Business Operations Strategy & Planning Specialist

About the role

Function

Product

The Role

This role sits at the center of one of Hitachi Vantara's most cross-functional organizations. You will join the Operations & PMO team within the Global Solutions & Experience (GSX) organization - a group at the intersection of product management, Engineering Operations, OEM and alliance partnerships, and solution delivery. Our organization brings technology solutions to market alongside Hitachi storage.

This role reports to the Manager of Operations & PMO and partners closely with other vertical teams within the GSX group and other business partners across Hitachi Vantara.

What You Will Be Doing

You will be on the business side of operations for a global solutions organization: what we purchase, what it costs, where it is, and what it returns. The role combines purchasing, supply chain, and financial planning with the reporting leaders use to run the business. You will also be driving process improvement and documentation with the team, finding a simpler, faster, and more efficient way to operate with the team and with internal and external business partners.

Purchasing Team: Hardware and Software

• Run purchasing end to end with the purchasing team: requisitions, quotes, supplier selection, price and terms negotiation, order processing, and contract administration
• Manage supplier performance on price, quality, and delivery, and build long-term agreements with strategic suppliers and partners
• Track assets and equipment from receipt to retirement, and plan equipment needs against demand, lead times, and budget

Own the supply chain end to end

• Coordinate demand, inventory, fulfillment, and delivery across teams so equipment and materials are available when programs need them, and flag constraints early
• Keep orders, shipments, and asset records accurate in the ERP (Oracle or equivalent), and reconcile them to finance and CRM data so the numbers tie

Plan and manage the financials

• Own the annual operating plan (AOP) budget and forecast: build forecasting models, allocate resources, and track spend against plan
• Understand the P&L: explain variances, cost to serve, and margin impact, and recommend changes
• Identify and prioritize operational improvements using industry and competitive trends and internal data, then build the plan and drive it with limited oversight

Build revenue and margin visibility

• Build revenue and margin dashboards leaders actually use: product-level performance, margin by channel and partner, and trends against plan
• Build solution-level reporting that shows direct revenue plus attached (drag) revenue, using solution identifiers in Salesforce, and work with Sales Operations to close data quality gaps

Support leadership reporting and business reviews

• Prepare the data and narrative for monthly business reviews, with KPI scorecards that show at a glance what is on plan, at risk, or needs action
• Automate recurring reports so the monthly package needs minimal manual effort, and respond to ad hoc leadership requests within agreed service levels
• Partner with program managers to connect program schedules to purchasing, supply, and budget decisions

What You Will Bring

• 10+ years in business operations, supply chain, procurement, or operations finance
• Procurement and supply chain: hands-on sourcing, supplier negotiation, purchase orders, contract administration, and inventory and asset planning from order to delivery
• Financial acumen: P&L, AOP budgeting, and forecasting, including explaining variances and margin impact
• ERP proficiency: working knowledge of Oracle (or NetSuite, SAP, or equivalent) for orders, purchasing, inventory, assets, and revenue, and reconciling it to finance reporting
• Reporting and analytics: you build dashboards leaders actually use, with a BI tool (Power BI, Tableau, Looker, or equivalent) at a builder level
• Communication and judgment: you explain findings to senior leaders, work with limited oversight, and build structure where the environment is still evolving
• Salesforce CRM reporting, and solution-level (attached or drag revenue) reporting that depends on CRM tagging
• Leading ERP, WMS, OMS, or reporting-platform implementations from requirements through go-live
• Automating recurring reporting through integrations (APIs, EDI) or scripting (Python or R)
• Familiarity with Jira or other project management tools, and working with program managers
• Process improvement and documentation: you map workflows, write SOPs, and find simpler, faster ways to operate

What Makes This Role Unique

• One role across the full path. Most companies split purchasing, supply chain, and finance across separate teams. Here you will follow a purchase from supplier quote to order, to asset in service, to its impact on the budget and P&L, and use that view to improve the process.
• Build the process, not just run it. You will document how purchasing, assets, and budgets work end to end and find simpler, faster ways to operate. What you build becomes the standard for the team.
• Visibility across GSX and senior leadership. Your reporting and recommendations will inform decisions by senior leaders, and your work will touch every part of GSX and the partners it works with. Few roles offer that breadth.
• AI-driven demand. Demand for AI infrastructure is changing what we buy, how fast we need it, and what it costs. You will help the organization plan for that demand instead of reacting to it.
• Collaborative team. You will work alongside the PMO team and program managers, and with a manager who treats operations, data, and visibility as strategic assets, not support functions.

Pay and benefits

As required by the equal pay and transparency acts, the expected base salary for this position is $110K to $135K. Expected on-target earnings: $125K to $155K.

The expected pay is determined based on depth of experience in the practice area. Employees are eligible to participate in Hitachi Vantara's bonus and variable pay programs, where applicable, and are subject to the program's conditions and restrictions.

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