Contract Production Planning Manager — Aerospace Manufacturing
Competitive hourly rate — dependent on experience
6-month contract
Fully on-site, Littleton, CO (5 days per week)
A space & defense manufacturer in the Denver is hiring a Contract Production Planning Manager to lead its planning function through a critical production scale-up. Real flight hardware, live programs and an established team of planners and material analysts who need a hands-on manager from day one.
This is a working-manager role, not a strategic director seat. The production floor is busy, the master schedule is live, and the team needs someone who can drop in without a long runway, someone who has owned a master production schedule before, run the forecasting cadence, and been the person the floor turns to when demand and capacity don’t line up.
What you’ll be doing
- Owning the master production schedule and finite-capacity plan across multiple concurrent programs
- Leading and mentoring a team of production planners and material planning analysts — priorities, performance and development
- Converting demand into manufacturing orders and clear workflows for the production floor
- Running forecasting and SIOP meetings with Operations, Inventory, Finance, Shipping and Purchasing
- Acting as the liaison between program management, production, quality, inventory and supply chain — resolving scheduling conflicts and setting floor priorities
- Coordinating inventory and procurement so material lands when the plan needs it
- Maintaining ERP/MRP data integrity and driving planning process improvements
- Monitoring KPIs across Safety, Quality, Delivery and Cost, and communicating status, risks and recovery plans to leadership
What you’ll need
- 7+ years in production planning, manufacturing operations or supply chain within a manufacturing environment
- 3+ years managing planning or operations teams — you’ve led planners, not just plans
- Demonstrated ownership of a master production schedule, ideally with finite-capacity scheduling
- Strong hands-on experience with major ERP/MRP systems, including planning data integrity
- Experience running cross-functional forecasting/SIOP cadences with operations, finance and procurement stakeholders
- Strong analytical skills and high attention to detail — the schedule is only as good as the data behind it
- Clear written and verbal communication, and the ability to hold priorities steady in a fast-moving production environment
- Able to work fully on-site in Littleton, CO, 5 days per week
Nice to have
- Aerospace, defense, spacecraft or propulsion manufacturing experience
- APICS CPIM or CSCP certification
- Experience implementing or optimizing ERP/MRP systems
- Lean manufacturing or Six Sigma background
- Familiarity with finite-capacity scheduling tools
- Prior contract experience — you land and add value fast
Interested – Click apply with an updated copy of your CV. I’ll come back to you within 48 hours. If you don’t hear back within 48 hours, please assume you haven’t been successful on this occasion.