacity plans directly contribute to achieving a consistent 95%+ customer service level agreement (SLA) across all relevant business units.

Despite a 20% increase in customer interactions, our contact centre maintained a 96% service level, directly attributable to the 18-month staffing plan you put in place.

Strategic Growth Enablement
The successful support of major business initiatives—like new product launches, market expansions, or M&A integrations—with zero operational service disruption.
Target · Successfully support two new product launches and one market expansion with 0% service disruption or significant cost overruns attributable to capacity.

The launch of our new premium service line in Q2 was seamless, with all required operational capacity (staff, systems, facilities) in place exactly as planned, avoiding any customer complaints related to delivery.

Capital Expenditure Optimisation
The accuracy and justification of multi-million-pound capital expenditure recommendations for new facilities, technology, or equipment, ensuring optimal return on investment.
Target · Achieve >90% accuracy on capital expenditure forecasts (within ±5% variance) and secure board approval for 80%+ of recommended investments.

Your proposal for a new automated warehouse facility, projected to cost £8M, was approved by the board based on your detailed capacity modelling, showing a clear ROI within three years.

Board & Executive Confidence
The level of trust and confidence the C-suite and Board of Directors place in your strategic operational plans and recommendations.
  • You're proactively consulted on major strategic decisions
  • your presentations to the board are rarely challenged on fundamental assumptions
  • executives actively seek your input on M&A targets or new market entries
  • your team's plans are consistently integrated into the broader business strategy.
Cross-Functional Strategic Alignment
The degree to which your long-range plans are integrated and supported by other key functions like Finance, Sales, and Product, leading to unified business objectives.
  • You lead regular, productive S&OP meetings where all functional heads actively contribute and commit
  • there's a clear, agreed-upon single source of truth for demand and capacity across departments
  • your team's plans are the foundation for financial budgeting and sales targets.
Talent Development & Team Leadership
The effectiveness of your leadership in building, mentoring, and retaining a high-performing team of capacity planning professionals.
  • Your direct reports consistently meet or exceed their objectives
  • your team has a clear progression path and low attrition rates
  • you're known for developing future leaders
  • your team's output is consistently high quality and impactful.
Organisational Transformation & Innovation
Your ability to drive significant, positive change within the Operations function, introducing new methodologies, technologies, or processes that enhance planning capabilities.
  • You champion and successfully implement new planning platforms or analytical tools across the organisation
  • your team is recognised for innovative approaches to complex problems
  • you actively challenge the status quo and introduce 'better ways of working' that stick.

5Would you like it

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

What people enjoy
Shaping the Future of Operations

You'll spend your days thinking years ahead, designing the operational capabilities that will enable the company's next phase of growth. This means leading discussions on new factory locations, automation investments, and workforce transformation programmes.

You successfully championed a £15M investment in a new automated logistics hub, seeing your vision for future capacity become a tangible asset for the business.

Driving Business Transformation

You're not just maintaining; you're transforming. This role is for someone who thrives on identifying systemic inefficiencies, proposing bold solutions, and leading the charge to implement them across a large, complex organisation.

You spearheaded a programme to integrate AI-driven forecasting across all business units, leading to a 15% improvement in forecast accuracy and significant cost savings.

Building High-Performing Strategic Teams

A significant part of your role is about leadership—attracting, developing, and empowering a world-class team of planning professionals. You'll mentor managers, set strategic direction, and create a culture of analytical excellence.

You developed a leadership pipeline within your team, resulting in three internal promotions to management roles within two years, significantly reducing reliance on external hires.

What frustrates people
  • Dealing with executive-level 'flavour of the month' initiatives that derail well-established strategic plans.
  • The sheer inertia of a large organisation when trying to implement transformational change.
  • Explaining the nuances of probabilistic forecasting and confidence intervals to board members who just want a single, definitive number.
  • The constant pressure to 'find' capacity or justify new projects when the data clearly shows the system is already at its breaking point.
  • Navigating the complex, often conflicting, demands of multiple business unit VPs.
  • The slow pace of capital expenditure approval cycles, even for critical infrastructure.
What this role does not give you
  • A quiet, purely analytical role – you'll be leading, influencing, and presenting constantly.
  • Immediate, tangible results every day – your impact is measured over years, not weeks.
  • A fully defined, unchanging strategic roadmap – you'll be writing it and constantly adapting it.
  • An environment free from political complexities or stakeholder disagreements.

6Who you work with

This role directly shapes the company's ability to achieve its long-term strategic objectives and market position. Your decisions influence multi-million-pound capital expenditure, headcount planning across hundreds of sites, and ultimately, our customer experience and profitability. Frankly, without a solid plan from you, the business can't grow sustainably.

Inside the business
  • C-Suite (CEO, CFO, COO)
  • Board of Directors
  • Heads of Business Units (e.g., Retail, Logistics, Customer Service)
  • Finance Leadership (FP&A)
  • Sales & Marketing VPs
Outside the business
  • Major Strategic Partners (e.g., key suppliers, logistics providers)
  • Industry Bodies and Regulators
  • Investors (via board presentations)

7What you need before you start

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

  • A proven track record of 16-20 years in operations planning, with at least 5-7 years in a senior leadership role (e.g., Head of Capacity Planning, Senior Director of Operations).
  • Demonstrable experience managing large teams (25+ reports, including managers) and developing a talent pipeline within an operations function.
  • Significant P&L accountability (£2M-£10M+) and a track record of identifying and realising substantial operational savings through strategic planning.
  • Extensive experience presenting complex strategic plans and capital expenditure proposals to C-suite executives and Board members, securing buy-in and driving action.
  • A deep understanding of at least two major operational domains (e.g., manufacturing & supply chain, or customer service & logistics) at an enterprise scale.
  • A history of successfully leading major operational transformation programmes or M&A integrations from a capacity planning perspective.

8What to practise next

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

Advanced Digital Twin & Simulation Architectures

Critical within 6-12 months. Building sophisticated digital twins of our entire operational network will allow for real-time scenario testing, predictive maintenance, and highly accurate capacity adjustments. This moves us from theoretical modelling to dynamic, living simulations.

Real-time Data Integration · Simulation Model Validation · Scenario Playbooks · Visualisation & User Interface Design

  • This quarter: Research leading digital twin platforms and their application in operations.
  • Next quarter: Identify a pilot project within one business unit for a smaller-scale digital twin implementation.
  • Month 6: Work with IT and Data Engineering to assess our data infrastructure readiness for real-time integration.
  • Month 9: Develop a business case for a phased, enterprise-wide digital twin strategy, outlining ROI and implementation roadmap.

Quick win: Start with a small, contained process (e.g., a single production line) and explore building a basic digital twin using existing data sources.

9Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly attend executive-level industry conferences and forums on Operations Strategy, Supply Chain Resilience, and AI in Operations.
  • Engage in executive coaching programmes focused on board-level communication, strategic influence, and organisational leadership.
  • Participate in cross-industry working groups or consortia focused on emerging operational challenges or technologies.
  • Mentor aspiring leaders within and outside your organisation, solidifying your own leadership philosophy and impact.
  • Publish thought leadership pieces (e.g., articles, whitepapers) on strategic operations planning or capacity management best practices.

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 Governance for Operations

Critical within 12 months. As AI becomes more embedded in forecasting and automated decision-making (e.g., staffing, inventory), ensuring fairness, transparency, and accountability is paramount. Regulatory bodies are starting to pay attention, and our reputation depends on it.

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

Your PlanIllustration

Built for Director, Operations Planning & Strategy

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

  1. Data Science FoundationsOTHM Qualifications · covers 2 of 5 standardsLevel 7
  2. Plan an organisation’s workforceExcellence, Achievement & Learning Limited · covers 1 of 5 standardsLevel 7
  3. Plan Change in Own Area of ResponsibilitySkills and Education Group Awards · covers 1 of 5 standardsLevel 5
  4. Workforce planningInnovate Awarding · covers 1 of 5 standardsLevel 5
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 Governance for Operations

Critical within 12 months. As AI becomes more embedded in forecasting and automated decision-making (e.g., staffing, inventory), ensuring fairness, transparency, and accountability is paramount. Regulatory bodies are starting to pay attention, and our reputation depends on it.

  • Bias Detection & Mitigation
  • Explainable AI (XAI)
  • Data Privacy & Security
  • Human-in-the-Loop Decision Making

Circular Economy & Sustainable Operations Planning

Important within 12-18 months. Consumer and investor pressure for sustainability is growing rapidly. We need to move beyond simply 'reducing waste' to designing operations that are inherently circular, minimising resource input and maximising reuse. This impacts everything from product design to logistics networks.

  • Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
  • Reverse Logistics & Remanufacturing
  • Resource Efficiency & Decoupling
  • Sustainable Supply Chain Design

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Enterprise Demand Forecasting & Predictive Analytics
  • Theory of Constraints (TOC) & System Optimisation
  • Strategic Workforce Management (WFM) & Automation
  • Monte Carlo Simulation & Probabilistic Planning
  • Linear Programming & Network Optimisation
  • Lean / Six Sigma for Operational Transformation

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

    Manager, Capacity Planning (L5) within a large organisation

    3-5 years at L5

    Skills to master

    • Mastering cross-functional stakeholder management at the Director level, owning departmental P&L, leading significant transformation projects, and developing a strong bench of talent within your team.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully led a major operational planning transformation programme (e.g., implementing a new planning platform).
    • Consistently exceeded departmental performance metrics and identified significant operational savings.
    • Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders (VPs, SVPs) outside of your direct reporting line.
    • Developed and promoted multiple direct reports into more senior roles.
  2. 2

    Director of Operations or Supply Chain Planning in a mid-sized company

    4-6 years in a similar Director role

    Skills to master

    • Scaling your strategic planning capabilities to a much larger, more complex enterprise, navigating more intricate organisational politics, and operating with a higher degree of board-level visibility and accountability.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully scaled an operations planning function through a period of rapid company growth.
    • Managed the full strategic planning cycle (1-3 years) for a multi-million-pound business unit.
    • Proven ability to attract and retain top-tier planning talent in a competitive market.
    • Experience presenting strategic plans and budget proposals to a C-suite or Board equivalent.

11Where this role leads

The long view:This role is a springboard to the highest levels of operational and executive leadership. It's a challenging path, no doubt, but for the right person—someone who thrives on complexity, influence, and building for the future—the impact you can have here is truly transformative. We're looking for a leader who can not only navigate the present but also architect our future.

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, Operations Planning & Strategy 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:

Data Science FoundationsLevel 7

Applied to your work in Director, Operations Planning & Strategy

1. To enable the learner to define the scope and landscape of Data Science and differentiate the roles of Data Scientists from other IT professionals. 2. To enable the learner to evaluate key topics within Data Science, including data administration, governance, and big data sources. 3. To enable the learner to describe the architecture and core elements of Apache Hadoop. 4. To enable the learner to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of utilising Artificial Intelligence techniques in a business context. 5. To enable the learner to critically analyse the impact of Big Data on digital transformation within organisations and its effects on users. 6. To enable the learner to review strategies for ensuring data compliance and explain the responsibilities and challenges faced by data specialists.

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, Operations Planning & Strategy

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.

  • Cost Optimization & EfficiencyAnnual operational savings identified and realised through improved labour or asset utilisation, driven by your strategic capacity plans.Your strategic plan for Q1-Q4 2024 led to a 10% reduction in overtime costs across our logistics network, saving £2.5M, while maintaining service levels.Identify and realise £2M+ in annual operational savings.
  • Service Level Attainment & Customer ExperienceThe direct contribution of your capacity plans to consistently achieving and exceeding customer service level agreements (SLAs) across all operational channels.Despite a 20% increase in customer interactions, our contact centre maintained a 96% service level, directly attributable to the 18-month staffing plan you put in place.Capacity plans directly contribute to achieving a consistent 95%+ customer service level agreement (SLA) across all relevant business units.
  • Strategic Growth EnablementThe successful support of major business initiatives—like new product launches, market expansions, or M&A integrations—with zero operational service disruption.The launch of our new premium service line in Q2 was seamless, with all required operational capacity (staff, systems, facilities) in place exactly as planned, avoiding any customer complaints related to delivery.Successfully support two new product launches and one market expansion with 0% service disruption or significant cost overruns attributable to capacity.
  • Capital Expenditure OptimisationThe accuracy and justification of multi-million-pound capital expenditure recommendations for new facilities, technology, or equipment, ensuring optimal return on investment.Your proposal for a new automated warehouse facility, projected to cost £8M, was approved by the board based on your detailed capacity modelling, showing a clear ROI within three years.Achieve >90% accuracy on capital expenditure forecasts (within ±5% variance) and secure board approval for 80%+ of recommended investments.
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, Operations Planning & Strategy to VP, Global Operations Strategy (L7), and whatever you decide comes after.

Level 7 · in progressAI Fluency→ VP, Global Operations Strategy (L7)→ your design
Where this takes you

This role is a springboard to the highest levels of operational and executive leadership. It's a challenging path, no doubt, but for the right person—someone who thrives on complexity, influence, and building for the future—the impact you can have here is truly transformative. We're looking for a leader who can not only navigate the present but also architect our future.

See Your Progress GrowIllustration
Director, Operations Planning & Strategy
  • Enterprise Demand Forecasting & Predictive Analytics
  • Theory of Constraints (TOC) & System Optimisation
  • Strategic Workforce Management (WFM) & Automation
  • Monte Carlo Simulation & Probabilistic Planning
  • Linear Programming & Network Optimisation
  • Lean / Six Sigma for Operational Transformation
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, Operations Planning & Strategy is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. VP, Global Operations Strategy (L7)

    3-5 years in the Director role

    This is the next logical step, moving from owning a business unit's strategy to setting the enterprise-wide vision for operational excellence and strategic planning.

    • M&A Due Diligence & Integration (Operational): Leading the operational due diligence for potential acquisitions and overseeing large-scale operational integrations.
    • Advanced Risk & Resilience Modelling (Enterprise): Architecting enterprise-wide operational risk frameworks and resilience strategies.
    • Global Regulatory Compliance: Ensuring operational strategy adheres to complex international regulations across all markets.

  2. Chief Operations Officer (COO) (L7)

    5-8 years in the Director/VP role

    This is the ultimate operational leadership role, accountable for the entire company's operational performance, efficiency, and strategic execution.

    • Enterprise-wide Digital Transformation: Driving the digital strategy for all operational functions, including automation, AI, and advanced analytics.
    • Global Market Expansion Strategy: Leading the operational planning for significant global market entries and expansions.
    • Organisational Culture & Talent Strategy (Operations): Defining and fostering the operational culture and talent acquisition strategy across the entire organisation.
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, at this level, your time is gold. You shouldn't be spending it on tedious data tasks or drafting basic reports. AI isn't here to replace your strategic brain; it's here to give you more time to use it. Imagine what you and your team could achieve if the grunt work was handled automatically.

For a Director of Operations Planning & Strategy, AI means moving beyond reactive problem-solving to truly proactive, predictive strategic leadership. It's about empowering your team to deliver faster, more accurate insights, and freeing you up to focus on the big picture: market shifts, global expansion, and board-level presentations. Frankly, it's a competitive advantage.

Automated Data Governance & Quality

Use AI agents to continuously monitor data pipelines from ERP, WMS, and other systems, automatically identifying anomalies, flagging inconsistencies, and even suggesting corrections before the data ever hits your strategic models. This ensures your team is always working with the cleanest, most reliable information, saving countless hours of manual validation.

Advanced Predictive Strategic Forecasting

Beyond traditional time-series, use machine learning to build more robust, multi-factor demand and capacity forecasts. This means incorporating dozens of external variables—economic indicators, competitor actions, geopolitical events—to provide a more nuanced, probabilistic view of future operational needs, directly informing your multi-year capital plans.

Intelligent Strategic Scenario Modelling

After running complex 'what-if' scenarios for new market entries or major automation investments, use generative AI to instantly draft comprehensive executive summaries. These narratives will explain the key drivers, risks, and financial implications of each scenario, allowing you to present options to the C-suite faster and with greater clarity.

AI-Powered Board Report Generation

Leverage AI to assist in drafting initial versions of your quarterly board reports and strategic review documents. It can pull key metrics, summarise complex analyses, and even suggest visualisations, giving you a strong starting point and significantly reducing the time spent on document preparation, letting you focus on refining the strategic message.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Director, Operations Planning & Strategy?

Common routes in include Manager, Capacity Planning (L5) within a large organisation (3-5 years at L5) and Director of Operations or Supply Chain Planning in a mid-sized company (4-6 years in a similar Director role). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Director, Operations Planning & Strategy progress to?

This role can lead on to VP, Global Operations Strategy (L7) (3-5 years in the Director role) and Chief Operations Officer (COO) (L7) (5-8 years in the Director/VP role), depending on the skills you build.

What level is a Director, Operations Planning & Strategy in the UK?

This role aligns to RQF Level 7 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, Operations Planning & Strategy?

Increasingly, Ethical AI Governance for Operations and Circular Economy & Sustainable Operations Planning. 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, Operations Planning & Strategy, 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 5 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, Operations Planning & Strategy: 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 7

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

Other roles in Operations

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

If you leave this industry

Your expertise in strategic operations planning is highly transferable across various industries, particularly those with complex supply chains, manufacturing, or large-scale service delivery (e.g., e-commerce, logistics, automotive, healthcare, telecommunications). The core principles of balancing demand and capacity remain universal.

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.