Workforce Planning Lead – Americas

Wood; Houston (TX); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working arrangements

Diversity & Inclusion

Flexible benefits

Professional development

Global connections

Collaborative environment

Job summary

Wood is seeking a Workforce Planning Lead to join our team in Houston, Texas; Greenville, South Carolina; or Tucker, Georgia. This hybrid role focuses on operational workforce planning, capacity and demand management, utilization, and workforce analytics to support profitable project delivery.

You will lead planning across portfolios, develop forecasts, monitor capacity, and provide data-driven recommendations to align staffing with demand while partnering with business leaders and Delivery

Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent experience in operations, business, engineering, data/analytics, or a related discipline
• Experience interpreting utilisation and operational performance metrics
• Strong analytical capability with advanced Excel and Power BI experience
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence at all organisational levels

Responsibilities

• Lead workforce planning activities across assigned portfolios, disciplines, or regions
• Develop short-, medium-, and long-term workforce forecasts aligned to business demand
• Maintain rolling capacity plans highlighting resource gaps, surpluses, and deployment opportunities
• Identify workforce risks early and provide mitigation recommendations
• Partner with Delivery Managers and Business Leaders to translate sales pipeline, secured work, and project demand into workforce requirements
• Monitor weekly utilisation performance and analyse trends to recommend actions that improve billability and productivity
• Produce weekly and monthly workforce planning reports and present workforce insights to senior stakeholders with clear recommendations
• Build trusted relationships with Operations Managers, Delivery Leaders, Project Managers, and Talent Acquisition and act as the primary workforce planning advisor for allocated business areas

Skills

Advanced Excel

Power BI

Analytical capability

Communication skills

Workforce planning

Job description

Job Description

Remarkable people, trusted by clients to design and advance the world.

Wood is recruiting for a Workforce Planning Lead to join our team in Houston, Texas; Greenville, South Carolina; or Tucker, Georgia. This role will focus on operational workforce planning, capacity and demand management, utilization, and workforce analytics. This opportunity is Hybrid.

The Role

The Workforce Planning Lead will lead operational workforce planning activities across assigned business units, regions, or portfolios, partnering with business leaders to align workforce capacity with current and future demand. The role will provide workforce intelligence and data-driven recommendations to support informed staffing decisions, improve utilisation, identify workforce risks, and enable profitable project delivery.

Our Clients and Projects

Designing the future. Transforming the world.

Wood delivers consulting, projects, and operations solutions across the energy and materials sectors. Our teams work collaboratively with clients and project stakeholders to deliver solutions that support successful project execution and respond to evolving business and workforce needs.

What We Can Offer

• Meaningful and interesting projects delivered to leaders of industry across energy and industrial sectors
• Flexible working arrangements that balance client, team and individual needs
• Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion across our business with employee networks committed to giving all employees a voice
• Flexible benefits package that can be adapted to suit your lifestyle
• Commitment to continued professional development through development plans tailored to individual needs and interests
• Global connections with leading industry experts around the world who are shaping the standards of our profession
• A collaborative environment where data-driven workforce planning supports business performance and project delivery

Responsibilities

Typical responsibilities

• Lead workforce planning activities across assigned portfolios, disciplines, or regions
• Develop short-, medium-, and long-term workforce forecasts aligned to business demand
• Maintain rolling capacity plans highlighting resource gaps, surpluses, and deployment opportunities
• Identify workforce risks early and provide mitigation recommendations
• Partner with Delivery Managers and Business Leaders to understand future workload and translate sales pipeline, secured work, and project demand into workforce requirements
• Monitor workforce capacity and recommend hiring, redeployment, contractor engagement, or workshare opportunities
• Support mobilisation planning for major projects
• Monitor weekly utilisation performance and analyse trends to recommend actions that improve billability and productivity
• Support leaders in optimising workforce deployment while balancing employee development and project delivery
• Produce weekly and monthly workforce planning reports and present workforce insights to senior stakeholders with clear recommendations
• Monitor key workforce planning KPIs, including utilisation, forecast accuracy, resource demand, capacity risk, hiring requirements, and skills shortages
• Build trusted relationships with Operations Managers, Delivery Leaders, Project Managers, and Talent Acquisition and act as the primary workforce planning advisor for allocated business areas
• Facilitate regular workforce planning meetings and planning reviews and influence workforce decisions through data-driven recommendations
• Ensure workforce planning data remains accurate, complete, and current and drive adoption of enterprise workforce planning processes and tools
• Identify opportunities to improve reporting, automation, and planning processes and support implementation of new workforce planning initiatives
• Champion workforce planning best practice, coach leaders on workforce planning methodology and utilisation principles, and promote proactive workforce planning across the business

Qualifications

What makes you remarkable?

At Wood, we are committed to equal opportunities and welcome all talented individuals to consider joining our team. So even if you don’t match every statement below but feel you have some of the experience, knowledge or skills needed for this role, we encourage you to apply. It will take all of us working together to deliver solutions to the world’s most critical challenges.

Expected

• Degree or equivalent experience in operations, business, engineering, data/analytics, or a related discipline
• Experience in workforce planning, resource management, or operational planning within a complex organisation
• Experience interpreting utilisation and operational performance metrics
• Strong analytical capability with advanced Excel and Power BI experience
• Experience working with enterprise workforce planning or ERP systems
• Ability to simplify complex workforce data into practical business recommendations
• Strong commercial awareness and understanding of project-based delivery environments
• High-quality decision-making, planning, and problem-solving skills
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence at all organisational levels
• Experience facilitating planning forums with senior stakeholders
• Experience in change management and continuous improvement programs
• High attention to detail and commitment to data quality
• Proactive and open approach to learning and change, with the ability to identify opportunities that bring value to the organisation

Desirable

• Training or certification in resource planning, workforce analytics, or change management
• Experience coaching leaders on workforce planning methodology and utilisation principles
• Experience supporting workforce systems, reporting, planning standards, or change initiatives