A capacity planner is the scales of the company, focusing on the planning and decision-making process of analyzing, balancing, and allocating resources in consideration of the requirements, priorities, customer demands, workforce, and the timeframe of a project or production. They make sure that the supply meets the product's changing demands.
Since they need to coordinate with executives, project leaders, and other stakeholders regarding the metrics of the project, a capacity planner must possess excellent communication skills. They should also be attentive and results-oriented, with strong statistical and reporting skills to effectively interpret and utilize complex data and trends in the industry.
To pursue this career path, a capacity planner needs to have a bachelor's degree, or more preferably a graduate degree, and two to four years of work experience in a related field. This profession is expected to have a one-percent growth between 2018 and 2028, generating 46,900 job opportunities across the US.
Capacity Planner Overview
Capacity Planner Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a capacity planner. For example, did you know that they make an average of $44.08 an hour? That's $91,681 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 46,900 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Capacity Planner Do
There are certain skills that many capacity planners have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, customer-service skills and detail oriented.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a capacity planner, we found that a lot of resumes listed 12.7% of capacity planners included infrastructure, while 8.0% of resumes included project management, and 6.4% of resumes included service levels. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the capacity planner job title. But what industry to start with? Most capacity planners actually find jobs in the technology and manufacturing industries.
How To Become a Capacity Planner
If you're interested in becoming a capacity planner, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 44.7% of capacity planners have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 27.7% of capacity planners have master's degrees. Even though most capacity planners have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a capacity planner. When we researched the most common majors for a capacity planner, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on capacity planner resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a capacity planner. In fact, many capacity planner jobs require experience in a role such as systems programmer. Meanwhile, many capacity planners also have previous career experience in roles such as engineer or planner.
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Capacity Planner Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of project manager you might progress to a role such as purchasing manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title director of purchasing.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Capacity Planner
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Unitedhealth Group Inc. SR. Workforce Capacity Planner-Telecommute SR. Workforce Capacity Planner-Telecommute | Unitedhealth Group Inc. Unitedhealth Group Inc. | 03/25/2021 03/25/2021 | $64,80003/25/2021 $64,800 |
Greenfield Products, LLC Capacity Planner Capacity Planner | Greenfield Products, LLC Greenfield Products, LLC | 09/09/2019 09/09/2019 | $54,50509/09/2019 $54,505 |
Talenthub Worldwide, Inc. Capacity Planner Capacity Planner | Talenthub Worldwide, Inc. Talenthub Worldwide, Inc. | 06/10/2019 06/10/2019 | $87,65406/10/2019 $87,654 |
Facebook, Inc. Capacity Planner Capacity Planner | Facebook, Inc. Facebook, Inc. | 06/04/2019 06/04/2019 | $157,06506/04/2019 $157,065 |
Randstad Capacity Planner Capacity Planner | Randstad Randstad | 05/22/2019 05/22/2019 | $135,65505/22/2019 $135,655 |
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Top Colleges for Capacity Planners
1. Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC • Public
2. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
3. Ball State University
Muncie, IN • Public
4. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
5. Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH • Public
6. Cedar Crest College
Allentown, PA • Private
7. Morgan State University
Baltimore, MD • Public
8. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
9. Siena Heights University
Adrian, MI • Private
10. University of Akron
Akron, OH • Public
Top Skills For a Capacity Planner
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 12.7% of capacity planners listed infrastructure on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and customer-service skills are important as well.
- Infrastructure, 12.7%
- Project Management, 8.0%
- Service Levels, 6.4%
- SQL, 6.3%
- Tableau, 5.4%
- Other Skills, 61.2% See All Capacity Planner Skills
Best States For a Capacity Planner
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a capacity planner. The best states for people in this position are California, Maine, Washington, and Massachusetts. Capacity planners make the most in California with an average salary of $99,012. Whereas in Maine and Washington, they would average $91,303 and $90,469, respectively. While capacity planners would only make an average of $87,748 in Massachusetts, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. California
$99,012
Avg. Salary
2. Pennsylvania
$82,963
Avg. Salary
3. Maryland
$85,482
Avg. Salary