Business Planning & Strategy Lead

Summary

Imagine what you could do here. The people here at Apple don’t just create products — they build the kind of wonder that’s revolutionized entire industries. It’s the diversity of those people and their ideas that inspires the innovation that runs through everything we do, from amazing technology to industry-leading environmental efforts. At Apple, inclusion is a shared responsibility, and we work together to foster a culture where everyone belongs and is inspired to do their best work. Here in Retail, we are responsible for Apple’s flagship Stores and Online experience. Our main goal is to deliver a magical, personal experience where customers can shop, buy and learn everything Apple, wherever they are. Each customer should feel like they are our only customer and our job is to set the bar for the experience they receive. To run such extraordinary stores, it takes extraordinary people, and we are looking for someone to help us do extraordinary things. The Apple Retail team is seeking an exceptional Business Planning & Strategy Lead to support and develop the regional commercial strategy, driving transformative growth across one of Retail’s most critical markets.

Description

As the Business Planning & Strategy Lead for Retail’s Commercial Team, you will be part of an extraordinary team who are focussed on delivering commercial growth for Apple Retail. The role requires managing the organisation’s priorities, ensuring alignment across teams, driving critical initiatives and supporting the Commercial Director in decision-making processes. The role works in a cross-functional capacity with both WW, APAC and country-teams, providing operational, project management and organisational oversight. The ideal candidate is highly organised, a strategic thinker with strong commercial acumen and possesses excellent leadership and communication skills.

• Management System: Maintains a deep understand and the schedule of all GEO projects across functions. Works with the Director and direct reports to elevate and improve upon the Management system, including cadence of leadership meetings and updates with Commercial strategic focus areas. Ensure measurement against timelines and KPIs. Connect the dots across teams and work streams that should intersect and collaborate. Uses performance indicators to measure and improve team performance and make recommendations to support and drive efficiency across the APAC business. Identifies areas of improvement across the Commercial organisation and makes actionable recommendations. Presents the leadership team with detailed commercial analyses.
• Special Projects: Project manage special strategic initiatives for the team from inception to completion and provide business insights and recommendations.
• Retail’s Commercial Strategy: Play a role in on-going retail-wide analyses, including researching and analysing online industries, technology segments, business models, commercial and financing programs and supporting the evaluation of merits and risks of complex alternatives. Work cross-functionally to incubate innovative ideas and develop strategies that influence the performance of APAC. Craft compelling stories, supported by data, that bring strategies to life. Help transform the APAC Commercial team’s ideas into reality and monitor their progress.
• Presentation Development: Support development of key internal communications and presentations as needed to support the Director / Site Leader
• Leadership Meetings: Support recurring strategic and operational meetings such as Commercial Staff(s) to ensure shared context, awareness and alignment. Assemble and make the agenda available before meetings begin. Collect and prepare content. Assemble notes and action items and ensure actions are tracked and completed. Source and curate content and speakers for All Team Meetings and other relevant forums.
• Organisation-wide Communications: Serves as a primary point of contact across the APAC Commercial team and overall APAC site-wide organisation, ensuring seamless communication. Prepares presentations, reviews, reports and strategic documents.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Finance, Economics or Business Management or prior experience required. MBA an advantage.
• Role typically requires 10+ years of work experience in strategy, finance or a business development role in a Retail / Online - centric environment.
• Related experience with a strategy consulting firm, and/or experience as a Chief of Staff at a large organisation is an advantage. Excellent project management and presentation skills, with ability to manage multiple complex initiatives simultaneously.
• Ability to understand and articulate big picture to executive teams, while maintaining exceptional attention to execution details. Requires outstanding analytical skills and experience in collecting, analysing and tracking key business data.

Preferred Qualifications

• Leadership and Team Building: Proven leadership skills with the ability to inspire and develop a high-performing team.
• Financial Acumen: Strong understanding of financial principles, including budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis, to support strategic planning.
• Strategic Visioning: Skilled in developing and articulating a clear vision and strategy for the future.
• Stakeholder Management: Proven track record in managing and engaging various stakeholders to build consensus and drive strategic projects.
• Technology Savvy: Awareness of emerging technologies and their potential impact on business strategies and operations.