What does a business planning manager do?
A business planning manager is responsible for overseeing the business management process and ensuring that the staff meets productivity goals and targets. Business planning managers recruit and train new staff, handle budgets for projects, and identify opportunities that would increase more revenue resources and profits for the business. They also coordinate with clients for updates and adjust business plans as needed. A business planning manager must have excellent communication and leadership skills to manage teams and achieve long-term objectives.
Business planning manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real business planning manager resumes:
- Lead central team summarizing and prioritizing all DOD opportunities, enabling more efficient and effective resource allocation across several program departments.
- Create and implement new product BOM's.
- Verify WIP movement transactions are complete and with the latest BOM changes.
- Provide management with managerial reporting, variances explanations, and KPIs for decision making.
- Perform discounted cash flow and ROI analysis to plan and approve capital equipment investments.
- Create and execute a global staffing scorecard to measure hiring process focusing on ROI to ensure essential staffing.
- Provide specialized CRM consulting, strategy development and systems integration services to help clients leverage technology to build effective customer relationships.
- Generate statistical forecast models using Manugistics and NEFOR (proprietary forecasting tool).
- Maintain and document forecasting and reporting procedures used in forecasting software (Manugistics).
Business planning manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Business Planning Managers are proficient in Business Planning, Competitive Analysis, and Direct Reports. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Interpersonal skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Business Planning Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Business Planning, 19%
Create, communicate and coordinate quarterly adjustments to the annual plan as dictated by Corporate Business Planning and operational requirements.
- Competitive Analysis, 7%
Developed a market research and competitive analysis strategy that successfully differentiated the Ford product offering that increased sales and revenues.
- Direct Reports, 6%
Created, approved, and processed compensation transactions for senior executives and their direct reports.
- Project Management, 6%
Provided training to project management audience to promote efficient and standardized project management processes.
- Business Objectives, 6%
Develop metrics, performance measures and reports that support the business objectives and results.
- Pricing Strategy, 5%
Analyzed market trends, price cliffs, and competitor behavior to ensure pricing strategy drove profitable growth.
Most business planning managers use their skills in "business planning," "competitive analysis," and "direct reports" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential business planning manager responsibilities here:
Creativity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a business planning manager to have is creativity. Their role and responsibilities require that "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas." Business planning managers often use creativity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "managed 6 business planners in multiple countries coordinating all scheduling, delivery, and inventory activities for $250m+ product line. "
Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform business planning manager duties is interpersonal skills. Business planning managers responsibilities require that "managers must deal with a range of people in different roles, both inside and outside the organization." Business planning managers also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "trained new employees in business practices, new business development, and interpersonal communication. "
Organizational skills. business planning managers are also known for organizational skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to business planning manager responsibilities, because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must manage their time and budget efficiently while directing and motivating staff members." A business planning manager resume example shows how organizational skills is used in the workplace: "influence strong organizational effectiveness including effective project management, cross-functional leadership, corporate training and organizational development. "
Analytical skills. business planning manager responsibilities often require "analytical skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most promising strategies for their organization." This resume example shows what business planning managers do with analytical skills on a typical day: "performed project and product profitability analysis for all product lines of the organization. "
Communication skills. A commonly-found skill in business planning manager job descriptions, "communication skills" is essential to what business planning managers do. Business planning manager responsibilities rely on this skill because "managers must be able to communicate effectively with a broad-based team made up of other managers or staff members during the advertising, promotions, and marketing process." You can also see how business planning manager duties rely on communication skills in this resume example: "directed business planning and internal communication activity for the $1.6b global transportation industry. "
The three companies that hire the most business planning managers are:
- Ernst & Young56 business planning managers jobs
- Oracle48 business planning managers jobs
- Samsung Electronics Device Solutions (Semiconductor & Display)15 business planning managers jobs
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Compare different business planning managers
Business planning manager vs. Manager, strategy
A strategy manager is an individual who reviews a company's objectives for growth and works with executives to formulate actionable plans to achieve these objectives. To make comprehensive recommendations, strategy managers must conduct data analysis of the organization as well as the overall industry. They must provide assessments of market trends and identify business threats and opportunities. Strategy managers should also work with department heads to develop individual team goals and break them down into actionable steps for the employees to complete.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, business planning manager responsibilities require skills like "business planning," "continuous improvement," "supply chain planning," and "business performance." Meanwhile a typical manager, strategy has skills in areas such as "portfolio," "client facing," "digital marketing," and "strategic thinking." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Managers, strategy earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $116,769. On the other hand, business planning managers are paid more in the finance industry with an average salary of $117,563.The education levels that managers, strategy earn slightly differ from business planning managers. In particular, managers, strategy are 7.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a business planning manager. Additionally, they're 0.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Business planning manager vs. Product manager
A product manager is responsible for ensuring product development, providing the best marketing strategies, and effectively handling the sales and marketing team. Product managers' duties include monitoring the market trends and conditions, identifying business opportunities and plan initiatives, and collaborating the product launch process with the appropriate departments. A product manager is also responsible for generating ideas on improving product features, determining timetables and reasonable pricing, and analyzing product sales. A product manager must have excellent strategic and decision-making skills to contribute to its growth and profitability.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real business planning manager resumes. While business planning manager responsibilities can utilize skills like "business planning," "business objectives," "financial analysis," and "data analysis," product managers use skills like "product management," "qa," "product strategy," and "user stories."
Product managers may earn a lower salary than business planning managers, but product managers earn the most pay in the retail industry with an average salary of $114,839. On the other hand, business planning managers receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $117,563.In general, product managers achieve lower levels of education than business planning managers. They're 5.4% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Business planning manager vs. Market manager
A marketing manager is an executive who manages a brand or product's promotion positioning. Marketing managers analyze the trends in the industry and the demand for certain products and services. Typically, they attract more customers to purchase products and/or services and raise brand awareness through marketing campaigns. They research, identify, examine, and evaluate product demand. Also, they review advertising materials like print ads to boost the marketing strategy of the company and strengthen its campaign.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, business planning managers are more likely to have skills like "business planning," "business objectives," "financial analysis," and "data analysis." But a market manager is more likely to have skills like "customer service," "strong analytical," "excellent interpersonal," and "human resources."
Market managers make a very good living in the manufacturing industry with an average annual salary of $85,133. On the other hand, business planning managers are paid the highest salary in the finance industry, with average annual pay of $117,563.When it comes to education, market managers tend to earn lower degree levels compared to business planning managers. In fact, they're 11.5% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Business planning manager vs. Manager finance planning and analysis
A manager finance planning and analysis oversees the daily operations of a company's financial planning department. They typically have administrative duties such as setting goals and guidelines, establishing timelines and budgets, delegating tasks among teams and staff, and reviewing financial reports regularly. They also perform research and assessments, gather and analyze financial data from different departments, coordinate staff, and solve issues and concerns when any arise. Additionally, as a manager, they must lead and empower staff to reach goals while implementing company policies and regulations.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between business planning managers and managers finance planning and analysis, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a business planning manager might have more use for skills like "business planning," "competitive analysis," "project management," and "business objectives." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of managers finance planning and analysis require skills like "customer service," "visualization," "financial operations," and "financial reports. "
In general, managers finance planning and analysis earn the most working in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $109,735. The highest-paying industry for a business planning manager is the finance industry.In general, managers finance planning and analysis hold similar degree levels compared to business planning managers. Managers finance planning and analysis are 1.2% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of business planning manager
Updated January 8, 2025
