Planning Platform Engineer (BOARD)

Work Setup: Remote (Contractor)

Schedule: UAE hours

We are seeking an experienced SME for the BOARD Planning Platform to lead the transformation from a legacy system to a modern, multi-vertical planning platform aimed at enhancing efficiency and agility across various business units. This role is key to ensuring the successful implementation of both functional and technical aspects of BOARD. The position reports directly to the Senior Engineering Manager in the Planning function.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the Subject Matter Expert for BOARD, offering deep knowledge of its architecture, configuration, related tools and technologies, and best practices.
• Assist in defining the transformation roadmap by providing insights into platform capabilities and constraints.
• Quickly adapt to and understand the current planning ecosystem.
• Drive platform transformation with a focus on completeness, quality, and timely delivery.
• Act as the key liaison between the implementation partner and internal teams, ensuring functional and technical business requirements are met.
• Collaborate with tech teams to design a phasing plan, enabling a seamless working model across different transformation stages.
• Validate technical aspects of the platform implementation, including security, data availability, reporting, dashboards, data integrity, and KPIs.
• Facilitate communication among engineering teams, vendors, and stakeholders for technical alignment and timely execution.
• Identify potential migration risks and propose proactive mitigation strategies.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, product owners, implementation partners, and change management teams to map defined processes onto the BOARD platform.
• Provide strategic guidance on optimal use of the BOARD platform for operational efficiency, scalability, and flexibility.
• Offer technical leadership and mentoring throughout the migration process.
• Recommend process improvements based on BOARD platform capabilities.
• Perform sanity checks on the configured product.
• Promote best practices in data management, platform security, and performance optimization.
• Provide ongoing technical training to team members as required.
• Ensure thorough documentation, including system architecture, process flows, and user manuals.
• Support the project manager with status reports, milestone tracking, and issue resolution.
• Provide hands-on assistance in system configuration, data migration, integration, and testing.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience:

• 10+ years of experience working with the BOARD Planning platform and technology transformation projects.
• Strong understanding of SaaS-based architecture.
• Proven track record in leading successful planning transformations.
• Expertise in integrating data from multiple sources into the planning platform using appropriate tools.
• Familiarity with reporting tools and dashboard development.
• Understanding of data science models and analytics related to planning.
• Experience with at least one cloud platform (Azure, AWS, or GCP).
• Knowledge of retail technologies such as ERP, PLM, and inventory management.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with experience working across cross-functional teams.
• Demonstrated ability to lead large-scale technology transformations.
• Deep technical knowledge in system architecture, data migration, and systems integration.
• Strong problem-solving and risk mitigation capabilities.
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies like Scrum or Kanban.
• Comfortable presenting in large forums.
• Advanced certifications in relevant technologies or platforms are a plus.