Planning Manager

Planning Manager Karman Space & Defense is a leader in the rapid design, development, and production of critical, next- generation system solutions that align with the U.S. Department of War and its allies' core mission priorities, and meet the accelerating demand for access to space. Building on nearly 50 years of success, we deliver Payload & Protection Systems, Aero/Hydrodynamic Interstage Systems, and Propulsion & Launch Systems to more than 80 prime contractors supporting over 130 space and defense programs. This role is part of our Maritime Defense Systems business, which delivers integrated solutions with decades of proven performance across submarine, surface, and autonomous naval platforms supporting high-priority national defense programs. Our bow-to-stern capabilities include acoustic and sonar protection systems, propulsion systems, advanced composite structures, missile subsystems, canisters and launchers, and autonomous underwater vehicle subsystems. From concept through production, we combine engineering, materials expertise, specialized manufacturing, and large-scale testing to deliver mission-ready systems that reduce technical risk and support long-term operational performance. 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. - Incorpor te 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 materia