Enterprise Architect – Integrated Business Planning

Summary of Role

The role acts as a trusted advisor and architectural authority, accountable for ensuring that these five planning domains connect into a single, coherent, and integrated enterprise planning model – rather than operating as isolated functional silos. The Enterprise Architect translates strategic planning ambitions into domain target architectures, integration blueprints, and transformation roadmaps, bringing a long-term enterprise-wide perspective to ensure architectural decisions deliver connected, scalable, and insight-driven planning outcomes across all functions.

Responsibilities

Enterprise Architecture Strategy & Ownership

• Own and evolve the Enterprise Architecture vision and strategy for enterprise-wide business planning, covering Financial Planning, HR & Workforce Planning, Procurement Planning, Supply Chain Planning, and Commercial Planning.
• Define and maintain target architectures and transition roadmaps for each planning domain and the integration layer that connects them across our core stack
• Ensure architectural coherence across all programs, platforms, and products that contribute to the IBP ecosystem, minimizing redundancy and technology debt

Architecture Principles, Standards & Governance

• Define, communicate, and enforce enterprise architecture principles, standards and data governance framework
• Act as an architectural authority, governing solution designs and key technology decisions for all planning platforms
• Ensure new systems integrate smoothly into the enterprise landscape and support long-term objectives
• Ensure planning data models – hierarchies, scenarios, forecast versions, and actuals – are consistent, governed, and interoperable across all planning domains.

Business Transformation & Value Enablement

• Lead enterprise-level architectural thinking for IBP transformation within an FMCG/CPG context
• Advise senior stakeholders on architectural trade-offs, risks, and opportunities related to process alignment and system capabilities, transitional architecture to avoid any business disruption and clear roadmap to achieve the end state architecture
• Drive simplification of the application and data landscape to improve agility, resilience, and cost efficiency
• Design complex process integrations, specifically architecting how Top-Down (BP) and Bottom-Up plan (Latest Estimate) converge to achieve rolling consensus forecasting cycle.
• Enable real-time or near-real-time data flows across planning platforms and operational systems, supporting responsive and connected enterprise planning

Investment Protection & Delivery Alignment

• Provide architectural assurance and due diligence for major initiatives
• Reduce enterprise risk by ensuring alignment with approved architectures and roadmaps
• Collaborate with Agile and SAFe delivery teams to ensure architecture is actionable and supports effective execution

Qualifications and Experience:

• Matric and a Tertiary Qualification
• Extensive EA Experience: Proven track record as an Enterprise Architect in large-scale, complex FMCG/CPG organizations
• Executive Influence: Ability to operate at enterprise and executive level, translating deep technical integrations into business value to influence business and IT decisions
• Deep Planning Domain & Process Knowledge:Deep understanding of end-to-end IBP processes. Crucially, proven ability to map and integrate complex business processes, including:
  • Commercial plan – volume & value
  • Promotional Plan
  • Demand and Supply chain planning
  • Cost Planning including Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Procurement and Workforce
• Data Integration: Deep knowledge of modern data architecture, integration patterns, and API-led connectivity, specifically within an Azure Data Platform environment
• Experience working in large-scale, complex technology landscapes with multiple platforms and vendors.
• Familiarity with TOGAF, applied pragmatically (principles, target states, roadmaps, governance)
• Experience operating in Agile and SAFe environments
• Strong communication skills, able to convey architectural concepts to non-technical stakeholders