Growth Planning & Insights Manager - Middle East & Asia

Growth Planning & Insights Manager – Middle East & Asia

Contract: Permanent

Location: Bangalore – must work from Bangalore office not remote working

Reports to: Head of Growth Marketing Hub & Innovation – Middle East & Asia

Purpose of Role

The Growth Planning & Insights Manager owns the operational performance insight and forecasting capability for enrolment growth across 30+ schools in the Middle East, India and Asia. The role provides timely visibility of performance against new enrolment, re-enrolment and overall enrolment targets, identifies where schools are ahead or behind plan, diagnoses the drivers of performance across the customer funnel, and translates data into clear actions for Marketing, Admissions, Retention and Regional Leadership.

A critical part of the role is maintaining a dynamic view of expected enrolment outcomes. As pipeline performance, re-enrolment, withdrawals, cancellations and conversion assumptions change, the role continually reforecasts expected outcomes, quantifies emerging gaps and identifies where additional new enrolment or other interventions are required.

This is not a reporting-only role. The successful candidate will combine strong commercial judgement with hands-on analytical capability, proactively identifying risks and opportunities, explaining what is happening and why, recommending what should happen next, and following through to determine whether agreed interventions are improving performance.

Role in the Marketing Operating Model

Owns divisional growth performance insight, forecasting, cross-funnel diagnosis and the operating rhythm required to turn data into action. The role works within Group data architecture, systems, definitions, governance and enterprise reporting standards and does not duplicate Group ownership of central data infrastructure or enterprise BI.

Group Data & Analytics provides the trusted data environment and enterprise standards; this role translates available data into divisional forecasts, performance insight, interventions and growth decisions.

The role identifies the business-performance signal and works with the relevant owner to drive action: Performance Marketing owns paid acquisition interventions; Digital owns website and SEO interventions; CRM owns lifecycle and automation interventions; Regional Marketing Managers orchestrate school-level Marketing action; and Admissions and Retention leaders own their respective operational conversion and retention levers. The Growth Planning & Insights Manager owns the insight loop and tracks whether agreed interventions improve performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Enrolment Performance Management

Own the consolidated operational view of enrolment performance across schools and regions, tracking actual and forecast performance against new enrolment, re-enrolment and overall enrolment targets and agreed phasing.

• Forecasting & Gap Analysis

Maintain and continually update enrolment forecasts as pipeline performance, re-enrolment, withdrawals, cancellations and conversion assumptions change. Quantify emerging gaps, model scenarios and identify the additional new enrolment or other performance improvement required to recover them. Supports annual enrolment target-setting and phasing with Finance and Regional leadership, and working back from target to the leads and media budget needed

• Funnel Performance Diagnosis

Analyse performance across the end-to-end customer funnel at school, regional and divisional level to identify where performance is breaking down and distinguish between demand generation, lead quality, Admissions conversion, Retention/re-enrolment and other operational issues.

• Actionable Performance Insights

Move beyond reporting what happened to explain why it happened, what it means for forecast performance, where intervention is required and what action should happen next. Proactively identify material risks and opportunities and provide clear, prioritised recommendations. Owns the weekly growth performance review and intervention action log.

• Weekly & Peak-Period Performance Rhythm

Lead the regular growth performance view for regional Marketing, Admissions and Retention teams, summarising performance against target and phasing, forecast position, material risks/opportunities and priority interventions. Increase monitoring and analysis frequency during critical enrolment periods, including daily views where required.

• Performance Intervention & Follow-through

Work with Regional Marketing Managers, Admissions and Retention leaders and Hub specialists to ensure identified performance issues translate into action. Track agreed interventions, assess whether they are improving performance and feed the learning back into forecasts and recommendations.

• School & Regional Performance Analysis

Provide deeper analysis of individual schools, regions, pipeline stages or performance issues where intervention is required, using data to test hypotheses, identify root causes and focus teams on the highest-value corrective actions.

• Growth Performance Reporting & Dashboards

Develop and maintain the operational dashboards, reports and exception views required to manage enrolment performance effectively, leveraging Group platforms and standard reporting wherever these meet divisional requirements. Keep reporting focused on decisions and action rather than unnecessary volume.

• Marketing Performance & ROI Insight

Support Marketing investment and optimisation decisions through analysis of demand generation, lead quality, funnel progression, channel and campaign effectiveness, investment, attribution and ROI. Partner with specialist Marketing owners rather than duplicating their channel-level accountability.

• Data Integration, Reconciliation & Quality

Combine and reconcile data from CRM, enrolment systems, digital platforms, Marketing investment and other relevant sources. Identify material inconsistencies or data-quality issues, validate critical measures and work with Group and system owners to resolve issues at source where possible.

• Group Data & Analytics Integration

Act as the key divisional interface with relevant Group Data & Analytics capability, ensuring central platforms, definitions, dashboards and data products are effectively translated into divisional performance management, while surfacing operational requirements or gaps requiring Group support. 

• Continuous Improvement & Automation

Standardise and automate recurring data preparation, validation, analysis and reporting wherever practical, progressively reducing manual exports and shifting capacity toward forecasting, diagnosis, actionable insight and performance optimisation. 

Hard Skills 

• Commercial Performance Analytics & Diagnosis – Advanced ability to analyse performance against targets and phasing across multiple schools and markets, identify material gaps, test hypotheses and diagnose the underlying commercial drivers of performance.
• Forecasting, Scenario Modelling & Gap Analysis – Strong capability in dynamic forecasting and scenario modelling, including understanding how pipeline conversion, re-enrolment, withdrawals and cancellations affect expected enrolment outcomes and required recovery.
• Funnel & Conversion Analytics – Strong understanding of end-to-end customer funnels and ability to distinguish between demand generation, lead quality, Admissions conversion, Retention/re-enrolment and other operational performance issues.
• Data Analysis, BI & Data Integration – Advanced analytical capability using Excel, Power BI or equivalent BI tools and SQL/querying tools, with the ability to combine, interrogate, validate and reconcile CRM, enrolment, Marketing and operational data.
• Commercial Insight & Data Storytelling – Ability to translate complex multi-school performance data into clear executive-level insight: what is happening, why it is happening, the commercial implication and what action is required. 

Soft Skills 

• Commercial Judgement & Growth Mindset – Strong business judgement and a clear understanding that the purpose of analysis is to improve enrolment and commercial outcomes, not simply produce reports.
• Critical Thinking & Problem Solving – Naturally interrogates performance, tests hypotheses, distinguishes signal from noise and identifies root causes rather than accepting surface-level explanations.
• Constructive Challenge & Influence – Confidently challenges assumptions and explanations where evidence indicates otherwise, and influences Marketing, Admissions, Retention and senior stakeholders toward action without blurring functional accountability.
• Proactivity & Ownership – Identifies emerging risks and opportunities before being asked, takes ownership of the quality and timeliness of insight and follows through to ensure identified issues translate into action.
• Executive Communication – Communicates complex analysis simply and persuasively, focusing senior and non-technical stakeholders on the few issues, implications and decisions that materially affect performance 

Qualifications & Experience 

• 6–10 years’ relevant experience in commercial analytics, growth analytics, performance insight, business intelligence or Marketing analytics, ideally within a multi-site, multi-brand or customer-led organisation.
• Demonstrated commercial performance management experience, including tracking performance against targets and phasing, dynamic forecasting, scenario modelling and gap analysis, with evidence of translating emerging performance gaps into actionable recommendations.
• Strong customer funnel and conversion analytics experience, with the ability to diagnose root causes across acquisition/demand, lead quality, sales or Admissions conversion, retention/re-enrolment and other stages of the customer lifecycle rather than analysing Marketing activity in isolation.
• Experience working across multiple business units, brands, locations or markets, consolidating complex local performance into a portfolio, regional or enterprise view and identifying where management attention and intervention are required.
• Strong hands-on analytical and BI capability, including advanced Excel, Power BI or equivalent visualisation tools, and practical SQL or equivalent querying capability; able to interrogate underlying data rather than relying solely on pre-built reports.
• Experience integrating and reconciling multiple commercial data sources, including CRM/customer pipelines, digital Marketing platforms, sales/enrolment or operational systems and investment/financial data, with a strong understanding of data quality and governance.
• Demonstrated ability to influence commercial action through insight, including presenting complex analysis to senior non-technical stakeholders, constructively challenging assumptions and providing recommendations that have resulted in changed business decisions or operational interventions.
• Experience in a distributed customer acquisition and conversion environment such as education, multi-site consumer services, hospitality or healthcare is highly advantageous.
• Agency experience, particularly within media, performance or analytics in a client-facing role, is highly desirable.
• Education: Degree in Analytics, Statistics, Economics, Business, Marketing or a related discipline preferred. Relevant experience and demonstrated capability are more important than formal education.  

Core KPIs 

• Forecast Accuracy & Early Risk Identification – Accuracy of enrolment forecasts and timely identification of material gaps, risks and opportunities against target and phasing.
• Performance Diagnosis & Insight Quality – Accuracy and actionability of root-cause diagnosis across demand, lead quality, Admissions conversion, Retention/re-enrolment and other material performance drivers.
• Intervention Effectiveness & Follow-through – Priority performance issues translate into clear interventions with accountable owners, with progress and impact consistently tracked through to resolution or escalation.
• Performance Visibility & Decision Support – Timely, trusted and consistent visibility of new enrolment, re-enrolment and total enrolment performance, with insights demonstrably supporting Marketing, Admissions, Retention and leadership decisions.
• Reporting Efficiency & Data Reliability – Progressive improvement in the accuracy, consistency and automation of operational performance reporting, reducing manual effort and increasing capacity for forecasting, diagnosis and actionable insight.

This person will be asked to travel to Middle East, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand from time to time, therefore they must be willing to travel.

ISP Principles

Begin with our children and students. Our children and students are at the heart of what we do. Simply, their success is our success. Wellbeing and safety are both essential for learners and learning. Therefore, we are consistent in identifying potential safeguarding

and Health & Safety issues and acting and following up on all concerns appropriately.

Treat everyone with care and respect. We look after one another, embrace similarities and differences and promote the well-being of self and others.

Operate effectively. We focus relentlessly on the things that are most important and will make the most difference. We apply school policies and procedures and embody the shared ideas of our community.

Are financially responsible. We make financial choices carefully based on the needs of the children, students and our schools.

Learn continuously. Getting better is what drives us. We positively engage with personal and professional development and school improvement.

ISP Commitment to Safeguarding Principles

ISP is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All post holders are subject to appropriate vetting procedures, including an online due diligence search, references and satisfactory Criminal Background Checks or equivalent covering the previous 10 years’ employment history.

ISP Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

ISP is committed to strengthening our inclusive culture by identifying, hiring, developing, and retaining high-performing teammates regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender expression, age, disability status, neurodivergence, socio-economic background or other demographic characteristics. Candidates who share our vision and principles and are interested in contributing to the success of ISP through this role are strongly encouraged to apply.