Planning Manager

As the Planning Manager, you will lead the Planning organization and establish the planning framework that connects program commitments, engineering requirements, material availability, manufacturing capacity, production execution, and customer delivery requirements. This role combines enterprise-level integrated scheduling and project controls with hands-on manufacturing planning within a complex advanced-composites environment.

The Planning Manager is responsible for ensuring that program and production plans are executable, resource-loaded, logically integrated, and continuously updated using current schedule, ERP, PDM, production, material, labor, and cost information. The position provides functional leadership to Program Schedulers and Planners while serving as the planning authority for the facility's integrated master schedule, production planning, capacity planning, and manpower forecasting.

The Planning Manager will work closely with Program Management, Operations, Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, Finance, and Maintenance to establish realistic execution plans and identify schedule, capacity, material, equipment, and resource constraints early enough for corrective action.

Key Responsibilities

Planning Leadership & Governance

• Lead Planning, including program scheduling, production, materials, and capacity planning.
• Manage staffing, priorities, workload, performance, training, and development of Planners and Schedulers.
• Establish standardized planning processes, tools, templates, and performance expectations.
• Ensure schedule and planning data meets company standards and supports management decisions.

Integrated Scheduling & Project Controls

• Own the facility's integrated planning and scheduling process using Microsoft Project/Project Server.
• Maintain integrated schedules connecting contractual milestones, engineering, procurement, materials, tooling, manufacturing, inspection, testing, and delivery.
• Establish standards for WBS, logic, resources, baselines, progress updates, forecasting, and change control.
• Review schedules for logic, critical path, resource loading, constraints, and execution feasibility.
• Lead schedule recovery, what-if analysis, critical-path analysis, and resource-constrained planning.
• Provide management with accurate visibility of remaining work, capacity, forecast dates, and delivery risks.

Advanced Composites Manufacturing Planning

• Develop executable plans for complex composite manufacturing, including material preparation, kitting, layup, bonding, curing/autoclave, machining, NDI/inspection, finishing, and final acceptance.
• Incorporate tooling, long-lead materials, equipment constraints, cure cycles, inspection requirements, rework, and manufacturing lead times.
• Plan around constrained assets including autoclaves, AFP/automated equipment, CNC/5-axis machining, large-scale tooling, and specialized inspection resources.
• Translate engineering requirements, BOMs, routings, processes, and customer requirements into realistic production plans.
• Identify bottlenecks and develop staffing, shift, overtime, equipment-utilization, and recovery strategies.
• Support NPI, process development, tooling, PFMEA, manufacturing demonstrations, and production ramp-up.

Production, Capacity & Resource Planning

• Lead short-, mid-, and long-range production planning aligned with customer commitments.
• Own facility capacity and FTE planning by function, skill, work center, equipment, and time period.
• Identify constraints across labor, equipment, facilities, tooling, materials, and inspection.
• Develop staffing, cross-training, overtime, shift, subcontracting, and equipment-utilization scenarios.
• Coordinate daily/weekly execution with Operations and Production leadership.
• Develop and monitor recovery plans when production or material conditions impact commitments.

ERP, Materials & Performance Management

• Integrate PDM, ERP, work orders, BOMs, routings, material requirements, and production status with the integrated schedule.
• Use actual labor, cost, material, and work-order data to measure performance and improve forecasts.
• Maintain alignment between Project Server, ERP, PDM, and shop-floor status as the operational single source of truth.
• Partner with Supply Chain to identify long-lead materials, shortages, supplier risks, and schedule impacts.
• Establish and monitor KPIs including schedule adherence, forecast accuracy, production attainment, labor utilization, capacity, material availability, and OTD.
• Drive corrective action, data integrity, process standardization, automation, and continuous improvement.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Provide planning leadership across Program Management, Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, Finance, Maintenance, and Facilities.
• Lead integrated planning and schedule reviews with functional leaders.
• Communicate capacity, manpower, material, equipment, and schedule risks with clear data and actionable recommendations.
• Support customer and management reviews with accurate schedule, production, resource, and forecast information.

Required Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Project and resource-loaded scheduling.
• Experience leading planning, scheduling, production planning, project controls, or related functions in a manufacturing environment.
• Strong knowledge of integrated master scheduling, critical path, dependencies, baselines, resource loading, capacity planning, and forecasting.
• Experience coordinating across Program Management, Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, and Supply Chain.
• Ability to interpret ERP labor, cost, material, work-order, and production data.
• Strong analytical, organizational, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Associate's or bachelor's degree in Operations, Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, Manufacturing, Project Management, or related field.
• CPIM or similar professional certification.
• 6+ years of complex or engineered-to-order manufacturing experience.
• 3+ years of ERP experience, preferably Deltek Costpoint.
• Experience with Microsoft Project Server/enterprise scheduling platforms and PDM/MRP systems.
• Aerospace, defense, shipbuilding, submarine, or advanced composites experience.
• Experience with autoclaves, AFP/automated manufacturing, large-scale tooling, CNC/5-axis machining, NDI/inspection, and specialized manufacturing resources.
• Experience with finite-capacity planning, FTE forecasting, resource-constrained scheduling, EVM/project controls, or cost/schedule performance management.
• Advanced Excel and/or Power BI skills.
• Key Performance Indicators
• Integrated schedule accuracy and integrity
• On-time delivery and schedule adherence
• Forecast-date accuracy
• Production schedule attainment
• FTE/resource forecast accuracy
• Labor and capacity utilization
• Material availability and schedule-impact visibility
• ERP/PDM/Project Server data integrity
• Critical-path and recovery-plan effectiveness
• Planning update compliance
• Planner/Scheduler performance and development

Core Competencies

• Integrated Planning: Connect program commitments, engineering, materials, manufacturing, resources, and customer deliveries into one executable plan.
• Manufacturing Knowledge: Understand complex manufacturing processes, constraints, and throughput drivers, particularly within advanced composites.
• Schedule Management: Apply critical path, dependencies, baselines, resource loading, progress measurement, and forecasting.
• Systems & Data Integration: Reconcile Project Server, ERP, PDM, and shop-floor data to provide reliable operational visibility.
• Leadership: Develop planning personnel, establish standards, and lead cross-functional execution.
• Problem Solving: Identify schedule, capacity, material, and production constraints and develop practical recovery strategies.
• Communication: Clearly communicate schedule, capacity, manpower, material, and production risks to all levels of the organization.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with company contribution
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Company-paid life and AD&D insurance
• Short- and long-term disability coverage
• Tuition reimbursement