Job Title: Business Planning Lead This is a senior business management role supporting IWPB Ops across services covering vendor and FTE based services. The role combines day-to-day business management with strong financial, commercial and vendor-spend oversight across complex, globally delivered operational services. The role holder will partner with BFL4 leaders, Finance, Procurement, Third Party Risk Management, Operations, Technology, Transformation and market teams to provide transparent cost and headcount governance, actionable management information, robust forecasting and disciplined execution of business priorities. A core feature of the role is ownership and challenge of significant third-party expenditure. This includes services such as cash transportation, ATM replenishment, transactional print, postage and courier, plastic and metal card production, third-party card platforms, and document scanning, storage and retrieval. The opportunity
• Act as the principal Business Management partner for the supported BFL4s, joining up financial management, workforce planning, governance, risk and control, transformation and executive reporting.
• Lead the planning, forecasting and budgeting of large and complex vendor cost bases, ensuring assumptions are supported by contractual terms, service volumes, unit rates, indexation, foreign exchange, demand, minimum commitments, change requests and transformation impacts.
• Create a consolidated view of actuals, forecast, budget, risks and opportunities across internal costs and third-party spend, with clear drivers, variance explanations and decisions required.
• Turn operational and commercial data into insight for BFL3 and BFL4 governance, enabling informed choices on demand, service levels, sourcing, productivity, investment and cost optimisation. In this role, you will: Business management and governance
• Run the day-to-day business management rhythm for the supported BFL4s, including planning cycles, performance reviews, governance packs, action tracking, workforce and location matters, and coordination of centrally driven initiatives.
• Provide timely, accurate and decision-oriented updates to BFL3 and BFL4 stakeholders, clearly identifying variances, dependencies, risks, opportunities and required interventions.
• Coordinate strategy and transformation activity including operating model, location and footprint considerations, service optimisation, investment governance and delivery of efficiency commitments.
• Build constructive relationships across IWPB Operations, IWPB COO, Finance, Procurement, Technology, Risk and regional or market teams, acting as a reliable single point of contact for business management matters. Financial planning, forecasting and reporting
• Lead monthly forecasting, quarterly forecasts and annual financial planning for the supported BFL4s, covering cost, headcount, investment and vendor expenditure.
• Maintain a clear cost-driver model and reconcile operational demand, service volumes, workforce plans, contract assumptions and financial outcomes.
• Own or coordinate accurate and timely submissions into relevant planning and reporting tools, including Anaplan where applicable, together with reconciliations and supporting audit trail.
• Produce monthly reporting and analysis for senior stakeholders, explaining actual-to-forecast and forecast-to-plan movements, emerging pressures, opportunities and corrective actions.
• Ensure financial reporting presents a true and fair view and supports effective decisions across COO and Operations stakeholders. Third-party vendor spend and commercial management
• Own the financial and commercial oversight of material third-party service-provider spend across the supported BFL4s.
• Develop bottom-up budgets and forecasts using operational volumes, contractual rate cards, service tiers, inflation or indexation, foreign exchange, pass-through charges, minimum commitments, rebates, credits and expected change activity.
• Understand the end-to-end cost mechanics of outsourced operational services, including cash transportation, ATM replenishment, transactional printing,



postage, courier services, card manufacturing, third-party card platforms, and document scanning, storage and retrieval.
• Validate invoices, accruals and purchase-order consumption against contracts, service volumes and agreed pricing; investigate leakage, duplicate or erroneous charges, unbilled liabilities and aged commitments.
• Maintain contract and spend visibility, including supplier, service, owner, term, renewal or expiry, commercial mechanism, committed value, actuals, forecast, risks and opportunities.
• Partner with Procurement, Finance, Third Party Risk Management and service owners during sourcing, contract renewal, renegotiation, change control and supplier-performance discussions.
• Identify and track sustainable savings through demand management, unit-cost reduction, specification changes, consolidation, automation, insourcing or sourcing alternatives, without compromising customer outcomes, operational resilience or control.
• Prepare sensitivity and scenario analysis for material cost drivers, supplier changes, volume movements, inflation, foreign exchange, regulatory requirements and transformation plans. Data, MI and performance insight
• Drive a consistent MI agenda across the supported BFL4s, integrating financial, headcount, vendor, SLA, service-volume and operational-performance information.
• Establish clear data ownership, definitions and controls, and improve the quality, repeatability and transparency of management reporting.
• Use trend, unit-cost and variance analysis to identify demand changes, productivity opportunities, commercial issues and emerging financial risks.
• Present complex financial and operational information in concise, executive-level narratives and visualisations. Leadership and stakeholder management
• Translate IWPB Operations strategy and BFL4 priorities into clear plans, deliverables and management actions.
• Influence senior stakeholders and challenge constructively, using evidence and commercial judgement to drive decisions and accountability.
• Lead through ambiguity, establish structure quickly and coordinate delivery across teams without relying solely on formal authority.
• Set high standards for accuracy, pace, transparency, collaboration and control. Operational effectiveness, risk and control
• Embed effective controls over financial reporting, forecasting, vendor spend, purchase orders, accruals, invoice validation, benefits tracking and management information.
• Ensure business management activity supports operational resilience, third-party risk management, customer outcomes and relevant internal policies and procedures.
• Proactively identify issues and control weaknesses, initiate structured discussions and track remediation to closure.
• Maintain appropriate evidence, records and governance for internal review, audit and regulatory requirements. Major challenges
• Managing a broad and diverse portfolio of BFL4 activities, cost drivers and stakeholders while maintaining a coherent BFL3 view.
• Forecasting complex vendor expenditure where costs are affected by volumes, contractual constructs, inflation, foreign exchange, pass-through charges, service changes and transformation dependencies.
• Navigating fragmented data, multiple systems and varying market practices while maintaining accuracy and comparability.
• Balancing cost optimisation with service quality, customer outcomes, operational resilience, contractual obligations and risk appetite.
• Translating ambiguous or rapidly changing requirements into tangible actions and delivering to demanding planning and reporting timelines. Role context and dimensions




• The role is a key member of the IWPB Operations Business Management team and supports the GPB, Wealth, Cash, Customer Communications, Cards Plastics and Platforms BFL4 areas. The role provides a consolidated view across finance, headcount, vendor spend, performance, governance, strategy and transformation.
• The precise financial, headcount and vendor-spend dimensions should be confirmed for the final requisition and reflected consistently across the role profile. Management of risk
• Ensure the fair treatment of customers is central to decisions and that actions consider the likelihood and impact of operational risk.
• Escalate and address areas of concern with the relevant business, entity, risk, finance, procurement or control stakeholders.
• Apply sound judgement to commercial and financial decisions, particularly where service continuity, customer impact or third-party dependency is material. Observation of internal controls
• Adhere to relevant procedures, maintain appropriate records and support the timely implementation of internal and external audit actions.
• Operate in line with applicable compliance requirements, internal policies and third-party governance, engaging specialist functions at the appropriate stage of new or changed activity.
• Promote a strong control and compliance culture and ensure adequate ownership, capability and training are in place where required. To be successful you will:
• Demonstrable experience in a senior business management, finance business partnering, commercial finance or COO role within a large, complex and regulated organisation.
• Strong practical experience of managing, forecasting and budgeting significant third-party vendor spend, including volume-based, rate-card, fixed-fee, index-linked, pass-through and minimum-commitment charging models.
• Commercial understanding of outsourced operational services and the ability to interpret contracts, statements of work, pricing schedules, service levels, change controls, invoices and purchase-order data.
• Solid financial analysis, accounting and cost-management capability, including accruals, prepayments, variance analysis, scenario modelling, risks and opportunities, and benefits tracking.
• Experience of financial planning and reporting tools
• Advanced Microsoft Excel capability and strong PowerPoint, data visualisation and executive storytelling skills.
• Ability to integrate financial, operational, headcount, contract and supplier data and convert it into clear insight and action.
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing and negotiation skills, including the confidence to challenge senior stakeholders and suppliers constructively.
• Strong organisation and delivery discipline, with the ability to manage competing priorities, meet demanding timelines and maintain accuracy.
• Ability to work through ambiguity, identify the critical questions and translate complex situations into practical actions.
• Experience and understanding of relevant service domains such as cash or ATM services, transactional print and mail, card production or processing platforms, courier and logistics, or document management would be an advantage hsbc.com/careers You’ll achieve more at HSBC HSBC is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a culture where all employees are valued, respected and opinions count. We take pride in providing a workplace that fosters continuous professional development, flexible working and, opportunities to grow within an inclusive and diverse environment. We encourage applications from all suitably qualified persons irrespective of, but not limited to, their gender or genetic information, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, social status, medical care leave requirements, political affiliation, people with disabilities, color, national origin, veteran status, etc., We consider all applications based on merit and suitability to the role.” Personal data held by the Bank relating to employment applications will be used in accordance with our Privacy Statement, which is available on our website. *Issued By HSBC Electronic Data Processing (India) Private LTD*

📌 Business Planning Lead (Hyderabad)
🏢 HSBC
📍 Hyderabad