Senior Director of Aircraft Planning & Scheduling

Gradel Professional Search; Fort Worth (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Gradel Professional Search client, a growing aircraft MRO and conversion company, seeks a Director of Planning to turn maintenance requirements into executable schedules anchored by milestones, manpower, man-hours, and material readiness. Reporting to the CEO, the role requires hands-on planning with MPDs and CAMP and a track record of building master schedules for complex programs.

The right candidate will lead a planning team, coordinate across Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain,

Qualifications

• Ten or more years in aircraft MRO, heavy maintenance, or related operations.
• Direct aircraft planning experience with MPD and CAMP.
• Experience turning maintenance requirements into detailed production schedules.
• Experience managing schedule flow, milestones, dependencies, and turnaround plans.
• Strong capacity and resource planning across manpower, skills, and materials.
• Experience developing Integrated Master Schedules for complex programs.
• Collaborative ability across operations, engineering, quality, and supply chain.

Responsibilities

• Lead long-, medium-, and short-range planning for aircraft maintenance and modification programs.
• Translate MPD requirements, CAMP data, customer work scopes, and engineering requirements into executable work packages and production schedules.
• Develop and maintain the Integrated Master Schedule, including inductions, milestones, dependencies, critical-path activities, and completion targets.
• Establish schedule flow from aircraft induction through maintenance, modification, testing, and return to service.
• Build capacity and resource plans based on manpower, required skills, man-hours, facilities, tooling, and production priorities.
• Ensure work packages are defined, sequenced, staffed, and supported before release to production.
• Integrate parts, materials, tooling, equipment, data, and engineering readiness into the production schedule.
• Monitor planned versus actual labor, task completion, earned hours, schedule adherence, constraints, and turnaround.
• Identify schedule risks and coordinate recovery plans with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Maintenance, Modifications, Finance, and Program Management.
• Maintain accurate planning data and forecasts within ERP and MRO systems.
• Improve planning standards, labor estimates, task durations, capacity models, reporting, and schedule accuracy.
• Build and develop the planning team with consistent planning processes, controls, and accountability.

Skills

Aircraft MRO planning

Planning leadership

Schedule development

Cross-functional coordination

ERP/MRO systems

Tools

ERP systems

MRO planning tools

Job description

Gradel Professional Search client, a growing aircraft MRO and conversion company, seeks a Director of Planning to turn maintenance requirements into executable schedules anchored by milestones, manpower, man-hours, and material readiness. Reporting to the CEO, the role requires hands-on planning with MPDs and CAMP and a track record of building master schedules for complex programs.

The right candidate will lead a planning team, coordinate across Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain,