Lead - Budgeting & Capacity Planning

Job Purpose The Lead - Budgeting & Capacity Planning is a strategic leadership role responsible for driving technology investment, capacity planning, techno-commercial excellence, and financial stewardship across TTLs Network and emerging technology domains. The role provides end-to-end ownership of capital investment planning, budgeting, capacity utilization governance, commercial optimization, and value realization, ensuring alignment between technology strategy, business growth objectives, customer experience goals, and organizational financial priorities. Additionally, the role will lead enterprise-wide capacity reporting, forecasting, utilization analysis, and investment prioritization to ensure infrastructure readiness, optimized capital deployment, and timely support for current and future business requirements. As a critical bridge between Technology, Finance, Commercial, and Service Delivery functions, the incumbent will translate network and digital transformation roadmaps into financially optimized, execution-ready investment plans while ensuring efficient utilization of network resources, robust governance, cost discipline, and sustainable business outcomes. Key Result Areas/Accounta bilities Budgeting, Forecasting & Investment Governance . Translate technology roadmaps into Long Range Plans (LRP), annual capex budgeting, Annual Operating Plans (AoP), quarterly forecasts, and investment priorities across all technology domains. . Consolidate business, technology, and operational inputs into a unified investment plan. . Drive budget accuracy, financial control, resource optimization, and investment visibility. . Present investment scenarios, trade-offs, and recommendations to CXOs and governance forums. . Ensure alignment between capex plans, budget phasing, cash-flow priorities, approvals, SAP allocations, execution readiness and business objectives. . Monitor budget utilization and spend velocity while proactively identifying financial risks and variances. . Establish investment decision frameworks based on ROI, business impact, customer experience, regulatory requirements, and cost efficiency. . Govern the complete technology investment lifecycle from business case creation to benefit realization. . Provide leadership in prioritizing investments while balancing growth, modernization, resilience, and financial constraints. Budget Control, Cost Optimization & Value Realization . Govern budget allocation, approval, release, utilization tracking, and corrective interventions. . Drive enterprise-wide cost optimization initiatives through TCO reduction, asset reuse, contract optimization, and commercial benchmarking. . Monitor technology cost efficiency metrics including cost-per-bit, cost-to connect, and infrastructure utilization. . Lead initiatives to unlock value from idle assets, inventory optimization, commercial recoveries, and contract reconciliations. . Quantify and report realized savings, investment efficiencies, and business value creation on a QoQ basis. Capacity Planning, Reporting & Utilization Governance . Lead the enterprise-wide capacity planning and governance function across all domains of network function. . Establish and monitor capacity utilization frameworks, forecasting models, and infrastructure readiness plans. . Drive periodic analysis of network resource utilization, traffic growth trends, and capacity consumption patterns. . Identify capacity risks, congestion hotspots, and infrastructure gaps that may impact service delivery and business growth. . Develop and institutionalize capacity KPIs, dashboards, and reporting mechanisms for executive leadership reviews. . Collaborate with Engineering, Service Delivery, Finance and Business teams to ensure adequate infrastructure availability aligned with demand forecasts. . Ensure efficient and timely capex utilization through proactive capacity planning and investment governance. Audit, Compliance & Risk Management . Ensure compliance with internal policies, regulatory guidelines, statutory requirements, and audit controls. . Govern PO-GRN-Asset-Contract reconciliation processes to maximize value realization and audit readiness. . Identify, assess, and mitigate financial, operational, contractual, and technology investment risks. . Drive timely closure of audit observations and strengthen governance controls. . Lead risk management initiatives for the function. Process Excellence, Automation & Analytics . Drive automation of budgeting, capacity planning, forecasting, and governance processes through SAP, BI platforms, and advanced analytics. . Establish data-driven decision frameworks supported by dashboards, predictive forecasting, savings tracking and performance analytics. . Develop automated reporting systems to improve transparency, turnaround time, and governance effectiveness. . Promote digital transformation and AI-driven analytics across Budgeting and capacity governance functions. . Continuously enhance reporting accuracy, operational efficiency, and decision making effectiveness. Cross-Functional Governance & Execution Enablement . Act as the strategic integrator across Technology, Finance, Commercial, and Service Delivery teams. . Facilitate governance forums, steering committees, and leadership reviews to accelerate decision-making and execution. . Resolve systemic bottlenecks impacting NFA, BOQ, PR, PO, material delivery, rollout schedules, and capex deployment. . Represent Technology in business, finance, audit, and industry forums. . Drive alignment between operational capacity, financial commitments, and business priorities. Leadership & Capability Development . Lead and mentor a high-performing team across budgeting, Investment planning, and capacity management functions. . Establish clear KPIs, accountability frameworks, and performance management systems to drive continuous improvement. . Build organizational capability in capacity planning, investment governance, financial analysis, and commercial management. . Foster a respectful culture of ownership, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement. . Develop succession plans and strengthen leadership bench strength for critical roles. Core Competencies, Knowledge, Experience Must have qualifications Financial Management . Capex planning and budgeting . Financial modelling and forecasting . Variance analysis . ROI assessment . Cost-benefit analysis . Business case evaluation . Cost optimization and value realization . Investment prioritization Capacity & Performance Management . Capacity planning and forecasting . Network utilization analysis . Infrastructure performance management . Resource optimization . KPI development and governance . Data-driven decision making Leadership & Stakeholder Management . Executive communication . Cross-functional collaboration . Change management . Team leadership and mentoring . Negotiation and influencing skills . Governance and risk management . Attention to detail . Strong analytical and problem-solving skills. Technical Skills . Network Understanding: A solid grasp of telecommunications networks including Transport, Fibre, IP, Data Core and Converged Core Networks. . Knowledge of Enterprise services including ILL, WiFi, SD-WAN, SIP Trunking, CCaaS, UCaaS, NaaS and Private Networks. . Experience in large-scale telecom budgeting, investment planning, and capacity management. . Proficiency in SAP, Excel, PowerPoint, business intelligence platforms, and analytics tools. . Strong capability in data analysis, forecasting, reporting. . Ability to create clear and concise documentation, reports, and presentations for CXO and board level Buy-ins. . Demonstrated experience in driving strategic investments, and operational transformation programs. . Engineering Graduate. . Advanced degree (MBA) preferred. . Any industry grade certifications in Telecom Network, SAP are good to have. Years of Experience 15-20 Years Industries to look from Telecom, Consulting - TMT space Ideal Organizations to look from Airtel, Jio, Vodafone Idea, Ericsson, Nokia, Mavenir, Cisco, Big4s, MBBs Direct reports 4