How to hire a capacity planner

How to hire a capacity planner, step by step

Here's a step-by-step capacity planner hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a capacity planner job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new capacity planner
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a capacity planner do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the capacity planner you need to hire. Certain capacity planner roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a capacity planner to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a capacity planner that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of capacity planners.

   Type of Capacity Planner	Description	Hourly rate
   Capacity Planner	Material recording clerks track product information in order to keep businesses and supply chains on schedule. They ensure proper scheduling, recordkeeping, and inventory control.	$35-69
   Material Coordinator	A material coordinator is in charge of processing requisitions and ensuring that all departments receive necessary goods and materials within a company. Aside from this, they must maintain positive engagements with vendors, suppliers, and business partners, negotiate contracts, manage schedules of deliveries, and prioritize cost-efficient goods... Show more	$14-25
   Master Scheduler	A master scheduler is in charge of overseeing and developing a company's overall production schedule, ensuring quality and workforce adherence. Their responsibilities revolve around liaising with clients to determine their needs, developing daily schedules and objectives, disseminating scheduling notices, and conducting regular inspections to ensure the completion of projects in a timely and efficient manner... Show more	$28-48

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Infrastructure
   • Project Management
   • SQL
   • Tableau
   • Historical Data
   • Data Centers
   • Mainframe
   • Linux
   • SAS
   • Supply Chain Planning
   • Switches
   • Customer Service
   • Capacity Models
   • Network Capacity

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage bandwidth usage on copper-base colocation devices, central office switches and routers.
   • Manage various projects to implement MRP system correctly and cut supply cost and turn round time from supplier.
   • Supervise NPI chip fulfillment process - manage wafer starts to meet internal qualification and board level build plan.
   • Develop capacity planning and performance system for all mainframe and Unix systems
   • Maintain WAN/LAN IP capacity for S.E.
   • Provide ERP training to new personnel.

   More capacity planner duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your capacity planner job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A capacity planner salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a capacity planner in Delaware may be lower than in California, and an entry-level capacity planner usually earns less than a senior-level capacity planner. Additionally, a capacity planner with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average capacity planner salary

   $103,430yearly

   $49.73 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level capacity planner salary

   $74,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 24, 2025

   Average capacity planner salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$144,037	$69
   2	Washington	$120,402	$58
   3	Colorado	$117,386	$56
   4	Texas	$109,161	$52
   5	Florida	$105,722	$51
   6	Arizona	$101,997	$49
   7	North Carolina	$101,187	$49
   8	Ohio	$88,204	$42
   9	Illinois	$88,123	$42
   10	Pennsylvania	$84,002	$40

   Average capacity planner salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Netflix	$147,713	$71.02	2
   2	Meta	$143,387	$68.94
   3	Federal Reserve	$119,864	$57.63
   4	Salesforce	$119,161	$57.29
   5	Intel	$112,075	$53.88	14
   6	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$111,728	$53.72	4
   7	Amazon	$108,797	$52.31	40
   8	Equinix	$105,810	$50.87
   9	Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC	$105,094	$50.53
   10	Gillette	$104,532	$50.26
   11	Hub Group	$103,233	$49.63
   12	Federal Reserve Bank	$102,973	$49.51
   13	Cigna	$102,871	$49.46
   14	Cable & Wireless Communications	$102,365	$49.21
   15	QuantumScape	$100,632	$48.38
   16	Rehau Holding Inc	$97,206	$46.73
   17	USAA	$95,137	$45.74
   18	Chime	$95,099	$45.72
   19	Change Healthcare	$92,627	$44.53
   20	Maxim Integrated	$91,747	$44.11

4. Writing a capacity planner job description

   A capacity planner job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a capacity planner job description:

   Capacity planner job description example

   THE COMPANY: Since 1980, Stevens Transport has remained the primary choice of the Fortune 500 for delivery of perishable items and is the largest family-owned and operated climate-controlled freight company in Texas. Family is a top priority at Stevens and those values are integrated into everything we do, every day. Our award-winning service and reputation paired with state-of-the-art equipment has made us the pioneer of the industry.
   
   Stevens Transport Corporate offices as well as it's many departments and family of companies, reside on a massive 75-acre campus just East of Dallas. As a debt free, multimodal logistics conglomerate, Stevens Transport injects unmatched integrity into a corporate business model that reflects a track record of consistent growth and success. As “America's Trucking Family” and one of the nation's premier employers, we understand that our biggest “assets” are our people that support the continuous growth.
   
   If you are looking to continue with a rewarding career in Transportation & Logistics, come join the over 750 corporate family members with an exciting opportunity waiting for you!!
   
   THE ROLE: We are seeking to hire a National Logistics Capacity Planner, a role that is responsible for securing adequate capacity for booked freight using company assets and alternative modes of transportation (rail, over the road), as well as scheduling, dispatching, and resolving problems for drivers, contractors, and/or carriers on a national level.
   
   Our Planners are educators and problem-solvers. They are at the center of an unpredictable, deadline-driven environment and can think on their feet in both a detailed and big-picture scale. If you enjoy uncovering those hard-to-find solutions (and back-up solutions) within large sets of data, then this is the job for you.
   
   QUALIFICATIONS:Capable of working in a demanding, deadline-driven environment with competing priorities and a focus on delivering projected results Well organized and communicative High degree of initiative and independent execution
   
   ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:Planning loads for assigned market areas and/or customer accounts Pairing trucks that are empty and/or unloading soon with freight needing to be picked up, and confirm assignments with drivers Balancing and maintaining trailer pool inventory by routing outbound drivers in surplus regions to deficit areas with surging coverage needs Load monitoring, including resolving any issues that may affect the scheduled times for pickup or delivery, while proactively communicating to the affected customers. These problems typically include truck mechanical problems, traffic or weather issues, or customer directed shipment changes Generating regular and ad-hoc reporting as required
   
   REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:Strong computer skills in a Windows environment, including Outlook, Excel, and WordTransportation/Logistics experience Ability to handle high volumes of inbound email
   
   HIGHLY BENEFICIAL QUALIFICATIONS:Bachelor degree from an accredited university Knowledge of time/distance geography Some familiarity with AS/400 operating system
   
   Medical, Vision, Dental, Supplemental, and Life Insurances available + 401(k) retirement plan and quarterly match.
   #LI-MA2
   #LI-HYBRID

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right capacity planner for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with capacity planners they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit capacity planners who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your capacity planner job on Zippia to find and recruit capacity planner candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting capacity planners requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new capacity planner

   Once you have selected a candidate for the capacity planner position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new capacity planner. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a capacity planner?