VP, Planning

Job Summary

The Vice President of Planning is the enterprise’s central orchestrator of workload visibility, project flow, and operational readiness across a highly complex, high-mix retail fixture business operating at scale. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer and sitting at the intersection of Commercial, Development, Outsourced Manufacturing, and North American Operations, this role functions as the organization’s air-traffic controller—ensuring every project moves through the lifecycle with clarity, predictability, and disciplined adherence to standards.

This executive leads the planning ecosystem for a $350M organization scaling to $500M, building the tools, governance, and cross-functional behaviors required to support rapid growth, tight timelines, and high customer expectations across multiple industries. The VP of Planning owns the enterprise’s timeline standards, project lifecycle gate tool, estimating function, and Account Program Management (APM) organization—ensuring that every job is accurately estimated, properly planned, risk-managed, and executed with speed and transparency.

The company operates in a short-run, high-mix environment that designs and engineers fixtures in-house, outsources mass production (primarily to China and North American partners), and then brings components or finished goods into its domestic facilities for kitting, assembly, and pick-and-pack. The VP of Planning ensures that every project is routed to the right outsourced vendor based on capacity, capability, and load, and then strategically assigns the appropriate North American facility for downstream operations based on real-time enterprise visibility.

The Estimating function under this role is not limited to cost calculation. The VP of Planning owns the margin integrity of the estimating process, ensuring that estimates reflect both actual production costs and client-perceived value. The Estimating team leverages market pricing data, historical cost archives, BOM information, vendor price sheets, and a perceived value framework (Commodity, Structured, Urgent, Complex) to generate pricing recommendations that maximize conversion rates and protect contribution margins. This strategic pricing intelligence—integrated with the AI Estimating Platform—is what differentiates Outform’s estimating function from a basic cost calculator.

Partnering closely with Design, Development, Procurement, and Manufacturing, the VP develops and manages the progress of jobs, identifying risks along the way and partnering with the various teams to effectuate mitigation strategies, while building and scaling the planning infrastructure—systems, tools, processes, and talent—to enable predictable execution, reduce organizational friction, and ensure the company can absorb increasing volume and complexity without compromising speed, quality, or margin.

Direct Reports

The following positions report directly to the VP of Planning:

• Head of Account Program Management (APM) – Leads the APM team responsible for program-level GANTT planning, milestone tracking, cross-functional coordination, and client-facing delivery management.
• Head of Estimating – Leads the Estimating team responsible for ballpark and firm cost estimates, should-cost modeling, margin optimization, pricing intelligence, and AI estimating tool adoption.
• Head of Planning Data – Owns the planning data infrastructure: enterprise dashboards, capacity visibility tools, workback schedule templates, lifecycle gate compliance reporting, and integration with the Data Lake and AI Estimating Platform.
• Indirect reports through the Head of APM and Head of Estimating include: Account Project Managers (APMs), Quotation Analysts, Sr. Quotation Analyst, Quotation Analysis Team, and Procurement Analyst / Material Specialist.

Scope & Accountability

The Vice President of Planning provides enterprise-wide control of project flow, capacity, and workload visibility across a high-volume, high-complexity retail fixture business. This role owns timeline standards and the project lifecycle gate tool, ensuring disciplined planning, clear job status, and early risk identification. The VP directs routing into outsourced vendors and assigns North American facilities based on real-time capacity and load. They lead and scale the Estimating and Account Program Management functions to deliver accurate costing, strategic pricing, reliable timelines, proactive risk escalation, and strong cross-functional alignment.

This role ensures that:

• Every client program has a master GANTT plan with clear milestones, owners, dependencies, and risk flags.
• Enterprise timeline standards and lifecycle gate criteria are defined, enforced, and continuously improved.
• Cross-functional teams (Development, Procurement, Manufacturing, Logistics, Run Services) are coordinated and held accountable to program timelines without the VP of Planning owning those functions directly.
• Projects are routed to the right outsourced vendor and assigned to the right North American facility based on capacity, capability, cost, and load.
• Clients and Commercial teams have real-time visibility into program status, risks, and delivery confidence.
• Risk mitigation plans are proactively developed and communicated before issues become delivery failures.
• Ballpark and firm estimates are accurate, timely, and reflect both cost reality and market/perceived value intelligence.
• Margin integrity is protected throughout the estimating process—preventing underpricing of high-value opportunities and overpricing of commodity work.
• The Estimating team operates as a strategic asset to the Commercial team, improving win rates while protecting contribution margins.
• Estimating processes evolve toward AI-augmented tools that leverage historical data, vendor pricing, market intelligence, and perceived value frameworks.
• The planning infrastructure—systems, tools, processes, and talent—scales to support growth from $350M to $500M+.

Key ResponsibilitiesEnterprise Planning & Project Flow

• Orchestrate project flow across Commercial, Design, Development, outsourced manufacturing, and North American operations.
• Maintain a single source of truth for enterprise workload and capacity.
• Ensure predictable execution through disciplined planning and prioritization.
• Anticipate bottlenecks and collaboratively adjust routing before they impact timelines.
• Develop and update standard workback schedules for each vertical and project type, against which actual projects are measured to provide variance visibility and support integrated prioritization.
• Own the enterprise program planning function. Ensure every client program has a structured GANTT plan with milestones, dependencies, critical path identification, and risk flags.
• Proactively identify and manage delivery risks. Develop risk mitigation plans for schedule threats, material delays, engineering changes, capacity constraints, and client-driven timeline shifts.

Timeline Standards & Lifecycle Governance

• Establish and enforce enterprise timeline standards across all functional pods.
• Own and continuously improve the project lifecycle gate tool with defined entry and exit criteria per gate.
• Ensure real-time visibility into job status, risks, and dependencies.
• Drive consistent planning behaviors and accountability across teams.
• Establish and enforce a standardized planning cadence: kickoff meetings, weekly status reviews, milestone gates, and escalation protocols.

Capacity-Based Routing

• Partnering with Development and Procurement, direct project routing into outsourced vendors based on load, capability, cost, historical OTIF performance, and known capacity constraints.
• Partnering with Development and Manufacturing, assign North American facilities for kitting, assembly, and pick-and-pack based on capacity and readiness.
• Maintain forward-looking visibility into vendor and facility constraints.
• Optimize routing decisions to protect timelines and margin.

Note: Planning recommends routing based on capacity, load, and historical performance. Procurement executes the commercial relationship and PO. Manufacturing owns production execution at the assigned facility.

Client-Facing Coordination & Commercial Support

• Support the Commercial team as the operational voice in client-facing program discussions. Provide delivery timelines, feasibility assessments, and program status updates to clients in partnership with Account Directors.
• Ensure client expectations are managed proactively—providing early warning on potential delays, alternatives, and recovery plans.
• Partner with Commercial leadership to align program planning with client priorities, contract milestones, and revenue recognition timelines.
• Ensure the APM team operates as a trusted extension of the Commercial team in client relationships—professional, responsive, and solutions-oriented.

Estimating Leadership & Pricing Intelligence

• Lead and scale the Estimating function to support rapid growth and speed-to-market.
• Implement robust estimating methodologies, tools, and data structures. Improve accuracy, throughput, and repeatability of estimates.
• Ensure estimates incorporate both cost-based logic (materials, labor, technology, freight, tariffs, tooling, installation) and perceived value logic (Commodity, Structured, Urgent, Complex classification from Sugar CRM).
• Protect the company from margin dilution by establishing pricing guardrails, margin floors, and escalation protocols when estimates fall below target thresholds. Target contribution margin ranges: 45–60% standard, up to 65% for high-value complex projects.
• Implement blended margin logic that allocates variable markups across materials, technology, and services to achieve target overall margins while reflecting client-perceived value.
• Create and maintain target price optimization capabilities—enabling the Commercial team to explore trade-offs between cost, quality, and timeline when clients provide budget constraints.
• Ensure the Estimating team maintains and continuously improves the cost database—including historical job data, vendor price sheets, BOM information, market pricing benchmarks, freight rates, tariff schedules, and HS code references.
• Establish a should-cost methodology for key categories in partnership with Procurement and provide pricing benchmarks to the Commercial team.
• Integrate estimating outputs into planning, costing, and commercial decisions.
• Drive adoption and use of AI and other tools to further augment and enhance the scalability and capabilities of the Estimating function, including the AI Estimating Platform with its two-engine architecture (Cost Engine and Value Engine).

Margin Protection & Commercial Viability

• Serve as the margin integrity gatekeeper in the estimating process. Ensure every estimate reflects Outform’s target contribution margin ranges.
• Establish a structured review process for estimates below margin thresholds, requiring COO or Commercial leadership approval for exceptions.
• Track and report margin performance: quoted margin vs. actual margin by client, project type, and vertical. Identify and address systematic margin erosion patterns.
• Partner with Finance to ensure estimating assumptions align with financial targets, cost structures, and profitability expectations.
• Monitor competitive pricing dynamics and adjust estimating frameworks to maintain Outform’s competitive position while protecting margins.

Account Program Management (APM) Oversight

• Ensure APMs drive disciplined timeline management and proactive risk escalation.
• Strengthen communication between Commercial, Development, and Operations.
• Oversee billing accuracy and timely financial handoffs.
• Build a culture of structured updates, early warnings, and customer-focused execution.
• Drive adoption and use of AI and other tools to further augment and enhance the scalability and capabilities of the APM function.

Enterprise Visibility & Reporting

• Deliver concise executive-level reporting on job status, risks, and capacity.
• Provide forward-looking insights that inform operational and commercial decisions.
• Establish dashboards and KPIs that drive alignment and accountability.
• Ensure leadership has clear visibility into readiness, constraints, and priorities.

Scalable Systems, Tools & Processes

• Build the planning infrastructure required to scale from $350M to $500M+.
• Implement tools and governance that improve predictability and reduce friction.
• Standardize planning workflows across pods and facilities.
• Develop talent and leadership depth across Planning, Estimating, and APM.
• Develop and maintain a RACI matrix linking Planning, Estimating, cross-functional alignment, and Planning KPIs.

Cross-Functional Alignment

• Align Commercial, Development, Procurement, and Operations around shared priorities.
• Ensure seamless handoffs and synchronized execution across the lifecycle.
• Drive enterprise-level decision-making based on data and capacity realities.
• Serve as the organization’s air-traffic controller, balancing speed and control.

Key Interfaces (Non-Reporting)

Interface

Coordination Area

SVP of Development

Design milestones, engineering releases, BOM readiness, DFM, lifecycle gate coordination

SVP of Manufacturing

Production scheduling, capacity alignment, facility assignment, delivery coordination

Design Leadership

Concept feasibility, design-for-manufacturing input, timeline coordination

VP of Global Procurement

Material availability, supplier lead times, vendor routing execution, should-cost alignment

VP of RUN Services

Installation, warehousing, fulfillment coordination for post-production programs

Commercial Leadership

Client-facing delivery updates, estimating support, margin alignment, revenue recognition

Finance

Cost forecasting, margin tracking, billing accuracy, financial alignment

CIO / IT

D365 integration, AI Estimating Platform development, Data Lake connectivity

Key Performance Indicators

Success in this role will be measured through metrics spanning delivery coordination, estimating performance, and margin protection:

Category

Key Metric

Measurement

Target / Notes

Delivery & Project Flow

On-Time Project Flow through Lifecycle Gates (%)

Monthly; weight by revenue

Target: 90%+

Planning accuracy / schedule attainment (%)

Monthly; variance of actual to planned milestones

Trending improvement

Workback schedule attainment (%)

Monthly; vs. standard workback plan

Target: 85%+

Lifecycle Gate Compliance (%)

Monthly; entry/exit criteria adherence

By standard, by agreed, by adjusted

Risk identification lead time

Monthly; days before delivery impact

Trending improvement

Project Stage Audit Score

Per frequency TBD; adherence across all departments

By standard, by agreed, by adjusted

OTIF & OTIF Adjusted

Monthly

Target: 95%+

Capacity & Routing

Enterprise capacity utilization

Monthly; top suppliers and owned facilities

Target thresholds per facility

Vendor Capacity Forecast Accuracy

Monthly; % of POs meeting requested and agreed dates

Trending improvement

Estimating Accuracy

Estimate-to-actual cost accuracy by attribute

Monthly; labor, direct materials, freight, indirect

Ballpark: ±15–20%; Firm: ±5–10%

Overall estimated margin to actual margin

Monthly; exclude markup in cost analysis

Target: < 5% variance

Estimate turnaround time (ballpark)

Monthly

Target: < 24 hours

Estimate turnaround time (firm)

Monthly

Target: per complexity tier

Cost database currency

Monthly; % of data < 90 days old

Target: > 80%

Margin Protection

% of estimates at or above target margin

Monthly

Target: > 90%

Margin exception rate (below-threshold approvals)

Monthly

Trending reduction

Perceived value pricing adoption rate

Monthly; % using value framework

Trending toward 100%

Win rate by perceived value category

Quarterly; Commodity/Structured/Urgent/Complex

Improvement over baseline

APM Performance

APM Risk Management Score

Monthly; % of jobs with unidentified risks

By APM pod

Jobs and revenue managed by APM pod

Monthly

Capacity benchmark

Billing accuracy and timeliness

Monthly; days to bill, variance to estimate

Per standard

Estimate accuracy by APM pod

Monthly

By pod

Schedule attainment by APM pod

Monthly

By pod

Team & Process

AI tool adoption and accuracy improvement

Quarterly; post-deployment

Trending improvement

Team engagement, retention, and capability development

Semi-annual

Per HR framework

Cross-functional satisfaction with Planning

Semi-annual; internal survey

Trending improvement

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations Management, Business, or related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in program management, planning, or operations leadership within custom-engineered, ETO (engineer-to-order), or job-shop manufacturing environments.
• Proven experience managing multi-functional program delivery across development, procurement, manufacturing, and logistics in a matrixed organization.
• Strong background in cost estimation, should-cost modeling, and pricing strategy for custom-manufactured products.
• Experience with perceived value pricing, blended margin models, or strategic pricing frameworks is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with AI/ML applications in estimation, pricing, or operational planning is a strong plus.
• Proficiency in project management tools (Smartsheet, Monday.com, MS Project, or equivalent) and ERP systems (D365 preferred).
• Experience with CRM systems (Sugar CRM or equivalent) and understanding of sales pipeline dynamics.
• Demonstrated ability to build planning infrastructure and systems that scale with organizational growth.
• Strong cross-functional influence, executive communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience operating in global environments with manufacturing in multiple regions (U.S., China, EMEA).
• Willingness to travel up to 50% domestically and internationally.

Leadership Attributes & Personal Characteristics

Execution-Driven Strategic Leader

• Drives clear strategies with an unwavering focus on execution discipline, delivery timelines, cost targets, and technical readiness.
• Balances long-term platform strategy with near-term delivery priorities to ensure business impact.
• Dynamic practitioner with the ability to adapt and overcome.

High-Velocity Operator

• Thrives in fast-paced, high-volume environments and creates systems that enable speed without sacrificing quality.
• Comfortable managing multiple concurrent projects and activities across the team.

Enterprise-Level Collaborator & Executive Presence

• Operates as a trusted executive partner across Commercial, Design, Development, Manufacturing, Procurement, Finance, and Executive teams.
• Brings calm authority, clarity, and influence to complex, cross-functional decision-making environments.

Commercial Thinker & Margin Guardian

• Understands that planning and estimating are not just operational functions—they directly impact Outform’s ability to win, price, and deliver profitably.
• Treats margin protection as a core responsibility, not a finance function. Ensures every estimate reflects commercial reality and competitive positioning.

Decisive, Data-Driven Judgment

• Makes informed, timely decisions grounded in data, experience, and business context.
• Champions AI and technology adoption to augment human judgment with data intelligence.
• Comfortably navigates ambiguity, balancing speed, risk, and quality in high-stakes environments.

Organizational Builder & Scaled Leader

• Builds strong teams, leaders, and systems that scale with the organization’s growth and portfolio complexity.
• Establishes repeatable processes, clear accountability, and performance standards.

Essential Functions

Working conditions are in a normal office environment with regular interaction across manufacturing facilities and client sites. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to walk, sit, and stand, using hands to handle objects, tools, or controls. The employee must occasionally lift up to 20 pounds. Requires prolonged computer use and frequent collaboration across time zones. Travel up to 50% of the time is required, including visits to manufacturing sites, client locations, and supplier facilities, and is an essential function of this position.

Disclaimer

The above information has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification and may be amended at any time at the sole discretion of the Employer. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.