Senior Operations Manager - Planning

Location: Dubai; London, England, United Kingdom Workplace: hybrid We are a leading trading platform that is ambitiously expanding to the four corners of the globe. Our top-rated products have won prestigious industry awards for their cutting-edge technology and seamless client experience. We deliver only the best, so we are always in search of the best people to join our ever-growing talented team. We are looking for a Senior Operations Manager - Planning to build how Capital.com plans the people and skills its operations need as we grow into new products and markets. You will own capacity planning across the organisation. That covers forecasting demand, such as new customer sign-ups and FinCrime alerts, over the next week, month and six months, and turning it into clear staffing needs. You’ll use AI and automation to build and run the department’s main planning model, and you’ll advise leaders on hiring, redeployment, process improvements and automation early enough for them to act. You’ll work closely with operational leaders and Finance, and manage a Workforce Management specialists. Responsibilities: Own the capacity planning model, roadmap and KPIs. Forecast demand over the next week, month and six months. Separate customer activity, product changes, seasonality and backlogs, and agree assumptions with the teams closest to each source of demand. Translate demand into capacity needs using workload, handling time and productivity. Account for skills, hours, absence, attrition, training and ramp-up. Build scenarios for growth, launches and disruption, and show the cost and service impact. Recommend hiring, redeployment, process and automation actions early enough to cover recruitment and training lead times. Align definitions and data with Finance and operational teams, track forecast vs. actual, and improve the models. Flag capacity risks early, including skill and time-zone gaps, and keep reporting clear enough for managers to act on. Requirements: 5+ years in capacity planning, workforce management or operations planning in a high-volume environment. Hands-on experience building forecasting and capacity models yourself, including seasonality. Strong grasp of capacity drivers, scenario planning and sensitivity analysis. Record of recommendations that changed hiring or process decisions. Experience working with Finance and tracking forecast accuracy over time. Advanced spreadsheet skills, SQL or similar, and experience managing direct reports. Nice to have: Financial services, fintech or payments background. Planning for Customer Support, KYC or FinCrime operations. Using AI, Python or statistical methods in forecasting.